Abstract
This paper presents the results of influence of extraction technique on phytochemical composition and biological activity of aqueous extracts of commercial apricot kernels. Three techniques were used for extraction: maceration, ultrasonic and Soxhlet extraction. The content of total phenols, flavonoids, bioelements, antioxidant and antimicrobial activity was analyzed in the extracts. Antioxidant activity was analyzed in vitro using DPPH and FRAP methods. Antimicrobial screening was performed by diffusion technique on reference strains from the ATCC collection. The content of total phenols and flavonoids is highest in extracts obtained by ultrasonic extraction and maceration. These techniques have proven to be the best for the extraction of macro and micronutrients. The aqueous extract obtained by maceration at 300 rpm for 3 hours showed a greater inhibitory effect against the tested microorganisms, compared to the extracts obtained by other techniques. The least efficient method of extracting bioactive components from apricot kernels is Soxhlet extraction, with the lowest dry extract yield of 5.5%.  Â
Highlights
Fruits and vegetables are known sources of many nutrients
The lowest yield after evaporation of the extracts on rotavapor was obtained by Soxhlet extraction (5.5%), while the yield for the remaining two techniques was 27.85% and 31% for ultrasonic extraction
The lowest content of total phenols and flavonoids has the extract obtained by Soxhlet extraction (U-1) while the content of these groups of compounds in extracts obtained by ultrasonic extraction (U-2) and maceration (U-3) is significantly higher but with very close values
Summary
Fruits and vegetables are known sources of many nutrients. They contain a large number of bioactive components necessary for the normal functioning of the human body and the treatment of many diseases (Yiğit et al 2009). Apricot has an important role in human diet, and can be used as fresh, dried or processed fruit (Ramadan et al 2018). Due to the presence of cyanogenic glycosides (mainly amygdalin) in the apricot kernel, it is today alternatively used to treat various forms of cancer (Yan et al 2006). The influence of the extraction technique with the content of nutrients and phytochemicals, as well as the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of apricot kernel extracts will be examined
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