Evaluation of chemical constituents and antioxidant activity of sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) cultivars

This research was undertaken to evaluate the sugars, organic acids, phenolic compositions and antioxidant capacities of sweet cherry cultivars (Van, Noir de Guben, Larian and 0-900 Ziraat) grown in Turkey. High-performance liquid chromatographic methods were used to identify and quantify four sugars (sucrose, glucose, fructose and sorbitol) and four organic acids (malic, citric, shikimic, and fumaric acid). The major organic acid was found as malic acid (8.5410.02 g kg-1 of FW). With regard to sugars, glucose was present in the largest amounts (44.7148.31 g kg-1 of FW) for sweet cherry cultivars. The sum of sugars ranged from 103.87 (Larian) to 113.13 g kg-1 of FW (0-900 Ziraat) and that of organic acids from 12.01 (0-900 Ziraat) to 14.17 g kg-1 of FW (Noir de Guben). A total of eleven phenolic compounds were identified and quantified in sweet cherry cultivars, including hydroxycinnamic acids (3), anthocyanins (5), flavan-3-ols (2) and flavonol (1) compounds. Total phenolic contents ranged from 88.72 (Van) to 239.54 (Noir de Guben) mg/100 g of FW, while antioxidant activities ranged from 2.02 to 7.75 mu m Trolox equivalents g-1 of FW.