Abstract
Mature cactus pears from Opuntia stricta have a dark purple color due to high betacyanin concentration, whose biosynthesis is initiated with the amino acid L-tyrosine as a primary precursor. This study followed the maturation and ripening processes of Opuntia stricta fruits to harvest them at high betacyanin and other antioxidant concentrations. Fruits lasted 9months for final ripening. Physical and compositional changes at different maturation and ripening stages have been determined. Thus, ripe fruits were around 4.72 ± 0.10cm length, 2.94 ± 0.05cm diameter and 22.71 ± 0.20g weight; moisture and pH were maintained at 87.05 ± 0.19% and 3.37 ± 0.12, respectively. Purple pigment production started in the ovary of immature fruits fourmonths after anthesis (MAA). Concentration of all analyzed metabolites increased from immature (4 MAA) until ripe (9 MAA) stage. In ripe fruits, reducing sugars were 4.72 ± 0.54g/100g ff and total phenols 135.17 ± 0.68mg gallic acid/100g ff. Metabolites identified by HPLC were the betacyanins: betanin (60.17 ± 1.08mg/100g ff), isobetanin (7.58 ± 0.94mg/100g ff) and betanidin (13.48 ± 0.87mg/100g ff). Also, L-ascorbic acid (35.03 ± 1.06mg/100g ff) and L-tyrosine (4.43 ± 0.73mg/100g ff) were determined. Furthermore, the addition of L-tyrosine or L-dopa to fruit pulp of moderately ripe fruits, increased betacyanin concentrations 17 (103.3 ± 3.8mg/100g) and 32% (114.3 ± 4.1mg/100g), respectively.
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