Variation in the bioactive compound content at three ripening stages of strawberry fruit.

During the harvest season of two consecutive years, five strawberry cultivars ('Arosa', 'Elsanta', 'Marmolada', 'Miss' and 'Raurica'), grown in the continental part of the Republic of Croatia, were examined. Strawberry fruits quality was evaluated by individual phenol compounds, individual anthocyanins and fruit color. Fruits were harvested in three different periods. Analyzed strawberry cultivars show very good average values of the studied phenolic acids and flavonoids with predominant caffeic acid and epicatechin content in all researched strawberry cultivars. Considering the content of individual anthocyanins, pelargonidin 3-glucoside is predominant in strawberry extract followed by cyanidin-3-glucoside and pelargonidin 3-rutinoside. The correlation between individual anthocyanin content and chromaticity parameters was detected in all strawberry cultivars, additionally correlation coefficients and statistical significance were much lower. The results show a positive association between cultivar and harvest time on strawberry pulp color, with each of the color variables, a, b, a/b ratio, C, L and h° values.