Articles
Nutraceutical and quality characterization of local Italian apple cultivars
Article number
1297_44
Pages
323 – 326
Language
English
Abstract
Apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) fruit is rich in health promoting antioxidant compounds such as phenolic compounds.
In the last years, the growing interest in healthy fruit properties has led to the development of actions for the recovery and valorization of local varieties.
This study was aimed to characterize the quality traits and nutraceutical properties of peel and flesh of 11 Italian local apple varieties currently conserved at the National Fruit Tree Germplasm at CREA-OFA of Rome, in comparison with the commercial Golden Delicious. Total soluble solids (TSS) were measured by digital refractometer and titratable acidity (TA) by volumetric titration.
The antioxidant activity (AA) was measured by the DPPH∙ assay and the determination of total phenolic compounds (TPC) was performed spectrophotometrically applying a Folin-Ciocalteau method.
The cultivars Abbondanza Rossa, and Carbunè showed higher TA in respect to all the others, while not significant differences were found among all the other cultivars analyzed.
Both AA and TPC were significantly higher in the peel than in the flesh in all the cultivars and vary in relation to the genotype.
In peel, the highest AA was found in the local Italian cultivar San Piero Rosso which also showed the highest TPC content together with Carbunè. In flesh the highest AA was found in Carbunè. This preliminary study represents a contribution toward the re-valuation of ancient apple cultivars as potential source of bioactive compounds with health properties and of genes for breeding programs.
In the last years, the growing interest in healthy fruit properties has led to the development of actions for the recovery and valorization of local varieties.
This study was aimed to characterize the quality traits and nutraceutical properties of peel and flesh of 11 Italian local apple varieties currently conserved at the National Fruit Tree Germplasm at CREA-OFA of Rome, in comparison with the commercial Golden Delicious. Total soluble solids (TSS) were measured by digital refractometer and titratable acidity (TA) by volumetric titration.
The antioxidant activity (AA) was measured by the DPPH∙ assay and the determination of total phenolic compounds (TPC) was performed spectrophotometrically applying a Folin-Ciocalteau method.
The cultivars Abbondanza Rossa, and Carbunè showed higher TA in respect to all the others, while not significant differences were found among all the other cultivars analyzed.
Both AA and TPC were significantly higher in the peel than in the flesh in all the cultivars and vary in relation to the genotype.
In peel, the highest AA was found in the local Italian cultivar San Piero Rosso which also showed the highest TPC content together with Carbunè. In flesh the highest AA was found in Carbunè. This preliminary study represents a contribution toward the re-valuation of ancient apple cultivars as potential source of bioactive compounds with health properties and of genes for breeding programs.
Authors
D. Ceccarelli, E. Caboni
Keywords
anthocyanins, antioxidant activity, Malus domestica Borkh., total phenolic compounds, titratable acidity, total soluble solids
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