Volatile Compounds from Six Varieties of Ficus carica from Tunisia

Abstract

Aroma is one of the essential parameters for the evaluation of fruit quality and consumer acceptance, with volatile components being determinant for this characteristic. During this work, the volatile profile of fresh fruits (pulp and peel) and leaves of Tunisian Ficus carica L. white (‘‘Bither Abiadh”, ‘‘Bidi”) and dark (‘‘Bither Kholi”, ‘‘Himri”, ‘‘Kholi” and ‘‘Tchich Asal”) varieties were characterised by GC and GC-MS. The major components detected among the volatiles of leaves were cedrol (38.9%), manoyl oxide (24.8%), α-terpineol acetate (21.7%), abietatriene (11.8%), γ-muurolene (7.4%), α-pinene (6.1%), pentadecanal (5.2%) and nonadecanal (2.3%). The major components detected in the volatiles of the fruits were cedrol (43.8%), α-terpinyl acetate (22.5%), manoyl oxide (12.9%), α-pinene (9.3%), abietadiene (8.1%),trans-calamenene (3.9%) and nheneicosane (3.5%).The results suggest that the varieties could be distinguished on the basis of their volatile fractions composition