ning reactions during storage of low-moisture Australian sultanas: Effects of vine nitrogen nutrition on subsequent arginine-mediated Maillard reactions during storage of dried fruit

Ten‐year old Vitis Vinifera L. cv. Sultana (Thompson Seedless) grape vines were transferred into large cement pots in low nitrate soil and supplemented with four levels of nitrogen application in the form of ammonium nitrate as follows: 0 g ( N₀ ), 8.5 g ( N₁ ), 17.0 g ( N₂ ) and 25.0 g ( N₃ ). Grapes were harvested from each nitrogen treatment, dipped and dried to low moisture (?11.4%) and subsequently stored for 10 months at 10^oC and at 30^oC in either the presence or absence of oxygen. The pre‐storage concentration of free arginine, free‐proline and total protein in the dried sultanas increased with soil nitrogen application. Skin‐polyphenoloxidase (PPO) activity was higher in sultanas with added soil nitrogen ( N₁, N₂, N₃ ), however pre‐storage differences in total phenolics, and the PPO substrate, trans‐caftaric acid, were not significantly different. After 10 months storage at 30^oC significant browning was observed in both the presence and absence of oxygen. Greater browning corresponded to higher soil‐nitrogen application rates. The concentration of skin trans‐caftaric acid did not decrease in N₀, N₁ or N₂ after 10 months at 30^oC, in either the presence or absence of oxygen, although some decreases were measured in the highest nitrogen sultanas ( N₃ ). While PPO oxidation of the phenolic substrate trans‐caftaric acid was not the primary route to browning, a number of Maillard reaction products (MRP) were present in both sultanas and arginine‐glucose model systems. Those products were separated via reverse phase HPLC and partially characterised by UV‐diode array spectroscopy. The lack of oxidation of trans‐caftaric acid observed in the nitrogen storage trial was confirmed in an accelerated browning experiment in low‐moisture sultanas, where despite browning at 50^oC after 12 days, no decreases in this primary substrate for PPO‐mediated oxidation were measured.     

Browning reactions during storage of low-moisture Australian sultanas: Evidence for arginine-mediated Maillard reactions

Browning during storage of low‐moisture dried Vitis Vinifera L. cv. Sultana (Thompson Seedless) grapes was examined in a multifactorial treatment and storage trial. Grapevines were subjected to two different levels of sun exposure, harvested fruit was dipped and subjected to different drying treatments to obtain a range of initial moisture contents (a_w= 0.419–0.558). The storage effects of temperature (10^oC and 30^oC), and the presence of oxygen on colour change (CIE L*a*b* tristimulus values, hue‐angle (h_ab*)) and chroma (C_ab*) over a fourteen‐month period were observed. The most significant changes in colour were measured for samples stored at 30^oC, both aerobically and anaerobically, although the largest changes occurred in the presence of oxygen. Initial a_w had a strong effect on colour changes; higher a_w non‐sunfinished samples underwent more significant browning compared to lower a_w sunfinished controls regardless of their oxygen status. Changes in the concentration of the free‐arginine and free‐proline, the most abundant free amino acids in sultanas, were monitored throughout the storage period. Free arginine decreased significantly at 30^oC in both the absence and presence of oxygen, whereas free proline increased (at both 10^oC and 30^oC), implying that free proline did not play a role in browning reactions at those temperatures. In addition to the decreases in free arginine, the concentration of 5‐hydroxymethyl furfural (5‐HMF), a marker of Maillard browning reactions, increased significantly in samples stored at 30^oC. Significant differences in the concentrations of 5‐HMF under the two oxygen conditions indicated sultana Maillard reactions, and possibly other non‐enzymatic browning processes, were oxygen sensitive.