Nutritional Values, Microbial Population and Bioactive Components of Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) Peel Extracts

摘要

Background and Objective: Medicinal plants and their bioactive extracts have comprehensively been considered by researchers to turn out some prospective drugs with no toxicity. Pomegranate peel is considered as a food waste part obtained during the manufacture of the juice. The study aimed to comparative analysis of nutritional values, microbial population, bioactive components as polyphenol, flavonoid, tannin, anthocyanin and antioxidant activities of pomegranate peel extracts. Materials and Methods: The nutritional values such as moisture, ash, carbohydrates, protein, fibre, fat and reducing sugar contents; microbial population as some bacterial and fungal strains; bioactive components as total polyphenol, flavonoid, tannin and anthocyanin contents and antioxidant activities of pomegranate peel extracts for four pomegranate varieties (Wonderful-Francis-Cloud-Balegal) was analyzed by different methods. Tukey test was used for the statistical analysis. Results: Wonderful variety reported the highest moisture 6.95%, ash 4.22 g/100 g, protein 8.97 g/100 g, fibre 19.41 g/100 g and reducing sugar 3.71 g/100 g. Results on the microbial population observed that Francis variety recorded the highest DIZ 16.2 and 15.72 mm on Escherichia coli and Aspergillus niger. The highest phenolics and anthocyanin were detected in methanol (ME 90%) extract of Francis and Wonderful varieties 26.17 g GAEs/100 g and 0.133 g/100 g, respectively. Conclusion: The ability of pomegranate peel varieties extracts to scavenge antioxidant activities was a little similar and it can be stated that pomegranate peel extracts have high bioactive components and antioxidant activities to be used for various fields such as therapeutic, pharmaceutical and medicinal manufactures.