Environmental effect on antioxidant content of ten raspberry cultivars

Ten red raspberry cultivars grown in New York and Washington were harvested in 2002 and 2003 and analyzed for fruit composition and antioxidant content. The contributions of production environment and year were compared to genetic variability. Fruit were frozen, pureed and seeds removed prior to analysis. Fruit was analyzed for fruit weight, dry weight, soluble solid content, pH, titratable acidity, total phenolics, total anthocyanins, FRAP and ORAC. There were genotype effects for all variables. There were very large location effects when the data was expressed on a fresh weight basis, but the location effects decreased in significance or were non-significant when expressed on a dry weight basis. There were moderate genotypes x location effects. 'Chilliwack' and 'Comox' had much higher total anthocyanins, total phenolics and antioxidant potential in New York than in Washington. The values for total anthocyanins, total phenolics, ORAC, FRAP, percent dry weight, soluble solids and pH were higher at the New York site than at the Washington site. The values for titratable acidity were similar at each site and fruit weight was smaller at the New York site than the Washington site.