Anthocyanin, Carotenoid, and Chlorophyll Changes in the Peel of Cox’s Orange Pippin Apples during Ripening on and off the Tree

Abstract

The concentrations of various peel pigments of Cox’s Orange Pippin apples have been measured during ripening on the tree and during storage at 12 °C. Total chlorophyll decreased and total carotenoid increased at the time of the respiration climacteric. These changes were more pronounced in fruit maturing on the tree where a significant increase of anthocyanin occurred; it did not occur in stored fruit. There was no consistent or marked difference in the rates of destruction of chlorophylls a and b. The carotenoids found in the unripe fruit were those characteristic of photosynthetic tissue, β-carotene, lutein, violaxanthin, and neoxanthin. These decreased to a greater or lesser extent, and at different rates, on and off the tree. Other carotenoids which increased greatly during ripening were identified as esters, mainly of violaxanthin. During the climacteric there is a transition from an assemblage of pigments associated with the chloroplast to that typical of a chromoplast.