CHANGES IN THE TRITERPENE CONTENT DURING STORAGE OF THREE APPLE CULTIVARS

The triterpenes, oleanolic acid, OA and its isomer, ursolic acid, UA are important phytochemicals in apple fruit. In order to investigate the influence of cold storage and cultivar differences on the content of major triterpenes in apple peel, the total content of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid were analyzed by HPLC. It was found that the late ripening cultivar ‘Gloster’ had higher triterpene content as compared with the early ripening cultivar ‘Discovery’ and the middle ripening cultivar ‘Aroma’. The short-term cold storage did not show any significant influence on the triterpene content in any of the three cultivars.