Distribution of aroma volatile compounds in different parts of mango fruit

`Kensington Prideʹ mango (Mangifera indica L.) fruit were harvested at the fully ripe stage to investigate the composition of aroma volatile compounds in different parts of the fruit, including skin, outer mesocarp, inner mesocarp, top mesocarp, middle mesocarp and bottom mesocarp. The aroma volatile compounds were extracted by headspace solid-phase micro-extraction (HS-SPME) and analysed using a gas chromatograph fitted with a flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and a gas chromatograph-mass spectrophotometer (GC-MS). The skin, outer mesocarp and top mesocarp contained higher concentrations of total aroma volatile compounds (21169-25596 (mu)g kg-1) and monoterpenes (20349-23899 (mu)g kg-1) than did other parts of the fruit (3821-16354, 2882-15021 (mu)g kg-1, respectively). Both qualitatively (based on total numbers of identified compounds) and quantitatively, monoterpenes were the most abundant class of compounds found in the skin as well as in the pulp of ripe fruit. Sesquiterpenes were the second most abundant compounds qualitatively in the skin as well as in the pulp, followed by esters, aldehydes, aromatics, alcohols, norisoprenoid and lactone. Sesquiterpene concentrations were higher (279 (mu)g kg-1) in the top mesocarp than in other parts of the fruit (44.2-211.7 (mu)g kg-1). Four sesquiterpenes, germacrene-D, a-guaiene, a-muurolene and a-amorphene were detected only in the skin. In quantity, esters were the second most abundant compounds in the skin as well as in the pulp. There were more esters in the outer mesocarp than in other parts of the fruit. The skin also exhibited higher concentrations of norisoprenoid, alkanes and aldehydes (2.19, 0.63, 78.05 (mu)g kg-1, respectively) as compared with other parts of the fruit (61.83-67.78 (mu)g kg-1) respectively. Overall, most of the aroma volatile compounds seem to be concentrated in the outer and top part of the mango fruit.