Flowers Volatile Profile of a Rare Red Apple Tree from Marche Region (Italy)

In this paper, the volatiles emitted by flowers and various parts of the flower of a rare spontaneous Italian red (peel and flesh) apple named "Pelingo", were analyzed by SPME with the aim of identifying the contribution of each one to the whole aroma profile. Linalool was the most abundant volatile of flowers: from 43.0% in the flower buds, to 17.6% in the stylus and stigma headspace. The second most represented volatile was (E,E)-alpha-farnesene mainly emitted by the mature flowers (32.2%). Benzenoid compounds also have been identified: benzyl-alcohol is the most representative (1.0-16.5%) in all the samples except flower buds, while benzyl acetate (5.7%) and methyl salicylate (7.7%) are mainly present in the calyx and in the mature flowers respectively but not in the flower buds. Benzenoid compounds are the attractors for pollinator, probably for this reason were not detected in the headspace of flower buds.