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The purpose of this study was to characterize fruit properties of pomegranate cultivars grown in South Africa in order to provide information to assist in selecting cultivars for food and industrial purposes, as well as to optimize postharvest handling and processing.

The physical, textural and chemical properties as well as volatile profile and free radical scavenging capacity of eight cultivars (cvs “Acco”, “Arakta”, “Bhagwa”, “Ganesh”, “Herskawitz,” “Molla de Elche”, “Ruby”, and “Wonderful”) were quantified to demonstrate the diversity among the characters of the commercially grown cultivars.

Statistically significant differences were found between cultivars for most of the evaluated characters, primarily highlighting the genetic diversity among the cultivars. The classification of fruit cultivars based on quality traits (such as size, texture, colour, soluble solids, acidity, juiciness and phenolics) showed the great potential of the cultivars for processing and fresh market. The relationship among these quality traits was analysed by principal component analysis (PCA) resulting in the separation of the investigated cultivars into two groups (cluster 1=Ruby, Arakta and Ganesh; Class 2=Bhagwa, Acco and Herskawitz) and two ungrouped cultivars (Molla de Elche and Wonderful). Specific understanding about quality traits of each cultivar was established using the correlation coefficients obtained.

This study provides valuable fundamental information that can be useful for commercial and industrial purposes, as well as the development of optimal postharvest handling and processing parameters for the investigated South African grown pomegranate cultivars.

The purpose of this paper is to characterise eight different fig cultivars with respect to antioxidant activity and bioactive compound content and to assess the influence of these cultivars on the physicochemical characteristics, rheological properties and sensory acceptance of the obtained jelly to identify cultivars with increased potential for processing when grown in subtropical regions.

The analyses of fig fruits and fig jellies were performed in triplicate. To characterise the fig cultivars, analyses of antioxidant activity, phenolic compound content and ascorbic acid concentration were performed on fresh fruits. For the jellies, the total titratable acidity, pH, soluble solids, colour, texture profile and sensory attributes were analysed.

With respect to antioxidant activity and bioactive compounds, the Roxo de Valinhos displayed the highest antioxidant activity according to the ABTS method, ß-carotene and DPPH; the Três num Prato, Lemon and Brunswick cultivars presented the highest ascorbic acid values; and the Três num Prato cultivar also had the highest total phenolic content. Generally, the various fig cultivars yielded jellies with different physical and chemical characteristics and different rheological properties. This variation did not significantly affect acceptability. This study demonstrates that all of the evaluated cultivars have high potential for processing.

This study evaluated the processing potential of Roxo de Valinhos and other fig cultivars in the form of jelly, which in view of the food risk concerns of the dried fig, seems to be an interesting alternative for consumption of processed fig.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of modern and traditional decortication methods on the chemical composition, antinutrients, Ca, P and Fe contents during storage of two pearl millet cultivars (white and green) grown in Sudan.

The grains of each cultivar were either decorticated traditionally using traditional stone dehuller or by using modern dehuller. The chemical composition, antinutrients and Ca, P and Fe contents of the cultivars were evaluated during storage for six months.

The results showed that both methods of decortication (modern and traditional) employed significantly decreased ash, protein, oil and crude fiber contents but increased moisture and nitrogen free extract contents of the grains for both cultivars. Storage resulted in a slight and gradual decrease in the chemical composition of the treated and untreated grains of the cultivars. Modern decortication of the grains significantly (P=0.05) reduced tannin content in both cultivars compared to untreated and traditionally decorticated grains. Phytic acid content of the white cultivar was not affected by the method of decortication used but modern decortication reduced that of green cultivar. Decrease in tannin and phytic acid was observed as the storage continued in both treated and untreated cultivars. Decortication significantly (P=0.05) reduced the Ca, P and Fe contents in both cultivars grains. Lower P and Fe contents were found in modern decorticated grains compared to traditional decorticated ones. Storage of the cultivars resulted in gradual decrease in Ca, P and Fe contents.

Processing methods such as decortication affect the quality attributes of pearl millet cultivars. The application of modern decortication method on pearl millet cultivars has better quality attributes than those treated with traditional decortication.

The study uses decortication methods (traditional and modern) to improve the quality attributes of pearl millet cultivars. Antinutrients such as tannin and phytic acid were observed to reduce the bioavailability of minerals like Fe. Decortication of the grains significantly reduced the level of such antinutrients and improved bioavailability of minerals.

Dahlia is an ornamental plant originating from Mexico where it is considered as the National flower. The purpose of this paper is to investigate tubers from yellow, white and red‐flowered cultivars of the common garden Dahlia (D. pinnata) for their chemical composition.

The composition of minerals was determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS), whereas vitamins were analyzed by High‐Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).

Carbohydrates represented the major constituent in Dahlia tubers, followed by fibre and protein. Tubers of the yellow‐flowered cultivar “HGH” contained the highest amount of carbohydrates, while tubers of the white‐flowered cultivar “BJ” and those of the red‐flowered cultivar “XM” abounded in fibre and protein, respectively. In addition, Dahlia tubers exhibited varying concentrations of minerals, among which potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc and chromium were predominant. Tubers of the white‐flowered cultivar “LB” contained the highest amounts of magnesium and phosphorus. Moreover, tubers of the red‐flowered cultivar “MLH” showed the highest contents of potassium and chromium, whereas those of the red‐flowered cultivar “XM” were rich in calcium and zinc. Furthermore, Dahlia tubers were found to contain water and fat soluble vitamins, among which vitamins B2, B6, B7 and E were the most abundant. Tubers of the white‐flowered cultivar “BJ” exhibited the highest contents of water soluble vitamins, whereas those of the white‐flowered cultivar “LB” abounded in fat soluble vitamins.

Despite the considerable variability observed among cultivars, Dahlia might be utilized as an alternative food resource for human nutrition.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the content of nutrients and minerals in various cultivars of Cucurbita maxima.

This is preliminary study, so eight samples from each cultivar of pumpkin used in this study were obtained from local farms from Poland. The following pumpkin cultivars were used: Australian butter, Flat white boer, Garbo, Golden delicious, Golden nugget, Hokkaido, Solor and Zapallito de tronco. In pumpkins elements, dry matter, ash and crude protein were determined. All elements were determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer. Content of dry matter, ash and crude protein according to AOAC methods.

The fruit of Cucurbita maxima, irrespective of cultivar, is a good means of supplementing the diet with highly beneficial fibre, and minerals such as potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sulphur, silicon, iron and zinc. The pumpkins richest in minerals are those of the Australian butter cultivar (calcium, manganese, iron), Flat white boer (sodium, silicon, chromium, nickel), Hokkaido (potassium, phosphorus, zinc, chromium) and Solor (magnesium, sulphur, copper), while the Garbo, Golden Delicious and Zapallito de tronco cultivars had the lowest concentrations of minerals.

The results obtained indicate that depending on the consumer’s expectations, pumpkins of various cultivars can be a dietary component that corrects deficiencies in the diet. Pumpkins grown in Poland have been characterised in terms of the content of mineral elements. These vegetables have become an important component of local food in Poland.

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) fruit is highly valued for its delicious edible arils and health benefits. In this study, a comparative study on elemental composition of seven pomegranate cultivars was determined in the fruit rind, mesocarp and arils.

The concentrations of major elements (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Cl and Na) and trace elements (Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, B, Ni, Co, Cr, Pb, Cd, Se, Al, As, Li, Sr, Ti and V) were determined using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP‐OES) calibrated with different concentrations of standard solutions of the minerals.

The highest amounts of N, P, S and Cl were found in Bhagwa cultivar, while Arakta, Ruby and Wonderful had the highest amount of Mg, Ca, and Na, respectively. P, Fe, Zn, Ti, V were more in quantity in the edible portion, while the other mineral elements were in larger proportions or in some cases were only found (Co, Al, As) in the non‐edible fractions of fruit. Among the major mineral elements investigated, P had the highest covering of the RDA, ranging from 6.78 to 8.53 per cent contribution to the RDA, followed by K (4.530‐4.95 per cent RDA), S (1.25‐1.54 per cent RDA), Ca (1.04‐1.54 per cent RDA), Mg (4.33‐5.26 per cent RDA), and Na (0.15‐0.17 per cent RDA).

Knowledge of the relative contributions of mineral elements in the edible fruit part (arils) to RDA will assist in nutrition planning against mineral deficiency.

Pomegranate fruit contains edible and non‐edible portions, and this study provided the first detailed report on the distribution of a wide range of trace and major mineral elements in the three parts of the fruit. This study also showed that the edible portion (arils) of pomegranate fruit is a good dietary source of essential nutrients such as K, Ca, Mg, and Se, while the non‐edible parts may provide valuable sources of minerals for other food and bioprocess industries.

This paper proposes a novel deep learning based method towards the identification of a pistachio tree cultivar from its image.

The investigated scope of this study includes Iranian commercial pistachios (Jumbo, Long, Round and Super long) trees. Effective use of high-resolution images with standard deep models is addressed in this study. A novel image patches extraction method is also used to boost the number of samples and dataset augmentation. In the proposed method, handcrafted ORB features are used to detect and extract patches which may contain identifiable information. An innovative algorithm is proposed for searching and extracting these patches. After extracting patches from initial images, a Convolutional Neural Network, named EfficientNet-B1, was fine-tuned on it. In the testing phase, several patches were extracted from the prompted image using the ORB-based method, and the results of their prediction were consolidated. In this method, patch prediction scores were in descending order, sorted by the highest score in a list, and finally, the average of a few list tops was calculated and the final decision was made.

Examining the proposed method on the test images led to an achievement of a recognition rate of 97.2% accuracy. Investigation of decision-making in the test dataset could reveal that this method outperformed human experts.

Cultivar identification using deep learning methods, due to their high recognition speed, lack of specialist requirement, and independence from human decision-making error is considered as a breakthrough in horticultural science. Variety cultivars of pistachio trees possess variant characteristics or traits, accordingly recognising cultivars is crucial to reduce the costs, prevent damages and harvest the optimal yields.

Combining sensory evaluations and hypothetical valuation mechanisms, this study aims to investigate the impact of consumers' product sensory attributes on willingness to pay (WTP) and overall liking for a new apple cultivar.

A sample of non-expert participants (n = 122) evaluated the overall liking and just-about-right (JAR) attributes. A variable transformation approach was applied to make linear and interval regression models between the JAR attributes, overall liking scores and participants' WTP.

The study reveals the high consumer appreciation for the new apple in both hedonic and economic terms. After controlling the anchoring effect's bias, the predicted mean WTP for the new apple cultivar was €3.26 per kilogramme. Crunchiness and flavour significantly affect both participants' overall liking and WTP.

The main limitation is the non-probabilistic sampling procedure, which does not allow for the generalisation of the results. Penalty analysis for JAR attributes in monetary and hedonic terms is beneficial for optimising the product and evaluating its potential in the marketplace.

The findings provide helpful directions for product optimisation in future breeding programmes to ensure the long-term sustainability of the new apple cultivars in the marketplace.

This study provides evidence of the beneficial synergy of mixing sensory-oriented research with the behavioural economics field of study.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the physicochemical characteristics of yellow and red apples cultivars of cashew. This is with a view to harnessing the quality attributes of the different cultivars of cashew. Parameters investigated include pH, refractive index, specific gravity, vitamin C content, juice astringency, chlorophyll and juice yield.

The methods of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) are employed in assaying the physicochemical properties, while the astringency is determined spectrophotometrically according to standard methods.

Results showed that percentage juice yield increases linearly with maturity for both cultivars. A maximum of 79.5 per cent is obtained for the yellow apple cultivars, while 74.1 per cent juice yield is obtained in the red apple cultivar. The pH ranged from 3.73‐4.5 and 3.64‐4.55 for red and yellow apple cultivars, respectively, with a marked fall between seven and eight weeks after pollination (WAPo). Specific gravity and refractive index are of the order 0.999‐1.007 and 1.34‐1.89 for both selected samples. Highest refractive index is obtained in red and yellow cultivars at seven and eight WAPo. The changes in ascorbic acid followed a linear pattern and the maximum values of 249.5 mg/100 ml and 185.5 mg/100 ml are obtained for yellow and red apple cultivars, respectively. Meanwhile, the juice astringency level decreased steadily with maturity and at the ninth WAPo, values obtained are 0.47 and 0.86 mg/100 ml tannin for yellow and red apple cultivars, respectively. Generally, pH, astringency, refractive index, juice content, ascorbic acid and chlorophyll contents showed marked variations between six and eight WAPo, confirming physiological maturity and ripening in the crop species.

Cashew farmers and industrialists will know the best time to harvest the crop when the quality is at its peak.

A lack of available literature exists about sensory data on lucerne (which is mainly used for animal feed) as an underutilised protein source for human consumption in South Africa (SA). Developing tasteless lucerne products is meaningless. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to determine the descriptive sensory profile and consumers’ acceptability of lucerne.

Three lucerne cultivars and one spinach beet (Beta vulgaris var. cicla L.) cultivar were used: first, to determine sensory descriptive attributes by generic descriptive analysis; and second, to determine consumers’ acceptance of lucerne, which were evaluated for degree of liking for aroma, taste, mouthfeel and overall acceptability with a nine-point hedonic scale. Principal component analysis of attributes for all the lucerne cultivars was applied to identify any factors differentiating between these cultivars.

“SA Standard” showed the lowest value, of the lucerne samples, for fibrous appearance, chewy and fibrous mouthfeel, bitter taste and bitter and metallic aftertaste. “SA Standard” was the most acceptable lucerne cultivar, indicating its application in future studies to profile new emerging cultivars.

No sensory analysis studies have been performed on South African lucerne cultivars to determine their sensory acceptability. These cultivars could have potential for food nutritionists, food scientists and food product developers and the commercial market.