EFFECT OF MATURITY ON PROXIMATE COMPOSITION, PHENOLICS AND ANTIOXIDANT ATTRIBUTES OF CHERRY FRUIT

In this study, the proximate composition, antioxidant activity as well as the phenolics profile of cherry fruit at three maturity stages were investigated. The moisture, protein, total sugars and total organic acids contents were increased as maturity progressed while those of ash and crude fiber decreased. The extraction yield of antioxidant components (6.32-23.65%), total phenolics content (176.38-687.68 mg GAE/100g DW), total flavonoids content (36.61-51.80 mg CE/100g DW) and DPPH radical scavenging activity (44.32-72.99%) increased as maturity progressed from un-ripened to fully-ripened stage. HPLC analysis of the phenolics revealed a significant (p<0.05) increase in the amounts of flavonols namely myricetin (15.52-40.26 mg/100g DW), quercetin (11.29-24.74 mg/100g DW) and kaempferol (2.55-4.86 mg/100g DW), and phenolic acids i.e. p-hydroxybenzoic (27.31-42.83 mg/100g DW), vanillic (8.56-21.54 mg/100g DW), p-coumaric (13.68-21.33 mg/100g DW), ferulic (2.46-14.32 mg/100g DW), chlorogenic (4.22-12.14 mg/100g DW) as the fruit maturity progressed. Overall, we concluded that the fully matured cherry fruits can be explored as a promising source of natural sugars and organic acids, and high-value antioxidants (flavonol and phenolic acids) suggesting their uses as ingredients of functional foods.