Comprehensive Evaluation of Late Season Peach Varieties (Prunus persica L.): Fruit Nutritional Quality and Phytochemicals

Abstract

Peaches are one of the most preferred seasonal fruits, and a reliable source of nutrients. They possess biologically active substances that largely differ among varieties. Hence, revealing the potential of several late season peaches is of present interest. Three commonly consumed varieties ("Flat Queen"; "Evmolpiya"; "Morsiani 90") were studied in terms of nutritive and phytochemical content, as well as antioxidant activity with the use of reliable spectrophotometric and High Performance Liquid Chromatographic (HPLC) methods. An analysis of the soil was also made. The phytochemical data were subjected to principal component analysis in order to evaluate their relationship. The "Morsiani 90" variety had the highest minerals concentration (2349.03 mg/kg fw), total carbohydrates (16.21 g/100 g fw), and α-tocopherol (395.75 µg/100 g fresh weight (fw)). Similar amounts of TDF (approx. 3 g/100 g fw) were reported for all three varieties. "Flat Queen's" peel extract was the richest in monomeric anthocyanins (2279.33 µg cyanidin-3-glucoside (C3GE)/100 g fw). The "Morsiani 90" variety extracts had the highest antioxidant potential, defined by 2,2-diphenil-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and cupric ion-reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) assays.

Keywords: antioxidant capacity; peach; phytochemical composition; soil nutrients.

Figure 1

Peach features [14,15].

Figure 2

Total phenolic content (mg GAE/100 g fw) (A), total flavonoids (mgQE/100 g fw) (B) and total monomeric anthocyanins (µg cyanidin-3-glucoside (C3GE)/100 g fw) (C) of late season peach (Prunus persica L.) varieties. Values are means, n = 3 per treatment group. Different letters (a-g) within chart columns indicate significant differences (p < 0.05) between treatments as analyzed by two-way ANOVA and the Tukey test. The p-value for each treatment group (variety or extract), and their combination was less than 0.001. M—“Morsiani 90”; FQ—“Flat Queen”; Evm—“Evmolpiya” varieties WFE—water peach extract, MPE—methanolic peach-peel extract, MFE—methanolic peach extract.

Figure 2

Total phenolic content (mg GAE/100 g fw) (A), total flavonoids (mgQE/100 g fw) (B) and total monomeric anthocyanins (µg cyanidin-3-glucoside (C3GE)/100 g fw) (C) of late season peach (Prunus persica L.) varieties. Values are means, n = 3 per treatment group. Different letters (a-g) within chart columns indicate significant differences (p < 0.05) between treatments as analyzed by two-way ANOVA and the Tukey test. The p-value for each treatment group (variety or extract), and their combination was less than 0.001. M—“Morsiani 90”; FQ—“Flat Queen”; Evm—“Evmolpiya” varieties WFE—water peach extract, MPE—methanolic peach-peel extract, MFE—methanolic peach extract.

Figure 3

Antioxidant activity of late season peach (Prunus persica L.) varieties (µMTE/100 g fw) by (A) 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, (B) 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) radical scavenging activity, (C) ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and (D) cupric ion reducing antioxidant Capacity (CUPRAC) assays. Values are means, n = 3 per treatment group. Different letters (a–h) within chart columns indicate significant differences (p < 0.05) between treatments as analyzed by two-way ANOVA and the Tukey test. The p-value for each treatment group (variety or extract), and their combination was less than 0.001. M—“Morsiani 90”; FQ—“Flat Queen”; Evm—“Evmolpiya” varieties. ** WFE—water peach extract, MPE—methanolic peach-peel extract, MFE—methanolic peach extract.

Figure 4

Biplot of PCA analysis of phytocomponents in late season peach (Prunus persica L.) varieties.M—“Morsiani 90”; FQ—“Flat Queen”; Evm—“Evmolpiya” varieties; WFE—water peach extract, MPE—methanolic peach-peel extract, MFE—methanolic peach extract; TPC_1-3—total phenolic content; TFC_1-3—total flavonoid content; Tac_1-3—total monomeric anthocyanin content; DPPH_1-3—DPPH radical scavenging assay; ABTS_1-3—radical scavenging assay; FRAP_1-3—ferric-reducing antioxidant power assay; CUPRAC_1-3—cupric ion-reducing antioxidant capacity; protoc. a_1-3—protocatechuic acid; Chl.a_1-3—chlorogenic acid; p_C_1-3—p-coumaric acid; Sa_1—sinapic acid.

Figure 5

Late season peach (Prunus persica L.) varieties: (A) “Flat queen”, (B) “Morsiani 90” and (C) “Evmolpiya”.