Comparison of polyphenols and anthocyanin content of different blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum L.) cultivars at the Polli Horticultural Research Centre in Estonia
The evaluation of blackcurrant cultivars and their fruit properties at the Polli
Horticultural Research Centre has been active since 1945. In addition to the assessment of
biological and economic properties of cultivars, it is essential to pay attention to fruit quality. In
2014, the laboratory building of Polli Horticultural Research Centre was reconstructed within the
PlantValor competence centre project, enabling to introduce HPLC methods for the determination
of polyphenolic compounds in fruit quality analysis. In 2017 and 2018, the fruit quality of 37
blackcurrant cultivars of different geographical origin (Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Latvia,
Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Sweden and Ukraine) was analysed. All cultivars
were grown in the genetic resources collection (2008–2019) located at the Polli Horticultural
Research Centre. The main aim of the study was to analyse the content of polyphenols and
anthocyanins for selecting suitable blackcurrant genotypes for breeding programmes, fruit
production and possible product development. In two consecutive years of the study, the total
polyphenols content in the fruits of different cultivars varied 290–634 mg 100 g-1 fresh weight
(fw) and the anthocyanins 183–471 mg 100 g-1 fw
