Bilberry wild superberry

from Europe
Laura Jaakola
Climate laboratorium
University of Troms & Bioforsk Nord

Eivind Uleberg, Inger Martinussen

Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and

Environmental Research, Bioforsk Nord Holt

Climate laboratory, UiT & Bioforsk

- Location 69 39 N
- 6 day light and 4 dark phytotrons
- Temperature from +6 C to 27 C
(0,5 C to 27 in the dark rooms)
- Light intensity, quality and
photoperiod can be adjusted

Troms

Main research interests:

Wild/forest berries
Biosynthesis of phenolic compounds and
ascorbic acid
Regulation of berry development
Gene x environment interaction in
anthocyanin production
Genetic diversity
Authenticity

Background
About 50 wild berries are growing in the area
of Nordic countries
37 edible
20 generally picked and utilized
Most important lingonberry (Vaccinium vitisidaea) bilberry (V. Myrtillus) and cloudberry
(Rubus chamaemorus)
Wild berries are traditional raw material for
the area that could be utilized better
From cultivated berries most important are
strawberries, currants and rasberry

Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.)

Belongs to the most common and most important
wild berry species in boreal forest
Contains high yields of antocyanin pigments
> widely used in health products (eye health,
cardiovascular and age related diseases, cancer, II
II type diabets)
Export of Finland and Sweden around 13 000
tons/year

Bilberry is one of the

best sources of
anthocyanins

HPLC profile of anthocyanins in bilberry:

15 different anthocyanidin glycosides
+ flavonols + proanthocyanidins

Kaisu Riihinen; Phenolic Compounds in Berries, 2005, Univ. Kuopio, Finland

Anthocyanin biosynthesis
in bilberry

Anthocyanins as aglycon (mg/kg fresh weight)

4500
4000

: anthocyanins
: proanthocyanins

3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Flower

Small green

Green with
red spots

Green and
red

Red

Jaakola et al.(2002) Plant Physiol. 130:729-739

Ripe

Environmental and genetic regulation of

anthocyanin biosynthesis in bilberry
Many recent studies show that
towards north bilberries contain
higher levels of anthocyanins
(Ltti et al. 2008, 2010,
kerstrm et al. 2010, Martz et
al. 2010)
Also qualitative differences
Role of climate?
Ltti et al. 2008

kerstrm A, Jaakola L, Bng U, Jderlund A. (2010) Effects of Latitude related factors and geographical origin on
anthocyanidin concentration in fruits of Vaccinium myrtillus L. (Bilberries). Journal of Agriculture and Food
Chemistry, 58:11939-11945.

Effect of light conditions and temperature

on production and quality of bilberry

12 C, 24 h light
12 C, 24 h light + red light
2 Northern clones
12 C, 12 h light
2 Southern clones
18 C, 24 h light
18 C, 24 h light + red light
18 C, 12 h light

-> More anthocyanins in 18 C, especially in northern clones

-> More delphinidins in 12 C

-> More anthocyanins in 24h day length
-> More anthocyanins in northern clones

Uleberg E., Rohloff J., Jaakola L., Trost K, Hggman H., Junttila O. and Martinussen I. (2012) Effects of temperature
and photoperiod on yield and chemical composition of northern and southern clones of bilberry (Vaccinium
myrtillus L.). Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, 60:10406-10414.

Authenticity
Authenticity is important part of
the quality assurance
-> there is demand for new methods
Between species vs. inside same
species
Raw material vs. products
DNA-based methods
Flavonoid profile based methods
Other methods

Jaakola L., Suokas M., Hggman H. (2010) Novel approaches based on DNA
barcoding and high-resolution melting of amplicons for authenticity analyses of
berry species. Food Chemistry, 123:494-500.

Primetta A., Jaakola L., Ayaz F., Inceer H., Riihinen K. (2013) Anthocyanin
fingerprinting for authenticity studies of bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) Food
Control, 30:662-667.

Strengthen and draw attention

to Nordic food and Nordic food
culture.
Create a common understanding
for the value of Nordic ingredients
and a vision for the development
of Nordic food culture.
Purity, freshness, simplicity.

Bilberry towards functional food markets (2007-2009)

Project coordination:
University of Oulu
Prof. Hely Hggman

FINLAND

SWEDEN

Univ. Oulu
Arctic Flavours
MTT

SLU
Ume
Balsgrd

NORWAY

Bioforsk
Univ. Troms
Biolink

ICELAND

NordGen

Agric. Univ.

1. WP
Networking

2. WP
Marketing
research

3. WP
Quality aspects

FINLAND

DENMARK

Nordic Jam Oy
Kiantama Oy / Biokia Oy
Lapin Liha Oy

Danish Berry Board

UK

SWEDEN

Norrmejerier
Olle Svensson AB
Polarica AB
Skogsmat I Uddehol AB

NORWAY
The Royal Norw. Society for
Development

SCRI
Univ. Nottingham
Unilever

Information collected of:

- Structure of wild berry industry in
Nordic countries
- Raw material supply
- Importance of co-operation in
marketing and brand development

http://www.oulu.fi/nordicbilberry/
Wild%20berry%20marketing%20sur
vey%20report.pdf

Future prospects
Semicultivation/cultivation of bilberry
->Selection of the best clones for breeding programs

To develop new methods for annual crop yield

estimations
To develop better logistics for berry picking
To focus also on other health beneficial compounds
To utilize all plant parts
To develop new methods for the authenticity and
quality assurance
Increased co-operation between all actors in the
wild berry field

Thank you for the attention!