# Duality and Flavor of 'Aliza' Fruit: A Unique Pomelo \(\times\) Mandarin Hybrid
## 4 Discussion  
The main goal of the current research was to characterize the fruit quality and flavor traits of 'Aliza', which is a new pomelo \(\times\) mandarin hybrid (_Citrus maxima_ cv. Red Chandler \(\times\)_Citrus reticulata_ cv. Ora) developed by the Israeli citrus breeding program, as compared to other commercially grown citrus fruits, specifically grapefruit, pomelo, orange and mandarin. The evaluations included general quality parameters and sensory evaluations by human panels and an e-tongue, as well as a biochemical analysis of the composition of aroma volatiles. Fruit quality evaluations revealed that 'Aliza' fruits are somewhat similar to grapefruits in their physical traits (i.e., fruit weight, height, diameter and shape), but have a thinner peel, as well as the highest juice content of all of the examined citrus fruits (Table 1). 'Aliza' fruits also have a unique yellowish/gold color that is distinct from the colors of all of the other citrus fruits (Table 1, Figure 1). It is worth noting that 'Aliza' fruits are also completely seedless. Thus, altogether, in terms of quality traits, 'Aliza' fruits are different from other citrus fruits (Figure 2). To examine the sensory quality of 'Aliza' fruits, we conducted various human and instrumental sensory tests, including descriptive tests conducted with the aid of a trained panel, consumer acceptance and preference tests, and a sensory test using an e-tongue. The descriptive tests revealed that 'Aliza' fruits have a unique flavor profile that is different from those of all of the other examined citrus fruits. The 'Aliza' flavor is characterized by high sweetness, low sourness, moderate bittermess, high juiciness and high freshness, as well as citrusy and tropical odors (Figure 3). More detailed descriptions regarding the flavor characteristics of citrus fruit are discussed elsewhere [15]. In a previous study, we reported that the flavor profile of 'Aliza' juice was different from those of orange and grapefruit juices [9]. However, in the current study, we evaluated the flavor of the fruit (i.e., the flavor of cut segments), as opposed to the flavor of extracted juices, and compared 'Aliza' fruit to pomelo and mandarin, in addition to orange and grapefruit. Overall, the current results confirm the previous finding that 'Aliza' fruits have a unique flavor profile that differs from the flavor profiles of other citrus fruits. We also conducted consumer acceptance and preference tests among 90 untrained participants. In those tests, 'Aliza' fruit achieved the highest acceptance score and was most preferred among all of the tested citrus fruits (Figure 5). Again, these results are in agreement with those of our previous study, in which 'Aliza' juice received the highest  
Figure 8: Biplot PCA chart of the aroma volatile contents of ‘Aliza’, grapefruit, pomelo, orange and mandarin. The marked ellipses indicate the 95% probability that a new observation from the same group will fall inside the ellipse. acceptance score and was most preferred among 'Aliza', orange and grapefruit juices [9]. The flavor profile of 'Aliza' fruit was further evaluated using an e-tongue and that objective instrumental measurement also confirmed that the flavor profile of 'Aliza' fruits is different from those of all of the other examined citrus fruits (Figures 6 and 7). E-tongue has also recently been used as a freshness indicator for citrus fruit [22]. GC-MS analysis of aroma volatiles revealed that 'Aliza' juice has lower volatile levels than orange juice and mandarin juice, mainly due to its lower levels of monoterpenes and sesquiterpennes. Overall, the aroma volatiles' profile of the 'Aliza' juice was more similar to those of grapefruit juice and pomelo juice and less similar to those of orange and mandarin juice (Table 2, Figure 8). Despite its unique flavor, we have not detected any specific aroma volatiles that are unique to 'Aliza' fruit.