title: Cultivars, culture conditions, and harvest time influence phenolic and ascorbic acid contents and antioxidant capacity of strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa).
abstract: Strawberries are a good source of micronutrients, especially antioxidant phenolics. More information is needed to better exploit the health-promoting effect of such fruits. Several studies focused on the effects of genotype, cultural practices, and seasonal variation on the antioxidant potential of strawberries, but often yielding contradictory results and/or focusing on only 1 source of variability. In the present study, we showed that total phenolic compounds, ascorbic acid, and antioxidant capacity strongly differed between genotypes of strawberry. The precise results revealed the importance of genetic background for the antioxidant capacity and for the content of total phenolics (with up to 3.3-fold variations). Other parameters may also influence the antioxidant capacity in strawberry such as harvest time, culture conditions, and environmental factors. Moreover, in this study, the harvesting time (at the same ripening stage) appeared to be very important, more important than genotype. Variations of the antioxidant capacity of up to 4.1-folds were observed following the harvesting time of "Elsanta" cultivar.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This article compares the antioxidant capacity and the content in ascorbic acid and phenolic compounds of strawberries of different varieties and of fruits harvested from April to December at the same ripening stage. The importance of strawberry antioxidant capacity resides in its benefits for human health.
authors.affiliation: Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Unit, B22, Plant Biology Inst, B22, Univ. of Liège, Sart Tilman, B-4000 Liege, Belgium.
authors.forename: Joël
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pincemail
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kevers
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tabart
authors.forename: Jean-Olivier
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Defraigne
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dommes
mesh_terms: D000975:Antioxidants / Q000032:analysis*; D001205:Ascorbic Acid / Q000032:analysis*; D031985:Fragaria / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D010636:Phenols / Q000032:analysis*; D012621:Seasons
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D010636:Phenols; D001205:Ascorbic Acid