Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Scientia Horticulturae journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scihorti Research Paper Anthocyanins, total phenolics, ORAC and moisture content of wild and cultivated dark-fruited Aronia species Mark H. Brand a, ⁎ , Bryan A. Connolly a,1 , Lanfang H. Levine b , Jeffrey T. Richards b,2 , Stacey M. Shine b,3 , Lashelle E. Spencer b,4 a Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, Unit 4067, University of Connecticut, 1376 Storrs Rd., Storrs, CT 06269-4067, USA b Enterprise Advisory Services, Inc., Engineering Services Contract, Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899, USA ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Aronia Chokeberry Antioxidants Polyphenol Flavonoid Anthocyanin Prunifolia Melanocarpa Mitschurinii ABSTRACT Total phenolics, anthocyanins and ORAC FL values from a large number of wild and cultivated genotypes of dark- fruited Aronia melanocarpa (diploid and tetraploid), Aronia prunifolia and Aronia mitschurinii were quantified and characterized in two consecutive years. The A. prunifolia taxonomic group had the highest total phenolic content. The diploid A. melanocarpa group had the highest ORAC FL values and A. mitschurinii the lowest values. Anthocyanin content was highest in the diploid A. melanocarpa group and also in the A. mitschurinii group in 2011. Anthocyanin content was lowest for the A. prunifolia group. Accessions UC009, UC047 and UC082 had elevated amounts of cyanidin-3-galactoside and reduced cyanidin-3-arabinoside, suggesting they have altered anthocyanin metabolism compared to most accessions. Polyphenol content for the same genotypes varied sig- nificantly between years, especially for wild germplasm. Wild Aronia genotypes represent a significant source of fruit biochemical diversity and have substantial potential for use directly in nutraceutical fruit production or in plant breeding programs. 1. Introduction There is increasing and substantial interest in fruits and berries due to their potential health benefits and high content of polyphenols, in- cluding anthocyanins (Basu et al., 2010; Chrubasik et al., 2010; Montrose et al., 2011). Dark-fruited aronia berries are one of the richest sources of dietary anthocyanin and polyphenols (Wu et al., 2006; Perez- Jimenez et al., 2010). Increased consumption of anthocyanins and fla- vonols from aronia berries may be associated with anti-inflammatory, antimutagenic, cardioprotective, hepatoprotective and antidiabetes ef- fects based on previous studies (Kokotkiewicz et al., 2010). Wild dark-fruited Aronia species native to the northeastern parts of the United States are Aronia melanocarpa (Michx.) Elliott (black cho- keberry) and Aronia prunifolia (Marshall) Rehder (purple chokeberry) (Hardin, 1973). A third wild species is Aronia arbutifolia (L.) Pers. (red chokeberry), but it has red fruit rather than the black or dark purple fruits found on A. melanocarpa and A. prunifolia, respectively (Hardin, 1973). A fourth species of Aronia is found in cultivation (large-fruited chokeberry) and it is known as Aronia mitschurinii A. K. Skvortsov & Maitul (Skvortsov and Maitulina, 1982; Skvortsov et al., 1983). Aronia mitschurinii is the type of dark-fruited aronia berry that is grown ex- tensively in orchards in Eastern Europe (esp. Poland), Russia, Scandi- navia and, more recently, in the United States. Aronia mitschurinii cul- tivars used in aronia berry production include ‘Viking’, ‘Nero’, ‘Galicjanka’, ‘Mackenzie’, ‘Aron’ and several others, all of which display indistinguishable phenotypes. Hovmalm et al. found that ‘Aron’, ‘Nero’, ‘Viking’ and other A. mitschurinii plants from a commercial Russian orchard could not be distinguished by random amplification of poly- morphic DNA (RAPD) analysis (Persson Hovmalm et al., 2004). Obae and Brand (2014) did find slight differences in amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) profiles when examining different acces- sions of A. mitschurinii, suggesting that they are very closely related, but not clonal apomicts. AFLP marker work conducted on A. mitschurinii found that it was likely hybridized by backcrossing an F1 Sorbus aucuparia L. × A. mel- anocarpa hybrid with A. melanocarpa (Leonard et al., 2013). Therefore, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2017.06.021 Received 18 May 2017; Received in revised form 13 June 2017; Accepted 14 June 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author. 1 Current address: Department of Biology, Framingham State University, Framingham, MA, USA. 2 Current address: Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies, Engineering Services Contract, Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899, USA. 3 Current address: CELLS Research Group, Shannon Applied Biotechnology Centre, Limerick Institute of Technology, Moylish Park, Limerick, Ireland. 4 Current address: Craig Technologies, Engineering Services Contract, Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899, USA. E-mail address: mark.brand@uconn.edu (M.H. Brand). Scientia Horticulturae 224 (2017) 332–342 0304-4238/ © 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V. MARK