Associations between Fruit Mineral Composition and Polyphenol Profiles across 140 Dessert Apple Cultivars (Malus...

Apple polyphenols are key determinants of fruit quality and potential health-related properties, yet their association with fruit mineral composition remains insufficiently characterized at the cultivar scale. We quantified five minerals (K, S, P, Mg, Ca) by ICP-OES and 13 polyphenol variables by HPLC-MS across 140 dessert apple cultivars (Malus domestica) grown under common conditions. FDR-corrected Pearson correlations revealed selective, compound-specific patterns, with potassium and phosphorus showing the strongest positive associations with chlorogenic acid (K: r = 0.55, q = 1.2 × 10-10; P: r = 0.43, q = 2.7 × 10-6), both robust under Spearman analysis. Partial correlations identified potassium as the dominant independent correlate (partial r = 0.39, q = 6.5 × 10-5), while phosphorus, sulfur, and magnesium associations reflected collinearity with potassium. PLS showed only modest coupling (Q2 ≈ 0.06, R2Y ≈ 0.13). Exploratory sulfur-chlorogenic acid and calcium-cyanidin patterns remain preliminary; findings represent cultivar-scale associations, not orchard-management recommendations.