PREDICTING THE VITAMIN C CONTENT IN SOUR CHERRY FRUITS IN THE WASTE-FREE CHAIN OF FOOD RAW MATERIALS

Abstract

The current conditions encourage producers to introduce competitive crops into the production of fruit products with simultaneous formation of consumer properties, high nutritional and biological value with the aim of further improving the waste-free chain of fruit raw materials. The problem of forming and selecting high-quality stone fruit in the humanitarian context is becoming increasingly important and their non-wasteful use. Preserving and consuming fruits with a high content of biological active substances is crucial in areas characterized by natural disasters, sudden and protracted conflicts. The south of the Steppe zone of Ukraine is currently a region of constant vulnerability and instability, so the issue of saturating the market with fruit, in particular sour cherries with a high content of essential minerals and vitamins, requires special attention. Vitamin C is one of the most valuable natural antioxidants contained in sour cherries. Currently, there is a growing interest in the need to select not only crops but also individual varieties with higher vitamin C content. In view of this, the purpose of our research was to provide scientific substantiation of the influence of abiotic weather factors and varietal characteristics on the accumulation of vitamin C in sour cherry fruits and to present a mathematical model, the analysis of which will reveal weather parameters in the conditions that affect the formation of the studied indicator in fruits. Predicting one of the fruit's phytonutrients at the stage of fruit formation will allow for the distribution of raw materials in advance for a waste-free fruit chain and in the humanitarian context, and will offer sour cherry varieties for long-term storage and production of various types of processing. According to the results of experimental studies, it was determined that the optimal average content of ascorbic acid at the level of 9.59% and the variability of the indicator – 14.0% were characterized by the fruits of the variety "Vstrecha". It was determined that the weather conditions (factor A) with a share of influence of 69.2% are crucial for the formation of the ascorbic acid fund. The correlation analysis showed the existence of a linear correlation between the seven weather factors (Хі, i=1..7) and the content of ascorbic acid (Y2) in sour cherry fruits. The values of the paired correlation coefficients ry1xi, ry2xii=1…7 are within the interval [– 0,55; 0,55], which shows the presence of an influence between these weather factors and the studied indicators. For the formation of the ascorbic acid fund, the average monthly precipitation in May was determined to be a crucial abiotic factor -Δx1 – 37,11%.