Thinning pruning is a process in modern viticulture to improve product quality when grapes are still in the immature fruit stage. Unripe grapes, which are waste, are mostly consumed locally as verjuices to meet domestic demand. This study aims to optimize a more efficient “green” technique for the extraction of total phenolic compounds (TPC) and antioxidant capacity (AC) from three varieties of unripe grape juice by response surface method (RSM) using ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE). The influence of temperature (25–65°C) and extraction time (5–30 min) on total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant capacity (DPPH and CUPRAC) was investigated. In this study, physicochemical properties, mineral composition, phenolic and organic acid components of three different verjuices were also investigated. As a result, the optimal extraction points for extraction time (12 min) and temperature (30°C) were determined. All independent variables were found to be significantly effective on TPC and AC content during UAE. Verjuices are a rich source of antioxidants, phenols, organic acids, minerals, and vitamin C. This study is expected to contribute to the evaluation of unripe grape wastes, which are very rich in bioactive components, and to increase its economic potential by expanding local production, thus contributing to sustainable agri-food processing.

This research was carried out in the greenhouses of Pamukkale University Menderes Basin Agricultural Application and Research Centre in order to determine the effects of different blossom pruning on yield and quality in Ayza F1 tomato cultivars. The experiment consisted three different applications; pruning group having 6 fruits in flower bunch, pruning group having 7 fruits in flower bunch and control group without pruning. As the quality criterion in the tomato cultivar, total amount of water soluble dry matter (TWSDM %), pH, titratable acidity (TA mval 100 ml-1), hardness of fruit flesh (Newton) and antioxidant content (%) were determined. In addition, fruit diameter (cm), fruit length (mm) and weight (g) were detected. Yield parameters such as total yield (g plant-1), marketable yield (g plant-1), number of fruits (number plant-1), average fruit weight (g fruit-1) were considered detailed. Flower pruning having 6 fruits was prominent in terms of marketable yield, fruit weight, fruit diameter, fruit length and dry matter (DM) values. The effects of the applications on the quality characteristics such as fruit index, TWSDM and pH were found to be insignificant and their effects on DM, TA, fruit flesh hardness and antioxidant amount were detected to be significant.