Comparative study of six pear cultivars in terms of their phenolic and vitamin C contents and antioxidant capacity

Abstract

The main phenolic compounds in six pear cultivars were identified and quantified using high-performance liquid chromatography/diode array detection (HPLC/DAD) and HPLC/electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESIMS). Major quantitative differences were found in the phenolic profiles. The peel contained higher concentrations of chlorogenic acid, flavonols and arbutin than the flesh, where only chlorogenic acid was detected. Total phenolics ranged from 1235 to 2005 mg kg −1 in the peel and from 28 to 81 mg k g −1 in the flesh. Ascorbic acid and dehydroascorbic acid were detected in the peel, whereas only dehydroascorbic acid was present in the flesh. The ranges of vitamin C content were from 116 to 228 mg kg −1 in the peel and from 28 to 53 mg kg −1 in the flesh. The antioxidant capacity was correlated with the content of chlorogenic acid (r = 0.46), while ascorbic acid made only a small contribution to the total antioxidant capacity of the fruit.

Biochemical and pomological assessment of European pear accessions from Bosnia and Herzegovina

“…Mioljnjača, cultivars that are best in terms of the content of total phenols and flavonoids and antioxidant activity are cvs Žutica, Poljakinja, Karamut and Gradišćanka. Although ascorbic acid also has antioxidant activity because it protects membranes from lipid peroxidation (Shewfelt, Del Rosario 2000), given the very low concentration in all studied varieties, it is assumed that there is no significant impact on the total antioxidant activity, which is in line with the conclusions of the study on Chilean pear varieties (Galvic-Sanches et al 2003). In comparison with an overview of pear cultivars from Turkey, where the soluble solids content ranged from 7-15°Brix (Bostan 2009), it can be said that the content of SSC in cultivars from B&H is significant (13.51-18.90°Brix), especially because this is a very important characteristics of fruit quality for consumers.…”

“…Values of some of the studied traits were lower and some were higher than in standard varieties (Sanches et al 2003;Kevers et al 2011). Although the studied varieties showed lower levels of vitamin C compared to standard varieties (Sanches et al 2003;Kevers et al 2011) or even other grown fruits (Venkatachalam et al 2014), this can be explained, to a certain degree, by large difference in the content of vitamin C in the skin and flesh of the fruit (Sanches et al 2003).…”

Extraction of arbutin and its comparative content in branches, leaves, stems, and fruits of Japanese pear Pyrus pyrifolia cv. Kousui

“…The presence of arbutin in the peel and flesh of six types of Chilean pear has been reported to only be in the peel. 14) Similar results have also been obtained for oriental pear, peel containing the highest concentration among all parts examined (1.2 mg/g of fresh weight, averaged from 14 types of oriental pear, including P. bretschnrideri).…”

Effect of maturity on the phenolic compositions of pear juice and cell wall effects on procyanidins transfer

“…The only flavan-3-ols monomer detected was (À)-epicatechin as observed by Le Bourvellec et al (2013). Hydroxycinammic acids were represented by 5-caffeolyquinic acid, which has been reported as the main hydroxycinammic acid in pears (Galvis S anchez, Gil-Izquierdo, & Gil, 2003;Le Bourvellec et al, 2013;Li et al, 2012;Yim & Nam, 2016). Flavonols, located in the peel, mainly quercetin and isorhamnetin glucosides, were present in low quantities <40 mg/kg FW for both cultivars.…”