FOOD SCIENCE

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Stable Isotope Distribution of Carbon and Nitrogen in Blackcurrant-Producing Regions

CHEN Li-shui,DING Qing-bo,SU Xiao-xia,LI Qing,LIN Guang-hui   

  1. 1. Beijing Key Laboratory of Nutrition, Health and Food Safety, Food R & D Center, COFCO Nutrition and Health Research Institute,Beijing 100020, China;2. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Center for Earth System Science,Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
  • Online:2013-12-25 Published:2014-01-03

Abstract:

In this paper, in order to explore the most effective indicator of the geographic origin of blackcurrant
juice, an isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS) was used to analyze the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios in
blackcurrant fruits, leaves, soil and juice. The results showed that the δ15N value of blackcurrant juice from different
regions were different significantly (P < 0.05), and decreased with increasing geographic latitude. The values of δ13C
in juice from different regions showed a significant difference (P < 0.05). Further analysis indicated the carbon stable
isotope ratio in juice had significant correlation with that of fruits and soil (P < 0.05); the nitrogen stable isotope
ratio in juice has a highly significant correlation with that of fruits, leaves and soil (P < 0.01). As a result, combined
analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes provides potential indicators for tracing the origin of blackcurrant
fruits with accuracy up to 86.9%. In addition, the leaves and soil of blackcurrant are nearly as effective as the fruits in
indicating the growing region with accuracies of 61.5% and 75.0 %, respectively.

Key words: stable isotope, carbon, nitrogen, blackcurrant, growing area discrimination