BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF BLUEBERRY (VACCINIUM ASHEI READE)

Abstract

The correlation of fruits and vegetables consumption and good health is well established; however, there are many fruits that need to be studied considering the environmental conditions where they grow. Blueberry is one of the most important small fruit studied in the world; however, little is known about the blueberry cultivated in Brazil. There is an incentive to produce blueberry in the southern region of Brazil, mainly cultivars from the rabbiteye group, due to their rusticity and climate adaptation. It is common to observe papers about blueberry and the health benefits in the international journals; however, little is known about the blueberry produced in Brazil. This study had the aim of to determine the content of total phenolic, anthocyanins and antioxidant activity of blueberry cultivars from the rabbiteye group. Four blueberry cultivars were analyzed (‘Climax’, ‘Powder Blue’, ‘Florida’ and ‘Alice Blue’). The blueberry genotypes were harvested at Embrapa Clima Temperado’s field and transported to the Food Science and Technology lab to be analyzed for their total content of phenolics, anthocyanins and antioxidant activity. Total phenolic content was measured using the Folin-Ciocalteau reagent mix. Anthocyanins were measured by the pH difference method. Antioxidant activity was measured using the stable radical DPPH. Regarding the results, the cultivar ‘Alice Blue’ had the highest phenolic content and antioxidant activity among the analyzed cultivars. The anthocyanin content was superior in the ‘Climax’ cultivar. Selected blueberry genotypes had equal or greater phenolic and antioxidant activity than blueberry cultivated in North America. The level of total phenolic did not correlate with the antioxidant activity in the studied blueberry cultivars. The levels of bioactive compounds varies within the blueberry genotypes examined indicating that breeding and selection could be done to develop cultivars with improved levels of these chemical substances.