Study of polyphenols, antioxidant capacity and minerals for the valorisation of ancient apple cultivars from Northeast I
- PDF / 1,544,198 Bytes
- 11 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 107 Downloads / 166 Views
ORIGINAL PAPER
Study of polyphenols, antioxidant capacity and minerals for the valorisation of ancient apple cultivars from Northeast Italy Raffaella Preti1 · Anna Maria Tarola1 Received: 23 July 2020 / Revised: 22 September 2020 / Accepted: 27 September 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Nutritional properties and quality of apple fruits can be related to presence of secondary metabolite contents such as phytochemicals and mineral elements. In this paper, eight polyphenols, four major minerals (Na, K, Mg, Ca), total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity were determined in fourteen ancient apple cultivars grown in Friuli Venezia Giulia (Northeast Italy) to highlight their nutraceutical properties. Both apple peel and pulp were examined separately and results were compared to those of six widespread commercial cultivars using principal component analysis. Ancient apples had much higher content in healthful compounds with respect to commercial varieties, particularly in the peel. Ancient cultivars showed a superior antioxidant capacity in peel (3- to 9- fold) and in pulp (2- to 5-fold) compared to commercial cultivars, with a good correlation with total phenolic content (R = 0.83 in peel and 0.69 in pulp). The polyphenols that mostly characterized the ancient apples pulp were catechins and flavonols. Regarding macro elements, K and Mg content were higher in ancient cultivars, while Na and Ca showed no significant differences. In the perspective of a sustainable economic and social development of local agricultural realities, these results contribute to the valorisation of ancient local apple cultivars as invaluable reservoir of genetic biodiversity to be promoted as functional food or exploited in breeding novel apple hybrids with high nutraceutical properties and better resistance to parasites. Keywords Polyphenols · Minerals · Ancient cultivars · Antioxidant capacity · Apple · Principal component analysis
Introduction Apple (Malus × domestica Borkh) is one of the most appreciated fruit consumed worldwide. Its success is linked above all to its good taste, availability all year round and nutritional properties. Apple can be evaluated for its nutraceutical properties that can be related, more than to a specific compound, to its whole phytocomplex. Polyphenols have gained special attention in fruit and vegetables because their association with an improved antioxidant activity both in vitro and in vivo related to their ability to scavenge free radicals [1, 2]. The main polyphenols found in apples are anthocyanins, dihydrochalcones, flavanols, flavonols, hydroxybenzoic acid and hydroxycinnamic acid that play an important role in the healthful properties of apples [3–5]. * Raffaella Preti [email protected] 1
Department of Management, Laboratory of Commodity Science, Sapienza University of Rome, Via del Castro Laurenziano 9, 00161 Rome, Italy
Mineral ions are of prime importance in determining the fruit nutritional value, the major ones being potassium (K), calcium (Ca), sodium (Na) and magnesium (M
Data Loading...
