Biochemical, bioactive content and antioxidant activity of 18 unnamed jujube ecotype fruits from Aegean region in Türkiye

• Published in: Genetic resources and crop evolution 2024-08, Vol.71 (6), p.3001-3011
• Main Author: Sagbas, Halil Ibrahim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acids; Agriculture; Antioxidants; Assaying; Biological activity; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Citric acid; Ecotypes; Fruits; Gallic acid; Genetic resources; Life Sciences; Malic acid; Organic acids; Phenols; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Plant Physiology; Plant Sciences; Plant Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography; Research Article; Sugar; Ziziphus jujuba
• ISSN: 0925-9864; 1573-5109
• DOI: 10.1007/s10722-023-01825-z

Jujube was introduced to Türkiye 200 years ago and currently, it grows in many regions under diverse agroclimatic conditions. More recently there were an increasing attention to this fruit. Both grafted and seed propagated jujube trees are found in the country and grafted ones bear bigger fruits. The present study describes biochemical, bioactive, and antioxidant characteristics of 18 unnamed seed propagated jujube ecotypes sampled from Afyonkarahisar province in Türkiye. During the full maturation stage fruit samples were obtained from ecotypes and soluble solid content (SSC), total antioxidant capacity, total phenolic content, individual sugars and organic acids were determined in fresh flesh of fruits. Total antioxidant capacity was determined by DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and FRAP (Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power) assays. Results showed that there was a great variability among ecotypes on most of the searched parameters. SSC were in range of 14.50–23.50%. Total antioxidant capacity ranged between 79.72 and 84.89% in DPPH assay and 13.82–30.14 µmol TE/g fresh weight base in FRAP assay, respectively. Total phenolic content of ecotypes was from 293 to 992 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE) per 100 g fresh weight base (FW). Predominant sugar of all samples were fructose and glucose, which varied between 4.86 and 13.82% and 3.35–9.15%, respectively. The main organic acids were malic acid and followed by citric acid for all 18 jujube ecotypes. Malic and citric acid content ranged between 0.38 and 4.64% and 0.35–1.23%, respectively. These results indicated the richness of jujube genetic resources in Türkiye and the ecotypes JJ04 and JJ09 were identified as superior based on their phytochemicals content. This finding is important for breeding and also for the pharmaceutical perspective of jujube.