Impaginato 77 1. Introduction In these last years, more consumers are interest- ing in alternative food systems which have grown in tandem with a proliferation of diverse food attribute labels, such as organic, local, humane, fair trade, etc. (Berlin et al., 2009). In particular, locally products, such as fruits and vegetables, not offered by conven- tional grocery stores, are looking for niche markets, in country and urban areas. Studies indicate that many consumers associate the local foods with high- er perceived quality as well as increased freshness and naturalness of the products (Denver and Jensen, 2014). The appeal for local varieties, represented by ancient genotypes, is due to the major environmen- tal hardiness (Negri, 2005) able to tolerate extreme climate events such as an increase in temperatures and frequency or intensity of precipitation. This peculiarity makes ancient genotypes suitable for sus- tainable cultivations as support for farmers and con- sumers addressed to choose healthy products. Fruits and vegetables are well recognized to be important source of vitamins, minerals, fibers and many hundreds of compounds with potential antioxi- dant activity which, acting against cellular oxidation reactions, may have beneficial effects on human health (Halliwell, 1996). The antioxidant activity of fruits is strongly affected by the species and, within species, by the variety which is the main factor in determining fruit nutritional quality (Scalzo et al., 2005). Among other pre- and post-harvest factors influencing the antioxidant properties, such as culti- vation techniques, ripening season, shelf-life and pro- cessing, the environmental conditions have an impor- tant role. In particular, it has been found that light intensity, temperature together with water availabili- ty are related to the antioxidant activity in different fruit species (Lee and Kader, 2000). The fruit nutritional quality of many commercially important varieties has been characterized, but still scanty is knowledge on the antioxidant properties of ancient genotypes that can show high quality perfor- mances, in terms of flavor and nutritional properties (Donno et al., 2012; Jakobek et al., 2013). Recently, a trend to discover and to reintroduce into market- place genotypes native of a restricted geographical Adv. Hort. Sci., 2017 31(2): 77-84 DOI: 10.13128/ahs-21086 Chemical characterization and sensory analysis by blind and visually impaired people of local peach varieties S. Bartolini 1 (*), R. Viti 2, E. Ducci 1 1 Istituto Scienza della Vita, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Piazza Martiri della Libertà, 33, 56127 Pisa, Italy. 2 Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Agro-Ambientali, Università di Pisa, Via del Borghetto, 80, 56124, Pisa, Italy. Key words: ancient varieties, physicochemical traits, Prunus persica (L.) Batsch, total antioxidant capacity, total phenols. Abstract: The interest in locally produced foods by the reintroduction of old varieties is due to their environmental hardi- ness and suitability for low-input agricultural systems. These managements can often produce fruits with imperfections, preventing the consumer acceptance. We have settled a new sensory evaluation going beyond the appearances, involv- ing blind and visually impaired people to provide a quality evaluation of fruits linked to intrinsic rather than exterior characteristics. The research was conducted over two consecutive harvest seasons on three peach old local varieties (‘Alberta’, ‘Mora di Dolfo’ and ‘Regina di Weinberger’ called in loco ‘Regina di Bember’) grown in central Italy. On fruits, physicochemical traits (fruit weight, peel and flesh color, flesh firmness, pH, total soluble solids, titratable acidity), antioxidant content (total antioxidant capacity and total phenols) and sensory analysis were assessed. The three local peach varieties showed interesting fruit attributes in both studied growth-ripening seasons. The white-fleshed ‘Mora di Dolfo’, characterized by the highest antioxidant contents, was particularly appreciated by panellists for its aroma. The new sensory analysis, providing an evaluation based on judgment of intrinsic characteristics of peaches, emerges as a valid tool to assess the interest and appreciation of fruits for a conscious consumer’s choice. (*) Corresponding author: susanna.bartolini@santannapisa.it Received for publication 13 December 2016 Accepted for publication 11 May 2017 Copyright: © 2017 Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Adv. Hort. Sci., 2017 31(2): 77-84 78 area took place (Krawitzkyab et al., 2014). The local varieties, mainly managed by low-input agricultural systems, often produce fruits with defects, prevent- ing the consumer acceptance (Donno et al., 2012). It has been showed that the appearance of fresh fruits is the primary criterion in making purchasing deci- sions (Kays, 1991). To overcome this approach we have settled a new sensory evaluation going beyond t h e a p p e a r a n c e s , i n v o l v i n g b l i n d a n d v i s u a l l y impaired people (Bartolini et al., 2015 a), who having a higher sense of taste and smell (Luers et al., 2014), can provide a quality assessment of fruits linked to intrinsic rather than exterior characteristics. The aim of this research was to determine some fruit quality traits of three peach local varieties origi- n a t e d f r o m L u c c a p r o v i n c e ( c e n t r a l I t a l y ) . Physicochemical and antioxidant parameters were studied, and the innovative sensory analysis involving people with visual disability was introduced. 2. Materials and Methods Plant material and cultivation site The research was conducted over two consecutive harvesting seasons (2014-15) on full bearing peach trees of old local varieties: ‘Alberta’, ‘Mora di Dolfo’ and ‘Regina di Bember’. This latter variety is an example of synonymy; its name was modified by local citizen from the original ‘Regina di Weinberger’ (Bartolini et al., 2015 a), a Californian variety wide- spread at the end of fifties which nowadays has lost importance at national level. The orchards were located in a traditional area at high agricultural vocation (Tuscany, Lucca province, lat. 44.02 N, long. 10.27 E) and trees were grown in similar soil conditions, using low input farming practices. The main climatic parameters, minimum-maxi- mum temperatures and rainfall data were provided by the Regional Agro-meteorological Service of Florence (SIR) (http://www.sir.toscana.it). At physiological maturity stage, samples of peach- es were collected and analyzed to determine the main physicochemical, antioxidant and sensory traits. Physicochemical analysis From each fruit (N = 30 per variety), measure- ments of weight, peel and flesh color, flesh firmness (FF), total soluble solids (TSS), pH and titratable acidi- ty (TA) were determined. Fruit weight was expressed according to the following size categories (Della Strada et al., 1984): very small (≤90 g), small (91-125 g), medium (126-160 g), large (161-195 g), very large (>195 g). Peel and flesh color was evaluated using color charts according to UPOV Code (International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, Geneva) for peach. The red cover color area of peel (CC) was visually evaluated and expressed as per- centage. Firmness was assessed with a manual pen- etrometer on two peeled opposite areas at the equa- torial region of peach, using an 11-mm-wide plunger (Model 53200SP TR, TR-Turoni & C. Inc Forlì, Italy). TSS were measured using a refractometer (Model 53015C TR, TR-Turoni & C. Inc Forlì, Italy) and expressed in °Brix at room temperature. The fruit pH was recorded with the help of an electronic pH meter, and TA was determined on fruit juice by titrating a known volume of juice with 0.1N sodium hydroxide (NaOH) to pH 8.1. TA was expressed as milliequivalents of malic acid per 100 grams of fresh weight (meq malic ac. 100 g FW-1). Total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and total phenol (TP) analysis T o t a l A n t i o x i d a n t C a p a c i t y ( T A C ) a n d T o t a l Phenols (TP) analyses were carried out on the same fruits that had been previously subjected to the physicochemical determinations. Fresh fruit samples (flesh with peel) of 3 g (in triplicate) were immediate- ly frozen and stored at -20°C until extraction. The samples were homogenized using an ultra-Turrax blender at 4°C to avoid oxidation. The extraction was performed in 80% ethanol for 1 h in a shaker in the dark and subsequently centrifuged at 4°C for 10 min at 2600 g. The supernatant was used for TAC (Total antioxidant capacity) and TP (total phenol) analysis. TAC was evaluated using the improved Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) method (Arts et al., 2004). The TEAC value was calculated in rela- tion to the reactivity of Trolox, a water-soluble vita- min E analogue that was used as an antioxidant stan- dard. In the assay, 40 μl of the diluted samples, con- trols or blanks added to 1,9690 μl ABTS•+ solution, resulted in a 20-80% inhibition of the absorbance. The decrease in absorbance at 734 nm was recorded 6 min after an initial mixing, and plotted against a dose-response curve calculated for Trolox (0-30 μM). Antioxidant activity was expressed as micromoles of Trolox equivalents per gram of fresh weight (μmol TE g FW −1). Trolox was purchased from Sigma Chemical Co. (St. Louis, MO). TP content was determined according to the improved Folin-Ciocalteu (F-C) method (Waterhouse, 2001). The assay provides a rapid indication of the Bartolini et al. - Chemical characterization and sensory analysis of local peach varieties 79 antioxidant status of the studied material and is valu- able for different food samples. The standard com- pound for the calibration curve was gallic acid (GA, Sigma Chemical Co, - St. Louis, MO). Total phenol content was calculated as milligrams of GA equiva- lent (GAE) per gram of fresh fruit weight (mg GAE g FW−1). The absorbance of the blue colored solutions was read at 765 nm after incubation for 2 h at room temperature. Sensory evaluation The sensory evaluation was carried out on fruits of the varieties ‘Alberta’ and ‘Mora di Dolfo’ as they have the same harvest time (end of July) but differ- ent characteristics, such as taste, ground peel (yellow and light-green) and flesh color (yellow and white), respectively. The test was performed without visual inspection, in collaboration with blind and visually impaired persons of the ‘Blind and Visually Impaired People Italian Association’ of Lucca (Italy). This is an original experiment on stone-fruits realized for ‘going beyond the appearances’ that, to our knowledge, is the only one after an experience carried out in Sicily ( h t t p : / / w w w . c o n s o r z i o p a r s i f a l . i t ) . T a k i n g i n t o account the disability of the assessors-consumers, a tentative of protocol was established using an acceptability test, as a pertinent option for specific applications (Varela and Ares, 2012). In both years, the same 10 blind and visually impaired persons, aged between 26 and 65, performed the evaluations on the selected varieties. In order to make the evalu- ation phase easier, prior the acceptability test a short training stage (5 hours) was provided outlining methodology and procedure of the sensory method. A room equipped with individual sites was used. To each panellist, room-tempered and washed half- unpeeled anonymous peaches were served in ran- domized order, and samples were evaluated in one session. The panellist were invited to rinse the mouth with mineral water and eat saltless bread between samples, in order to avoid tiring effects. The fruit attributes evaluated were the following: shape, size, texture, aroma, sweetness, acid taste, juiciness (Shinya et al., 2014). Moreover, participants were asked to assess the fruit global appreciation. A con- tinuous non-structured 9-point hedonic scale was uti- lized for evaluation: 1= dislike extremely; 2= dislike very much; 3= dislike moderately; 4= dislike slightly; 5= neither like nor dislike; 6= like slightly; 7= like moderately; 8= like very much; 9= like extremely (Porretta, 2000). The blind judges were requested to indicate the score for each attribute and they were supported by sighted persons helping them to fill the data form. Judges were not informed about the characteristic of fruits such as peel and flesh color. Statistical analysis Physicochemical data of each variety were com- pared using a Student’s t-test analysis with two treat- ments (2014 and 2015 harvest seasons); for each sea- son, 30 repetitions/parameter were used, excluding TA and pH, where three composite samples contain- ing ten fruit per sample were considered. A two-way ANOVA analysis were performed to test the effects of year and variety on the main physicochemical and antioxidant parameters. Differences on the content of antioxidants and phenolics between the three vari- eties were investigated with the analysis of variance (ANOVA), using Tukey’s post hoc test at P≤ 0.05. A correlation analysis of antioxidant capacity versus total phenol content was calculated and correlation coefficient was reported in terms of goodness of fit. For the sensory evaluation, taking judges as factors, results were compared through the Student’s t-test analysis between harvest seasons. Spearman’s corre- lations were performed to estimate relationships among sensory and physicochemical traits of fruits. Data are reported as means ± standard errors of the means (SEM), and the analysis were all performed using the statistical package GraphPad Prism 5 (GraphPad Software, Inc.). 3. Results and Discussion Weather conditions During the fruit growth, from May to July, the considered harvest seasons were characterized by different weather conditions, in terms of tempera- tures and rainfall events (Table 1). In particular, at the final stages of fruit ripening the strongest differ- ences were observed: the amount of precipitation was consistently higher in 2014 when, only on July, more than 300 mm of rainfall occurred. This condi- tion was unusual for Lucca area in comparison to Table 1 - Monthly minimum and maximum temperatures (°C) and cumulative rainfall (mm) from May to July, over a 2-year period (2014-2015) Month 2014 2015 T. Min. T. Max. Average Rainfall T. Min. T. Max. Average Rainfall May 11.8 23.7 17.8 39.8 13.0 24.5 18.8 34.4 June 16.0 29.4 22.7 48.0 16.8 30.2 23.5 29.8 July 17.4 28.7 23.2 314.6 20.7 33.9 27.3 7.4 Average 15.1 27.3 21.2 16.8 29.5 23.2 Total rainfall 40.4 71.6 Adv. Hort. Sci., 2017 31(2): 77-84 80 average values of the last 10 years, ranging from 8.6 to 60.2 mm (SIR Toscana). The cumulative rainfall of the early summer seasons (May-July) was about 400 and 72 mm in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The sec- ond year was particularly drought and warm by mean temperatures of 4-5°C more than 2014. Physicochemical and antioxidant fruit parameters Harvest time and mean values of the main physic- ochemical traits of the peach varieties, recorded over a 2-year period, are presented in Table 2. Under the e n v i r o n m e n t o f L u c c a a r e a , t h e h a r v e s t t i m e occurred between the first (‘Regina di Bember’) and third decade of July (‘Alberta’ and ‘Mora di Dolfo’). Considering the physical traits of fruit, all varieties showed attractiveness: - ‘Alberta’ was characterized by fruit of medium size with yellow ground peel (10- 50% red cover color) and deep yellow flesh; - ‘Mora di Dolfo’ had a large fruit size, light-green peel (30- 50% red cover color) and white flesh; - ‘Regina di Bember’ had a medium-large fruit size, yellow ground peel, (50-90% extensive red cover color) and deep yellow flesh (Fig. 1). Within each variety, values of chemical parame- ters showed variations between years, particularly for soluble sugars (TSS), titratable acidity (TA) and pH. ‘Regina di Bember’ had the greatest differences in relation to the weather conditions occurred during the ripening period of the considered years. TSS ranged from about 9 to 12 °Brix, and TA changed between 8 and 6 meq malic ac. 100 g FW-1 in the wettest (2014) and driest (2015) year, respectively. As a consequence, the TSS/TA ratio varied greatly with the lowest values in the wettest year. A similar trend was recorded in ‘Alberta’ where TA changed while TSS did not differ as much. No changes in chemical parameters were observed in ‘Mora di Dolfo’, performing well under the rainy climatic con- ditions of 2014. In both years, fruits exhibited similar values in TSS (11.8-13.9 °Brix), TA (9.6-9.8 meq malic ac. 100 g FW-1) and, as a consequence, in their ratio. The ANOVA results comparing harvest year and variety effect showed significant interactions ‘year x variety’ for TA and TSS/TA (Table 3). During the latter stages of fruit development, the influence of weather *, **, ***: significant at P≤0.05, 0.01, 0.001, respectively. NS= not significant. Table 2 - Harvest time, peel and flesh color, red cover color (CC, %), and main physicochemical parameters recorded on three local peach varieties, over a 2-year period: fruit size, flesh firmness (FF, Kg/0.5 cm2), total soluble sugars (TSS, °Brix), pH, titratable acidity (TA, meq malic ac. 100 g FW-1), sugars/acids ratio (TSS/TA) Harvest time ‘Alberta’ ‘Mora di Dolfo’ ‘Regina di Bember’ end July end July early July Peel color yellow, 10-50% CC light green, 30-50% CC yellow, 50-90% CC Flesh color deep yellow white deep yellow Fruit size medium large medium-large 2014 2015 2014 2015 2014 2015 FF 1.2±0.3 1.7±0.1 3.9±0.5 5.0±0.4 2.8±0.5 3.3±0.4 TSS 10.7±0.4 11.6±0.2 11.8±0.9 13.9±0.4 9.2±0.4 12.2±0.7 * pH 3.80±0.1 4.15±0.1* 3.71±0.0 3.75±0.0 3.81±0.0 3.76±0.0 TA 10.2±0.1 6.1±0.1 * 9.6±0.1 9.8±0.1 8.3±0.1 6.2±0.1 * TSS/TA 1 1.9 * 1.2 1.4 1.1 2.0 * Fig. 1 - The peach old local varieties ‘Alberta’, ‘Mora di Dolfo’ and ‘Regina di Bember’ (originally ‘Regina di Weinberger’). Table 3 - Two-way ANOVA results. Variables: TSS (°Brix), TA (meq malic ac. 100 g FW-1), TSS/TA, TAC (μmol TE g FW-1), and TP (mg GAE g FW-1) Main effects TSS TA TSS/TA TAC TP P Year 0.0001 *** 0.0015 ** < 0.0001 *** 0.6980 NS 0.2792 NS Variety 0.0015 ** 0.0001 *** <0.0001 *** <0.0001 *** <0.0001 *** Interaction Year x Variety 0.5636 NS 0.0389 * 0.0016 ** 0.0113 * 0.2500 NS Mean±SEM. Within each variety, asterisk indicates significant differences between years by Student t-test (P≤0.05). Bartolini et al. - Chemical characterization and sensory analysis of local peach varieties 81 conditions on pomological and quality properties has been proved: among fruit quality parameters, soluble solids content can vary substantially from year to year, and rainfall and summer sunshine have been identified as the main affecting factors (Choi et al., 2003). In peach, extensive rain may reduce the sweetness, while severe water stress or regulated irrigation deficit techniques caused a soluble sugar increased, as a recognized physiological response to stress (Kwon et al., 2008). As regards TAC (Fig. 2A), related to several bioac- tive compounds such as phenolics, flavonoids, antho- cyanins and vitamin C (Gil et al., 2002), the consid- ered local varieties showed higher values than those reported in literature for commercial varieties of which, generally, only the flesh was analysed (Scalzo et al., 2005). By the contrary, our investigation assessed samples constituted by flesh with peel, frac- tion of fruit with a key role in determining the antiox- idant properties of the whole fruit (Remorini et al., 2008; Zhao et al., 2015). In both years, significant dif- ferences were observed: ‘Mora di Dolfo’ was charac- terized by the highest TAC levels, on an average of about 14 μmol TE g FW–1; ‘Alberta’ and ‘Regina di Bember’ had similar average values (8.5-9.5 μmol TE g FW–1). The TP content (Fig. 2B), likewise TAC results, was the highest in ‘Mora di Dolfo’ (about 2 GAE mg FW–1), while the other varieties showed values from 0.7 to 0.9 GAE mg FW–1. The relevant antioxidant content of the white-fleshed variety ‘Mora di Dolfo’ is in agreement with works reporting the tendency of white-fleshed cultivars to have significantly higher antioxidant content than yellow-fleshed peaches and nectarines (Cantìn et al., 2009). A significant relation- ship between TAC and TP content was found (Fig. 3), confirming phenolic compounds as important con- tributors to the antioxidant activity of peach fruits (Karav and Eksi, 2012). The similar TAC and TP values observed between years suggest that different rainfall amounts, occurred during the last growth-ripening period of fruit in 2014 (wet year) and 2015 (dry year), did not impact on the antioxidant power of varieties. These interesting results are not in agreement with studies carried out on several fruit species, where a variabili- ty in antioxidant levels in relation to climatic condi- tions has been found. In particular, the water avail- ability markedly determined changes in fruit nutri- tional properties, and a linear significant inverse rela- tionship between water status and antioxidant con- tent was reported by several authors (Leccese et al., 2010; Laribi et al., 2013; Bartolini et al., 2015 b). Also in peach (cv. Suncrest) the irrigation stress induced a Fig. 3 - Linear regression between total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and total phenols (TP) of the studied varieties (2- year period). Fig. 2 - (A) Total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and (B) total phenols (TP) in peach fruits of local varieties recorded over a 2- year period. Values (means ± SEM) are expressed for TAC as μmol of Trolox Equivalent per g of fresh weight (μmol TE g FW -1), and for TP as mg of Gallic Acid Equivalent per g of fresh weight (mg GAE g FW-1). Different letters indicate significant differences at P≤0.01. Adv. Hort. Sci., 2017 31(2): 77-84 82 higher biosynthesis of phytochemical compounds (Tavarini et al., 2011). Analysis of variance (Table 3) showed that varia- tion in TAC and TP between varieties was much greater than between harvest years, indicating that genotype plays a more important role than growing season in influencing antioxidant content in peach, as found in other fruit species (Howard et al., 2003; Leccese et al., 2012). The significant interaction ‘vari- ety x year’ for TAC revealed that environmental growing conditions may impact the capacity of geno- type to synthesise antioxidants which are influenced by biotic and abiotic factors (Biesiada and Tomczak, 2012). Although investigation on the behavior of these varieties has to be continued, the high antioxidant capacity of peaches can be considered as a part of cultivar value (Dalla Valle et al., 2007). This peculiari- ty would be crucial for breeding strategies selecting genotypes with enhanced antioxidant levels which m a y p r o v i d e h e a l t h b e n e f i t s t o c o n s u m e r s . Moreover, the availability of peach hardy genotypes will be a key factor for future, in view of the climate variability responsible of extreme event increases, such as drought or intense rainfall. Sensory evaluation The sensory evaluation, carried out by blind and visually impaired panellists over a 2-year period, was conducted on varieties ‘Alberta’ and ‘Mora di Dolfo’, characterized by yellow and white flesh color, respec- tively. Considering that color and exterior feature of fruits are nowadays important commercial sensorial traits to attract consumers (Kays, 1991), the judg- ment carried out by sightless assessors allowed to attain a real intrinsic quality evaluation of fruits. ‘Going beyond the appearances’ revealed its impor- tance particularly under the wet growing season of 2014; in fact, this condition, favoring the presence of defects on peach peel, could have prevented the consumer’s acceptance. On the basis of panellist’s appreciation, expressed as average degree of linking (1-9), the morphological parameters of fruits (shape and size) were similarly evaluated in both 2014 and 2015 (data not shown), while the organoleptic descriptors (acid taste, aroma, texture, juiciness, sweetness) were differently assessed depending on the harvest season (Table 4). Concerning the global appreciation, the lowest score was attributed in the year (2014) characterized by exceptional rainy events over the ripening period. These conditions could have negatively influenced components linked to the sensory profile, in agree- ment with authors who reported that high levels of water before harvest can reduce organoleptic quality and consumer liking degree (Navarro et al., 2010). In fact, blind and visually impaired panellists expressed the best agreement for peaches sampled in 2015 when summer drought conditions occurred. Most of descriptors showed higher scores and, particularly in ‘Mora di Dolfo’, the global appreciation was associat- ed with an increase of aroma and juiciness, as observed in other peach varieties (Di Miceli et al., 2010). Moreover, this variety could seem less suscep- tible to unfavorable climatic conditions since posi- tively judged also in 2014 (score 6.2), although chem- ical attributes (TSS, TA) were similar to ‘Alberta’ that, instead, had a lower score (5.2). It has been estab- lished that a different sensory perception of peaches could be linked not only to basic organic components (sugars, organic acids, fibers, micro and macro ele- ments) but in great part to the volatile compounds, which define the flavor impact (Bononi et al., 2012). The correlation coefficient (Table 5) between global appreciation and some sensory and physico- chemical traits of peaches showed that panel’s acceptability was highly and positively correlated with aroma, sweetness and TSS. Moreover, these attributes were significantly correlated each other Scores were based on a nine-point hedonic scale: 1= extremely dislike; 5= neither like nor dislike; and 9= extremely likeWithin years asterisk indicates significant differences between varieties by Student t-test (P≤0.05). Table 4 - Mean scores (acid taste, aroma, texture, juiciness, sweetness and global appreciation) recorded for peach varieties ‘Alberta’ and ‘Mora di Dolfo’, over a 2-year period Variety/year Ac. Taste Aroma Texture Juiciness Sweetness Glob. appr. 2014 ‘Alberta’ 4.0±0.5 5.4±0.7 5.8±0.4 5.8±0.6 5.4±0.7 5.2±0.6 ‘Mora di Dolfo’ 4.8±1.1 6.2±0.8 5.4±0.9 6.8±0.5 6.2±0.8 6.2±1.0 2015 ‘Alberta’ 2.8±0.5 5.8±0.6 5.0±0.5 7.0±0.4 5.7±0.7 6.0±0.4 ‘Mora di Dolfo’ 3.3±0.6 7.7±0.2 * 5.3±0.5 8.0±0.1* 7.3±0.5* 7.3±0.3 * Table 5 - Coefficients of correlation between scores of global appreciation and some sensory and physicochemical traits of peach fruits Attributes R Spearman Acid taste 0.1 Aroma 0.99* Juiciness 0.8 Sweetness 0.99* Texture -0.4 TSS 0.99* TSS/TA 0.4 Significant coefficients are denoted by an asterisk at P≤0.05. Bartolini et al. - Chemical characterization and sensory analysis of local peach varieties 83 (Table 6), confirming TSS as one of the most impor- tant quality indicators in determining acceptance judgments for peaches, due to its influence on the perceived sweetness (Crisosto et al., 2006). On the contrary, texture appeared inversely related to global appreciation. The comparison between sensory and the main chemical attributes showed significant rela- tionships: sweetness and aroma and total soluble sugars content were directly related each other. 4. Conclusions The three local peach varieties showed interesting quality traits as well as a very high antioxidant con- tent in both studied growth-ripening seasons. The capacity to maintain the bioactive components of fruits also under unfavorable weather events con- firms the importance of old genotypes to be more stable in comparison to modern ones (Donno et al., 2012). The white-fleshed ‘Mora di Dolfo’, characterized by the highest TAC and TP content, was particularly appreciated by panellists for its excellent eating qual- ity denoted by aroma, sweetness and well balanced sugar/acid ratio. Although fruits of this variety are perishable, like the most white-fleshed peach vari- eties, it could represent a valid hardiness genotype for farmers who are focused to establish local mar- kets where consumers are obviously willing to pay a premium price for niche products. This variety, as source of appreciable attributes, could be useful for specific breeding programs to develop new peach cultivars combining quality traits, hedonic and enhanced nutritional value, actually of high relevance for the consumer. The new sensory analysis, carried out by blind and visually impaired assessors, provided a quality evalu- ation linked to intrinsic rather than exterior charac- teristics of peaches that could prevent consumers if defects in appearance are present. This type of test could represent a valid tool to assess the interest and appreciation of fruits for a conscious consumer’s choice, going beyond the appearances, for a reintro- duction of interesting ancient peach varieties charac- terized by unconventional fruit quality traits. Acknowledgements Research partially supported by ‘Comune di Capannori (Lucca)’. Thanks to ‘Unione Italiana Ciechi e Ipovedenti di Lucca’ for kindly participation to the panel test. References A R T S M . J . T . J . , D A L L I N G A J . S . , V O S S H . P . , H A E N E N G.R.M.M., BAST A, 2004 - A new approach to assess the total antioxidant capacity using the TEAC assay. - Food Chem., 88: 567-570. BARTOLINI S., LECCESE A., VITI R., 2015 b - Quality and antioxidant properties of apricot fruits at ready-to-eat: i n f l u e n c e o f t h e w e a t h e r c o n d i t i o n s u n d e r Mediterranean coastal area. - J. Food Process Technol., 7(1): 1-6. 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