Relationship between sap chemical composition and incidence of sapburn in Mexican mango

Sapburn is responsible of postharvest losses of up to 9.9% in Mexican annual exportation of mango fruit produced in the Pacific Region. The objective of this work was to analyze quantitatively terpinolene and 3-carene levels in the sap content of Haden and Tommy Atkins cultivars obtained from Michoacan to determine if there was any correlation between levels of either one of these two compounds and susceptibility to sapburn among the two cultivars. The oily fraction of the sap present in the cultivars was extracted with hexane and was analyzed by gas chromatography. Susceptibility to sapburn was assessed by applying sap to a specific area in the exocarp tissue and quantifying sapburn after 72 hr. We conclude that the levels of 3-carene were higher in all cases than those of terpinolene. These results are related to sapburn susceptibility and differ from other studies reported previously.