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CHANGES IN SUGAR COMPOSITION IN CHERRY LAUREL (CV OXYGEMMIS) FRUIT DURING DEVELOPMENT AND RIPENING

MUSTAFA VAR and FAIK AHMET AYAZ1

Abstract: Changes in the soluble sugar composition in cherry laurel (Laurocerasus officinalis 'Oxygemmis') fruit during development and ripening were studied by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The sugars identified and quantified in the fruit were fructose, glucose and sucrose, and sorbitol as sugar alcohol. Fructose and glucose were the major sugars while sucrose were in much lesser amounts. From 23 to 58 days after flowering (DAF), the levels of fructose and glucose started to decrease rapidly and reached to a minimum level of 1.3 and 0.8% of fresh weight, respectively. The decrease in these two sugar levels followed an increase in fructose and glucose levels beginning from 65 to 86 DAFs as 23.6 and 20.8% of fresh weight, respectively. The level of sorbitol decreased to a minimum value at 51 DAF, and then increased rapidly after 58 DAF to its highest level as 13.4% of fresh weight. Besides these sugars sucrose was not detected between 23 and 44 DAFs, but increased rapidly until 58 DAF and then decreased after this stage. The rapid increase in the levels of fructose, glucose and sorbitol were determined from 79 to 86 DAFs which is the harvest season of this cultivar.
 

Department of Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Forestry, Turkey.

Department of Biology, Karadeniz Technical University, 61080 Trabzon,Turkey.