Characterization and Flavor Assessment of Sugar and Acid Components in Hybrid Triploid Jujube Fruit

As a traditional fruit with both medicine/food, homolog,jujube is widely favored for its rich sugar content and distinctive flavor profile.Notably, triploid jujube germplasms exhibit enhanced sugar and acid accumulation patterns attributable to the effects of ploidy. To elucidate these flavor characteristics, we employed HPLC to quantify soluble sugars and organic acids in 72 triploid jujube offspring.The results showed that the sugar in triploid fruits was mainly composed of sucrose, fructose and glucose, The average proportions were 64.04%, 17.87% and 18.09% respectively. Malic acid, citric acid and ascorbic acid were the main organic acids in the fruit, accounting for about 73.80% in total. Notably, the solid-acid ratio of the fruit ranged from 31.91 to 131.05, with a coefficient of variation of 34.04%.Integration of correlation and PCA analysis identified six core flavor determinants.Through systematic cluster analysis, the 72 offspring were clearly classified into four flavor types.Establishment of critical TSS/TA thresholds at 50 and 90 enabled effective discrimination among distinct flavor chemotypes. Based on this, a digital quantitative flavor grading system was constructed.This study not only established a standardized system for evaluating the flavor of triploid jujube fruits, but also provided a theoretical basis for improving the scientific flavor evaluation of triploid jujube fruits.scientific flavor evaluation. • This was the first study to elucidate the sugar and acid components in triploid jujube. • This study assessed the impact of sugar and acid on the flavor profile of triploid jujube fruits. • This study established a scientific system for the flavor evaluation index of triploid jujube fruits.