Fatty Acids, Phytosterols and Chlorophylls in Leaves of Apple Cultivars (Malus Domestica Borkh)

The aim of the present study was to investigate the fatty acids, sterols and chlorophylls content and profile in leaves of apple cultivars (Malus domestica Borkh) which are intended to be cryopreserved. Quantitative GC-FID was used for phytosterols and fatty acids analysis, while chlorophylls were determined by a spectrophotometric method. Total phytosterols ranged from 189.6 to 463 mg/total lipid extract. The highest phytosterols content was found in Romus 3 and Romus 4 cultivars. The most important phytosterols in all leaves samples were: β-sitosterol, sitostanol, Δ5-avenasterol, 24-methylenecycloartenol and Δ7-stigmastenol. Some other minor sterols were also identified: campesterol, stigmasterol, citrostadienol. Fatty acids analysis revealed important quantitative differences, with a total content ranging from 77.4 mg/g to 245 mg/g. The major fatty acid in all samples was α-linolenic acid with 40 - 55 %, followed by palmitic acid with 17.5 - 25 %, linoleic acid 7 - 14 % and oleic acid 4.7 - 9.6 % of total fatty acids. Polyunsaturated fatty acids represent the major fraction, comprising 54-65 %. The ration between unsaturated and saturated fatty acids ranged between 2.1 - 3.2. The high degree of unsaturation is characteristic to green tissues. The chlorophyll a content ranged between 1.39 – 2.3 mg/g fresh weight, while chlorophyll b was found at 0.6 - 0.98 mg/g. The ratio chl a/chl b was close to