Physicochemical, Spectroscopic and Chromatographic Analyses in Combination with Chemometrics for the Discrimination of Four Sweet Cherry Cultivars Grown in Northern Greece

A total of 56 sweet cherry samples belonging to four cultivars (Ferrovia, Canada Giant, Lapins, and Germersdorfer) grown in northern Greece were characterized and differentiated according to botanical origin. For the above purpose, the following parameters were determined: conventional quality parameters (titratable acidity (TA), pH, total soluble solids (TSS), total phenolic content (TPC), mechanical properties and sensory evaluation, sugars by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), volatile compounds by GC/MS, and minerals by ICP-OES. Statistical treatment of the data was carried out using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). The results showed that the combination of volatile compounds and conventional quality parameters provided a correct classification rate of 84.1%, the combination of minerals and conventional quality parameters 86.4%, and the combination of minerals, conventional quality parameters and sugars provided the highest correct classification rate of 88.6%. When the above four cherry cultivars were combined with previously studied Kordia, Regina, Skeena and Mpakirtzeika cultivars, collected from the same regions during the same seasons, the respective values for the differentiation of all eight cultivars were: 85.5% for the combination of conventional quality parameters, volatiles and minerals; and 91.3% for the combination of conventional quality parameters, volatiles, minerals, and sugars.