Rapid rutin accumulation during spear elongation in asparagus

Abstract

Head tightness, soluble solid content (SSC), and rutin level were investigated in asparagus spears harvested at different lengths. We found no correlation between spear length and SSC per dry weight (DW) in spearheads. Spearheads became looser and the rutin content of the spearhead increased as spear length at harvest increased, although appearance quality decreased. These findings revealed that spears previously discarded, because their length did not meet the length specifications, contained abundant rutin. Therefore, spears for which the optimum harvesting time has been missed are a useful rutin source.