Flavor quality in rosaceae fruit and nut crops: “Insights into volatile organic compounds and recent breeding strategies"

Abstract

The rose family (rosaceae) is of great importance because it includes a variety of edible fruits such as apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, almonds, strawberries, loquat, and raspberries but its flavor quality wasn’t the best. The positive impact of flavor quality on consumers and, most importantly, breeding industries can never be overemphasized. Even in the developed world, fruits with quality flavor undoubtedly impact overall health by shifting eating habits away from ceremonial food to daily meals. Although fruit flavor has considerable benefits to consumers, it is difficult to improve, requiring the integration of several complex biochemical pathways controlled by developmental, physiological, and environmental factors. Hence, this paper reviewed the flavor compounds composition of rosaceous fruits and nuts including the factors influencing their contents and concentrations, commonly found volatile organic compounds in rosaceous fruits and nuts, and breeding strategies and challenges in breeding for flavor in rosaceae fruits and nuts. Breeding strategies for improving fruit flavor include molecular-assisted breeding (MAB) and transgenic approaches.Both strategies will develop fruit varieties that not only meet market demands but also provide superior taste and nutritional benefits for consumers.