Peaches (Prunus persica L.) are a popular and sought-after dessert fruit. This is mainly due to their flavour, aroma, attractive appearance, and high content of substances that play an important role in human nutrition. The present study was carried out to determine some important analytical properties (sugars/sucrose, glucose, fructose and sorbitol), total acid, total phenolics, flavonoids, antioxidant capacity, carotenoids and anthocyanins of 34 selected peach varieties. The analyses are also complemented by colorimetric measurements of peach skin colour using CIELAB and other chromatic parameters. The results show, for example, that all peach varieties are good sources of phenolic compounds (9.43–577 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE).100 g−1), flavonoids (1.12–95.1 mg catechin equivalent (CAE).100 g−1), and antioxidant capacity (136–462 mg Trolox equivalent (TE).100 g−1).

Broccoli sprouts contain 10–100 times higher levels of sulforaphane than mature plants, something that has been well known since 1997. Sulforaphane has a whole range of unique biological properties, and it is especially an inducer of phase 2 detoxication enzymes. Therefore, its use has been intensively studied in the field of health and nutrition. The formation of sulforaphane is controlled by the epithiospecifier protein, a myrosinase co-factor, which is temperature-specific. This paper studies the influence of temperature, heating time, the addition of myrosinase in the form of Raphanus sativus sprouts in constant ratio to broccoli sprouts, and other technological steps on the final sulforaphane content in broccoli sprout homogenates. These technological steps are very important for preserving sulforaphane in broccoli sprouts, but there are some limitations concerning the amount of sulforaphane. We focused, therefore, on the extraction process, using suitable β-cyclodextrin, hexane and ethanol, with the goal of increasing the amount of sulforaphane in the final extract, thus stabilizing it and reducing the required amount sulforaphane needed, e.g., as a dietary supplement.

AbstractŠNURKOVIČ PETR: Quality assessment of fruit juices by NIR spectroscopy. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 2013, LXI, No. 3, pp. 803-812

The Actinidia genus includes a number of commercial fruit species with a wide range of countries of origin. Some species such as A. arguta or A. kolomikta are characterized by a high level of resistance to frost. The aim of this study was to compare the fruit of selected cultivars of kiwiberry. In the kiwiberry fruit, sucrose was the predominant type of sugar. Citric acid was dominant in all samples; it was most represented in the pulp of kiwiberry seedlings and in the skin of kiwiberry ‘Issai’. Kiwiberry fruits feature a higher ascorbic acid content in the skin in comparison with the commercial A. chinensis cultivars. Antioxidant activity of kiwiberry fruit skin was up to 18 times higher than that of the pulp. In view of the kiwiberry fruit having no hair, it is possible to eat the whole fruit, including the skin containing substances beneficial to health.

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