High resolution NMR and mass spectrometry to evaluate the metabolome of novel strawberry advanced breeding selections and correlate it with the fruit quality

The adverse climatic conditions are causing increasing concern across the Mediterranean region, driving strawberry producers toward alternative and effective strategies, including the selection of new and resistant cultivars. In this work, three new strawberry selections, derived from intraspecific crossings, were compared with five commercial cultivars. The aim was to characterize these cultivars by using both traditional methods (pH, TA, DW, TPC, TAC, vitamin C and TEAC) and advanced analytical techniques, including high resolution liquid-state NMR and Mass Spectrometry (FT-ICR and LC-MS/MS). The latter techniques, associated to chemometrics, enabled the identification of a unique molecular profile for each cultivar, in terms of primary and secondary metaboloma. Moreover, an innovative NMR-based method was proposed to appreciate the strawberry freshness. Concluding, the new selection AN 165354 resulted as excellent alternative to the commercial strawberries under greenhouse, exhibiting high nutritional and nutraceutical quality (48 and 163.2 mg/100 g FW for Vitamin C and total phenols, respectively) and an enhanced resistance to the degradation when stored at 4 °C (S/F ratio lower than 67% 7 days after the harvest).