Bioactive content of six passion fruit genotypes cultivated in southern Brazil

Diego Weber,Jair Costa Nachtigal,Giovana Paula Zandoná,Marcelo Barbosa Malgarim,Jessica Fernanda Hoffmann,Caroline Farias Barreto,Fabio Clasen Chaves

doi:10.14393/bj-v37n0a2021-54096

Abstract

Passion fruit production in Brazil is concentrated in tropical regions, however, recently production has expanded to regions with temperate climate. Cultivar performance in different climate and soil can lead to variation in the contents of bioactive compounds in the juice and rind of the fruit. This study characterized the bioactive content of passion fruit rind and juice of six passion fruit genotypes (‘Catarina Roxo’, ‘Catarina’, ‘Urussanga’, ‘BRS Gigante Amarelo’, ‘BRS Rubi do Cerrado’, and ‘BRS Sol do Cerrado’) cultivated in southern Brazil. Phenolic, flavonoid, anthocyanin, carotenoid, and ascorbic acid contents and the antioxidant potential of each fruit portion from each genotype were evaluated. Fruit composition varied with genotype and evaluated tissue. Bioactive compound contents were greatest in the rind of ‘Urussanga’ and ‘Catarina’, whereas the juice of ‘BRS Sol do Cerrado’ and ‘Catarina Roxo’ had the greatest bioactive content. Given cultivar and tissue variability for bioactive content, postharvest use of passion fruit will determine the choice of cultivar to obtain a product with maximum bioactive compounds. Passion fruit genotypes evaluated in this study have shown to be potential sources of bioactive compounds. Fruit rind has the potential to be explored in the scientific and technological scope, due to its high amounts of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity.

Highlights

Passion fruit is cultivated in tropical regions and in Brazil approximately 550 thousand tons of passion fruit are produced yearly in approximately 51 thousand hectares (IBGE 2019)
Given cultivar and tissue variability for bioactive content, postharvest use of passion fruit will determine the choice of cultivar to obtain a product with maximum bioactive compounds
Passion fruit genotypes evaluated in this study have shown to be potential sources of bioactive compounds

Summary

Introduction

Passion fruit is cultivated in tropical regions and in Brazil approximately 550 thousand tons of passion fruit are produced yearly in approximately 51 thousand hectares (IBGE 2019). Passion fruit cultivation has expanded to new regions within Brazil but there is little information on their implementation in such location including Rio Grande do Sul state, where average temperatures are low, and frost may occur during the winter (Weber et al 2017; Barreto et al 2019). Passion fruit species vary regarding fruit weight, diameter, color, rind thickness, taste, juice volume, acidity, and, the quantity of residues generated by the passion fruit processing industry. The most cultivated fruit in Brazil, is predominantly utilized in juice processing (Meletti 2011) and this results in a large amount of waste because about 50% of the fruit weight is represented by the rind and seeds (Weber et al 2016), which are usually discarded after processing

Methods

Results

Conclusion