Impact of Agricultural and Environmental Factors on Strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) Aroma – A Review

The cultivated strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) is an important berry crop worldwide due to its flavourful taste, and high content of nutrients and health-beneficial phytochemicals. Derived from interspecific hybridization of the octoploids F. virginiana and F. chiloensis, a vast number of strawberry varieties have been developed adopted to varying growth environments, and in order to meet consumer demand and preferences by the food industry. Hitherto, more than 360 volatile aroma compounds have been described in varietal genotypes, thus underscoring the complexity of aroma patterns in strawberry comprising hydrocarbon acids, esters, alcohols, aldehydes, and ketones, terpenes, aromatic structures, and furanones. Different extraction and analysis techniques, among others gas chromatography (GC), and sensory evaluation, which all are applied in the quality assessment of strawberry fruit, are presented. The impact of varietal and genetical differences, agricultural and environmental factors, post-harvest conditions and processing on strawberry aroma content and composition is highlighted by numerous examples from own research studies utilizing solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with GC. The significance of inheritance and aroma compound metabolism on allover strawberry quality is emphasized with specific focus on future breeding efforts in Fragaria sp. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________