Effect of wild genotype on strawberry fruit nutritional quality in UNIVPM breeding program

In recent years the lifestyle modification in modern society has put remarkable view in nutritional fruits. Among them strawberries are a very rich source of bioactive compounds (vitamin C and B9) and phenolic compounds (phenolic acids, flavonoids and anthocyanins). The nutritional properties of strawberries depend on the amount and characteristics of the bioactive and antioxidant compounds (such as polyphenols and vitamins). The effect of genotypes on fruit quality of strawberry is well known. In fact, the level of antioxidants and the total antioxidant capacity in strawberry extracts from whole fruits vary considerably among genotypes. For many strawberry breeding programs, including that from Università Politecnica delle Marche (UNIVPM), fruit quality components have increased in importance as targets for new cultivars in recent years. To this aim, wild germplasm, which is well-known to present high phytochemicals amount and to possess strong antioxidant activity, has been included in modern breeding program, in combination with cultivated strawberry. In this study, the genetic variability that originated from five types of interspecific cross-combination (F1, BC1 backcross, BC2 backcross, BC3 backcross, and BC4 backcross of Fragaria × ananassa × Fragaria virginiana glauca) at UNIVPM in the 2020 harvest season was analyzed, together with some commercial cultivars, by correlating fruit nutritional parameters. The concentration of the main bioactive compounds, such as phenolic acids, anthocyanins, vitamin B9 and vitamin C, were measured in a total of 54 genotypes through HPLC-UV-FLD. Results demonstrate the high variability in bioactive compounds composition among cultivars and breeding materials, underlying the importance of including wild germplasm for increasing fruit nutritional quality through breeding programs. In fact, results indicated the possibility to generate new cultivars producing fruit with high contents of polyphenols and vitamins, stable at the different cultivation cycles, to be labeled with a compositional claim.