Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment

Physical properties, anthocyanins and antioxidant activity of blackcurrant berries of different maturities

Author(s):

Pranas Viskelis ^1* , Nijolė Anisimovienė ², Marina Rubinskienė ¹, Elžbieta Jankovska ², Audrius Sasnauskas ¹

Recieved Date: 2009-12-08, Accepted Date: 2010-04-15

Abstract:

Four blackcurrant berry cultivars, Joniniai, Kriviai, Ben Lomond and Ben Tirran, were investigated at different phases of maturity at the Lithuanian Institute of Horticulture and the Institute of Botany. The ‘Joniniai’ and ‘Ben Lomond’ had the greatest mass upon reaching technical maturity: 1.54 g and 1.27 g, respectively. When the berries were overripe, their mass increased from 3.7% (‘Kriviai’) up to 15.6% (‘Joniniai’). During technical maturity, ‘Joniniai’ and ‘Kriviai’ berries possessed the firmest skin: 96.8 and 97.4 N cm^-2, respectively. The amount of anthocyanins in acidified methanol extracts was determined spectrophotometrically and calculated as Cy-3-Glu. The antioxidative (free radical scavenging) activity in fresh anthocyanin samples was determined using a DPPH model system assay. Anthocyanin antioxidative activity was compared with well-known antioxidants: 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol (BHT), ascorbic acid and anthocyanidin Cy-3-Chl. Based on a comparison of the amounts of anthocyanins accumulated in the various blackcurrant cultivars in their technical maturity phase and the antioxidative activity of their anthocyanin specimens, it was determined that the ‘Kriviai’ may be considered a perspective candidate for use in agro-biotechnology.

Keywords:

Anthocyanins, antioxidative activity, berry weight, cultivar, skin firmness

---

Journal: Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment
Year: 2010
Volume: 8
Issue: 2
Category: Food and Health
Pages: 159-162

---

Full text for Subscribers

---

Information:

Note to users

The requested document is freely available only to subscribers/registered users with an online subscription to the Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment. If you have set up a personal subscription to this title please enter your user name and password. All abstracts are available for free.

Article purchasing

If you like to purchase this specific document such as article, review or this journal issue, contact us. Specify the title of the article or review, issue, number, volume and date of the publication. Software and compilation, Science & Technology, all rights reserved. Your use of this website details or service is governed by terms of use. Authors are invited to check from time to time news or information.

---

Purchase this Article:   20 Purchase PDF Order Reprints for 15

---

Share this article :