Abstract
Campania is the most important region of Italy in the apricot cultivation, present mostly in the Vesuvio area. At least to the best of our knowledge, no studies are reporting the biochemical characterization of the considerable number of traditional apricot varieties present on this territory, including the qualitative and quantitative profile of the polyphenols present. Our work evaluated the content of β-carotene, total phenolics, phenolic profiles, ascorbic acid and antioxidant activity of 23 traditional varieties of apricots of the Campania region. Principal component analysis (PCA) highlighted that, in the two main groups, the antioxidant activity was strongly affected by the content of ascorbic acid (−0.89), or slightly affected by the content of total polyphenols (−0.67), respect to the content of ascorbic acid (−0.55), never by β-carotene. Chlorogenic acid (up to 55.07 μg g−1) and catechin (up to 96.15 μg g−1) resulted the most abundant polyphenols recognized through the chromatographic analysis. PCA, extended to the polyphenol profile, confirmed the distribution of the varieties in two large groups, evidencing once again the hierarchical distance of four varieties (“Panzona”, “Paolona” “Baracca” and “Boccucia Eboli”) compared to the others.
Highlights
Apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) is one of the most important fruits produced in temperate countries
The typical apricot grows in geographically diverse areas ranging from the Siberia cold winters to North Africa, characterized by a subtropical climate of North Africa and from the desert Central Asia to Japan and Eastern China [1]
We have determined the content of such metabolites, and the antioxidant activity, of different traditional varieties of apricots present in the territory of the Campania region
Summary
Apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) is one of the most important fruits produced in temperate countries. Uzbekistan and Turkey are the leading countries in the production of apricot fresh fruits [www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC. Is the fifth worldwide and the first European producer of apricots, with 222,690 tons [www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC. Campania is the most important region of Italy in the apricot cultivation, with about 50,000 tons of product, present mainly in the Vesuvio area, which represents around 80% of the regional production. In this area, there are about 2000 hectares of apricots field, with a production that, in normal climate conditions, should be settled around 400,000 quintals, mostly consumed as fresh fruit
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