Polyphenols and Orchard Management: Case Study of Apples in the BioREco Experiment

This paper investigates the total polyphenol content and phenolic profile of apples from three cultivars (Ariane, Melrose, Smoothee) grown under three orchard management systems (conventional, low-input, organic) over three years. Using reverse phase HPLC with optional thiolysis, multivariate analysis identified cultivar and year as primary determinants of phenolic profiles. Focusing on the Ariane cultivar in 2011, no differences were found in total polyphenol content between systems for peel or flesh, though specific compounds such as (-)-epicatechin, 5’-caffeoylquinic acid, (+)-catechin, phloridzin, and cyanidin-3-O-galactoside varied. These findings underline the complexity of plant metabolic pathways and suggest that variation within production modes has less impact on polyphenol levels than choice of cultivar and cropping year.