Bioactive and Antioxidant Properties in Highbush Blueberry Cultivars: Identifying Superior Cultivars for Nutritional Biofortification

Azam Akbari^1*Yige Xu²Xin Wei²Zichen Liu²Doğan Ergün³Cihan Akgöl³Feiyu Dong²Sezai Ercisli⁴Salih KAFKAS³Cheng Liu²Nesibe Ebru Kafkas³

• ¹Faculty of Kozan Business Administration, Cukurova University, Adana, Türkiye
• ²Liaoning Institute of Pomology, Yingkou 115009, Liaoning, China, Liaoning, China
• ³Cukurova Universitesi, Adana, Türkiye
• ⁴Ataturk Universitesi, Erzurum, Türkiye

Blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) are economically valuable berry crops with exceptional nutritional properties attributed to diverse phytochemical composition. This study comprehensively characterized phenolic profiles, anthocyanin content, sugar composition, and antioxidant capacity of 21 highbush blueberry cultivars (19 Southern Highbush, 2 Northern Highbush) grown under uniform conditions to identify superior genotypes for breeding programs. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences (p<0.001) among cultivars for all biochemical parameters, demonstrating substantial genetic variation. Total phenolic content ranged 2.7-fold (253-688 mg GAE/100 g DW), with 'Misty', 'Twilight', and 'Unknown' exhibiting highest values. Total anthocyanins varied 4.4-fold (603-2678 mg/100 g), with 'Eureka', 'Twilight', and 'Rossini' showing superior accumulation. HPLC-DAD analysis identified eight major phenolic compounds, with chlorogenic acid (61.44-223.89 mg/100 g DW) predominating among phenolic acids and malvidin-3-glucoside as the principal anthocyanin. Sugar profiling revealed glucose and fructose as predominant carbohydrates (>96% of total sugars), with total sugar content ranging 2.9-fold (6.13-18.06 g/100 g DW). DPPH radical scavenging capacity varied from 35.26 to 69.08%, strongly correlating with total phenolic content (r=0.73). Correlation analysis demonstrated coordinated anthocyanin accumulation (r=0.72 between cyanidin-3-glucoside and malvidin-3-glucoside) and moderate sugar-phenolic co-accumulation. Principal component analysis (50.1% cumulative variance) differentiated cultivars into four distinct metabolic clusters: sugar-anthocyanin co-accumulators ('Rossini', 'Twilight'), superior antioxidant types ('Misty', 'Magnifica', 'Unknown'), gallic acid 2 specialists ('Jewel', 'L503', 'Ventura'), and cyanidin-3-glucoside specialist ('Eureka'). These findings reveal extensive genotypic diversity in primary and secondary metabolism, providing valuable germplasm resources for developing elite cultivars with enhanced nutritional quality, superior antioxidant properties, and optimized sensory attributes.