Abstract
Five sweet orange (Citrus sinensis Osbeck) varieties cultivated in Huelva (Spain) and picked at two seasons during two consecutive years, were characterized for their antioxidant activity (free radicals scavenging activity, reducing power and lipid peroxidation inhibition) and vitamin content (vitamin E and vitamin C). The effects induced by sweet orange variety and stage of maturity were comprehensively compared by applying 2-way ANOVA and linear discriminant analysis. The results indicated higher differences in antioxidant activity and vitamin contents in response to the effect of the harvesting season, when compared to the effect of sweet orange variety. Nevertheless, the results observed in 2012 showed less marked differences among the assayed sweet orange varieties. Either way, it might be concluded that oranges sampled in January show the highest antioxidant activity and vitamin contents. Furthermore, concerning the properties evaluated in this work, all sweet orange varieties represent good alternatives, except for Rhode Summer, which would not be the preferable choice as a target to enhance sweet orange overall characteristics.
Highlights
In recent decades, researchers and consumers have become increasingly interested in a healthier diet, increasing the intake of fruit and vegetables
Successive dilutions were made from the stock solution and submitted to the in vitro assays already described by Martins et al [17], to evaluate the antioxidant activity of the samples
The quantification was made by comparison of the area of the peaks recorded at 245 nm with the calibration curve obtained from commercial standard of L-ascorbic acid
Summary
Researchers and consumers have become increasingly interested in a healthier diet, increasing the intake of fruit and vegetables. Several authors had already suggested that a diet rich in antioxidants is directly associated with the prevention of human diseases, like several kinds of cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, neurological disorders, among others [1,2,3] All these pathologies have the same underlying feature of being related with the overproduction of free radicals in the organism [1]. Sweet orange fruits are considered to be rich sources of antioxidants, including vitamin C, phenolic compounds and carotenoids [5,6,7,8] Among these compounds, the intake of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is critical because the human organism cannot synthesize it. Finding the most suitable variety, as well as the harvesting season stage, that optimizes the antioxidant potential of this fruit might represent a valuable feature for sweet orange growers
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