The intensity of the cluster drop affects the bioactive compounds and fatty acid composition in hazelnuts

This study was conducted to determine how the intensity of the cluster drop effects nut traits, bioactive compounds, and fatty acid composition in Tombul, Palaz and Kalınkara hazelnut cultivars. The cluster drop significantly affected bioactive compounds and fatty acid composition while it did not affect the traits of the nuts. As cluster drop intensity increased, nut traits and bioactive compounds in all cultivars increased. Strong cluster drop intensity determined the highest total phenolics, total flavonoids, and antioxidant activity. Except for the Kalınkara cultivar, a low amount of linoleic acid was detected while high amounts of oleic and stearic acid were determined in slight cluster drop intensity. As cluster drop intensity increased, palmitic acid increased. Principal component analysis showed that the slight and intermediate drop intensity were generally associated with kernel length, oleic, linoleic, stearic, palmitoleic, 11-eicosenoic and arachidic acids. In contrast, strong intensity was associated with nut and kernel weight, kernel ratio, kernel width, kernel thickness, kernel size, bioactive compounds, and palmitic acid. As a result, the bioactive compounds and fatty acid composition, which are important for human health, was significantly affected by cluster drop intensity.