As you may have noticed, strawberries grown in your home garden or organic farm tend to taste better than the regular supermarket varieties. According to new research, the use of over-the-counter disinfectants may be to blame.
Bactericides work by disrupting fungal cellular processes and inhibiting fungal growth. Researchers at the China Agricultural University suspected that the chemicals may also have had a negative impact on strawberry plants to which they were applied, preventing the berries from reaching their “full potential.”
Scientists led by Jinling Diao have grown three groups. Fragaria x Pineapple Dutch strawberries under the same conditions. One group was left untreated as a control and the other two groups were treated with one of two commonly used fungicides, boscalid (BOS) and difenoconazole (DIF), but the berries were still Green.
All three groups produced berries that were the same size and color.
That said, the two groups of berries treated with fungicides had lower levels of soluble sugars (such as sucrose) and nutrients (such as vitamin C), and taller than Not-so-sweet acid levels. Additionally, berries had reduced levels of compounds such as esters and terpenes that create the distinctive strawberry aroma.
For BOS-treated plants, laboratory analysis reveals that the fungicide “directly affects the regulation of genes involved in cellular pathways associated with the production of sugars, volatile compounds, nutrients and amino acids.” became.
And not surprisingly, in blind taste tests, volunteers consistently preferred untreated control strawberries.
A paper on this study was recently published in Journal of Agro-Food Chemistry.
Source: American Chemical Society
