Journal of Food Science and Technology

, Volume 54, Issue 10, pp 3118–3131 | Cite as

Evaluation of three pumpkin species: correlation with physicochemical, antioxidant properties and classification using SPME-GC–MS and E-nose methods

Original Article
First Online:
Revised:
Accepted:

Abstract

To ascertain the most discriminant variables for three pumpkin species principal component analysis (PCA) was performed. Twenty-four parameters (pH, conductivity, sucrose, glucose, total soluble solids, L*, a*, b*, individual weight, edible rate, firmness, citric acid, fumaric acid, l-ascorbic acid, malic acid, PPO activity, POD activity, total flavonoids, vitamin E, total phenolics, DPPH, FRAP, β-carotene, and aroma) were considered. The studied pumpkin species were Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita moschata, and Cucurbita pepo. Three pumpkin species were classified by PCA based on aroma, physicochemical and antioxidant properties because the sum of PC1 and PC2 were both greater than 85% (85.06 and 93.64% respectively). Results were validated by the PCA and showed that PPO activity, total flavonoid, sucrose, glucose, TSS, a*, pH, malic acid, vitamin E, DPPH, FRAP and β-carotene, and aroma are highly useful parameters to classify pumpkin species.

Keywords

Antioxidant capacity E-nose PCA Physicochemical Pumpkin 

Abbreviations

DPPH

1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl

E-nose

Electronic nose

FRAP

Ferric reducing antioxidant power

FW

Fresh weight

SPME-GC–MS

Solid phase micro-extraction-gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

TSS

Total soluble solids

PCA

Principal component analysis

POD

Peroxidase

PPO

Polyphenol oxidase

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Notes

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province, China (Grant No. 20151BAB204039), Doctoral Research Startup Fund Project of Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University (3000990310), and Quality engineering projects of Jiangxi province (Biological chemistry curriculums, 2015).

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Copyright information

© Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Jiangxi Science & Technology Normal UniversityNanchangChina
  2. 2.Jiangxi Technical College of ManufacturingNanchangChina
  3. 3.School of Life ScienceJiangxi Science & Technology Normal UniversityNanchangChina

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