Cuantificación de compuestos bioactivos y actividad antioxidante de cuarenta y siete diferentes especies vegetales comestibles comercializadas en mercados locales del Ecuador.

Abstract

Ecuador is a megadiverse country with a great variety of non-traditional fruits that have been little explored. In this context, the objective of the study was to quantify bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity of forty-seven different edible vegetable species commercialized in local markets in Ecuador, for which the samples were classified by visual color of the freeze-dried pulp, evaluating total phenolic compounds by the Folin-Ciocalteu method and spectrophotometric quantification in microplates, determination of citric acid by rapid performance liquid chromatography (RRLC) and antioxidant activity by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method and spectrophotometric quantification in microplates. The results showed that freeze-dried yellow, beige, white, brown, purple and tomato pulps presented high concentrations of phenolic compounds in Acca sellowiana (feijoa) with 0.30 mg EAG/g PS, Psidium guineense (yellow guava) with 0.23 mg EAG/g PS, Prunus persica (Abridores) with 0.14 mg EAG/g PS, Prunus salicifolia (Capuli) with 0.27 mg EAG/g PS, Rubus rosifolius (Wild raspberry) with 0.36 mg EAG/g PS, Passiflora sp. (Purple taxus) with 0.21 mg EAG/g PS, respectively; in citric acid in Solanum sessiliflorum (Cocona) with 16.78 g/100g PS, Averrhoa carambola (Chinese fruit) with 9.91 g/100g PS, Inga edulis (Guaba oriente) with 6.93 g/100g PS, Passiflora tripartita (Taxo amarillo) with 22.99 g/100g PS, Morus alba (Mora de árbol) with 13.29 g/100g PS, Passiflora sp. (purple taxo) with 10.54 g/100g PS, respectively; Finally, the antioxidant activity in Acca sellowiana (feijoa) with 32.85 µM EAA/g PS, Mauritia flexuosa (Moriche negro) with 38.80 µM EAA/g PS, Sechium edule (Chayote blanco) with 33.70 µM EAA/g PS, Dacryodes peruviana (Copal) with 35.69 µM EAA/g PS, Morus alba (Mora de árbol) with 80.54 µM EAA/g PS, Passiflora sp. (Taxo morado) with 57.99 µM EAA/g PS. Thus, the purple pulps presented higher concentrations of phenolic compounds, citric acid and antioxidant activity.