Abstract:

In this study, the changes in aroma components of the two apple cultivars, ‘Starkrimon’ and ‘Nagafu No. 2’,
during storage were analyzed by using head-space solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and gas chromatographmass
spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 50 and 49 aroma components were determined in ‘Starkrimon’ and ‘Nagafu
No. 2’, respectively. Among the identified compounds, 38 were common to both cultivars including 30 esters with acetate
esters accounting for 70.81% and 52.60% of the total amount of aroma compounds, respectively. The contents of esters
were increased firstly and decreased afterwards in the fruits of ‘Starkrimon’ and ‘Nagafu No. 2’ during storage at ambient
temperature (15?25 ℃), reaching the highest level on the 20th day, which were 97.94% and 95.83%, respectively. Our
analysis also revealed that the total amount of ethyl esters, such as 2-methyl-1-butyl acetate, butyl acetate, hexyl acetate,
hexyl 2-methylbutanoate and butyl hexanoate, was significantly increased during storage. Therefore, ethyl esters were more
important for the formation of the inherent characteristics aroma of two apple cultivars.

Key words: apple, storage, aroma components