Antioxidant activity peach fruit: variability induced by the cultivar, fruit ripening stage, and cold-storage

摘要

Antioxidant properties of fruit reprcsent important aspects, because consumers are, nowadays, very interested in thè health characteristics of fruit and vegetables. There is only little information about thè influence of cultural management on antioxidant content in fruit. The present work aimed to evaluate antioxidant content in peach fruit as related to cultivar, harvest lime, and fruit position along thè tree canopy. Furthermore, thè eftect of 7-day-long Storage at 4 deg C on fruit antioxidant activity was investigated. First experiment compared 21 cultivars and showed a strong variability in fruit antioxidant content among thè cultivars. Cold-storage caused highly significanl decrease of fruit antioxidants in most of thè cultivars. Thesecond experiment pointed outthat both thè harvest time and fruit position along thè tree canopy affected hydrophilic antioxidant activity in fruit of 5 cultivars. Fruit antioxidants decreased during on-tree fruit ripening and rose progressively from thè bottoni to thè top of thè canopy. White-fleshed nectarines appeared to have fruit with thè highest antioxidanl content. Also in thè second experiment, cold-stored fruit had a lower antioxidant activity than fresh fruit. Hydrophilic antioxidant activity of peach fruit was significanti related to flesh firmness and solid soluble content both in fresh and cold-stored fruit.