Variation of fruits morphometric parameters and bioactive compounds of Asimina triloba (L.) Dunal germplasm collection

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the morphological parameters and bioactive compounds (antioxidant activity, total polyphenol, flavonoid, and phenolic acid content) of 6 genotypes of dry Asimina triloba (L.) fruit from Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra (Slovakia). Genotypes were obtained from the seeds that were sown in the year 2000. Their morphometric parameters were following: fruit weight from 59.00 to 241.19 g, fruit length from 50.14 to 140.11 mm, fruit diameter from 37.55 to 64.67 mm, number of fruits per cluster from 2 to 8, seed weight from 0.06 to 1.80 g, seed length from 16.33 to 29.11 mm, seed width from 9.56 to 18.33 mm, seed thickness from 4.98 to 9.75 mm, number of seeds in fruit from 4 to 16. The shape indexes of fruits were found ranging from 1.53 to 2.16. The variability of important is the average seeds weight from 7.40 to 35.61%, fruit weight from 14.84 to 32.95%, number of fruits per cluster from 18.21 to 32.54% and a number of seeds in fruit from 13.49 to 27.72%. The other characteristics are more or less stable. Total polyphenol content ranged from 22.13 to 37.36 mg GAE per g, total flavonoid content from 15.10 to 32.03 mg QE per g and phenolic acids content from 0.23 to 0.76 mg CAE per g. All tested samples exhibited DPPH radical scavenging activities with values from 2.84 to 7.04 mg TEAC per g. Antioxidant activity by molybdenum reducing antioxidant power method ranged from 97.25 to 275.41 mg TEAC per g of dry matter. Differences between the genotypes were significant in all observed parameters. This species is potential for propagation and practice used in the Slovak Republic.