Strawberry Fruit Quality: Impacts of the Harvest Date with a Breeding Perspective

Background: The sensory, nutritional, and organoleptic characterization of strawberry genotypes is a useful strategy to guide breeding efforts on filling consumer's expectations. This work was focused on evaluating the fruit quality of six strawberry genotypes. We aimed to highlight key clues for breeders regarding the relative contribution of different techniques for fruit characterization and consumer perception, with a special focus on contrasting harvest moments. Results: Results showed that coloration resulted less variable compared with free sugars, firmness, or volatile compounds. There was an absence of correlation between external/internal color and anthocyanin content or between soluble solids and individual sugars (glucose, fructose, sucrose). Oxygen radical absorbance capacity and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl methods showed to be complementary for antioxidant capacity determination. The predominance of esters and terpenes seems to contribute to typical strawberry flavor while a fine balance between aldehydes, terpenes, lactones, and esters found in similar proportions contributes to typical smell perception. Conclusions: There is an important variability in fruit quality harvested fully ripe in different dates from the same harvest season and genotypes showed contrasting behaviors. Fruit color resulted more stable than other quality variables such as sugars or firmness while volatile profile showed significant changes. From a breeding perspective, it is crucial to consider many harvest moments throughout the reproductive cycle to assure a more representative fruit quality evaluation. Genotypes showing greater stability between harvests would be interesting for assuring a reproducible product during the season.