Bioactive properties and enzymatic activities in long and round type eggplant (Solanum melongena L.): Inferences for processable traits

Abstract

Eggplant is a valuable commercial vegetable widely consumed due to its unique meaty taste and nutritional and functional properties. The present investigation was done with the aim to assess the bioactive properties and enzymatic activities in twenty three different long and round type eggplant genotypes to ascertain their amenability for processable traits. The eggplants were harvested at commercial maturity stage and assessed for total phenolics content, total flavonoids, antioxidant capacity and browning related enzymatic activities (polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase). The results indicated that there were significant dissimilarities among all genotypes with regard to their functional compounds content and browning enzyme activities. The biochemical screening showed maximum phenolics content in Kashi Taru (81.1 mg gallic acid equivalent/100 g fresh weight) which was about 4.0-fold higher than IVBL-23 (19.3 mg gallic acid equivalent/100 g fresh weight). Additionally, total flavonoids content varied from 1.86 (IVBHL-UT-6 and IVBHR-18) to 5.83 mg rutin equivalent/100 g fresh weight (IVBHL-UT-1). The total antioxidant capacity among different eggplant cultivars varied by about 1.3-fold. These findings are useful for pre-breeding parental selection and assorting genotypes for higher antioxidant capacity and processable traits. About 3.5-fold variation in browning enzymatic activity clearly indicates the scope for selecting cultivars with lesser flesh browning and thus, higher suitability for processing particularly for development of products like eggplant extract, dips or dried flakes.