Phenol profiles and antioxidant properties of white skinned grapes and their coloured genotypes during growth

Abstract

Anthocyanins are natural pigments that exhibit a wide range of protective effects with potential benefits for human health related to their antioxidant activities. Grape berries are rich anthocyanins, and these compounds have considerable influence on wine quality. However, these pigments are known to only be present in coloured grape berries. In the present study, we investigated three distinctive grapes, in which only a few reports of mutant strains on the skin colour of the grape berry were reported. Anthocyanin and non-anthocyanin phenolic profiles of grape berry skin, pulp, and seeds at different growth stages were analysed using high performance liquid chromatography of flight mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS). Meanwhile, grape antioxidant properties were evaluated at growth stages, including the early stage, veraison, and mature stage. The results showed that some anthocyanins contents, such as malvidin 3-O-glucoside, are significantly different between white skin grapes and their corresponding coloured genotypes, with high content in coloured but not in white skin grapes. However, other anthocyanins, such as delphinidin 3-O-glucoside, showed no significant differences between white skin grapes and their corresponding coloured genotypes. Moreover, non-anthocyanin phenolic profiles and antioxidant properties, except cultivars Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir, showed no significant differences between white skin grapes and their corresponding coloured genotypes at any growth stage, including the pulp and seeds. However, significant differences were noted between different cultivars, for example, white-ciputao and Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc and Muscat Rouge, and coloured-ciputao and Muscat Blanc, showing that the antioxidant capacity was not always in correlation with skin colour of grape berries.