Valorisation of biodiversity in the agricultural sector: the “ancient apples project”

The present research aims at characterizing the flavour profile of different cultivars of apples from both conventional and organic farming, including also endangered ancient varieties. Samples selection was performed taking into account the current apples production in Alto Adige-South Tyrol and Friuli Venezia Giulia in order to discriminate different categories and preserve biodiversity of local cultures. Flavour analysis was performed on 70 samples, belonging to 32 different cultivars, using the Headspace-Solid Phase Micro Extraction (HS-SPME) technique coupled to Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) in order to detect trace volatile compounds. The data obtained were processed through Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in order to identify flavour compounds which are relevant to the discrimination of sample groups and different genotypes of apples. The proposed approach may help in the protection and commercial valorisation of ancient apple varieties with peculiar sensory properties.