New triploids late-maturing mandarins as a rich source of antioxidant compounds

Juices from nine new late-season triploid mandarins (Tania-46 (1), Tania-47 (2), Omet (3), Albir (4), Tania-48 (5), Tania-43 (6), Tania-44 (7), Coral (8), and Matiz (9), and from their parents were analyzed for mainly internal quality attributes, vitamin C, total phenolics, flavonoids, phenolic, and organic acids. Antioxidant activity was measured by three methods, the DPPH free radical-scavenging assay, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) test, and ABTS analysis. All the new hybrids exhibited high internal and nutritional quality which may be considerate rich sources of phytochemicals. Among the nine varieties, Tania-48 hybrid was shown to be the richest in vitamin C, flavanones (hesperidin, eriocitrin, and neoeriocitrin), polymethoxyflavones, and malic and succinic acids. Furthermore, the juice of this new triploid hybrid displayed high antioxidant capacity which may make it important for human diet as a source of health-promoting components. On the other hand, Tania-44, Tania-48, and Tania-43 fruit juices exhibited greater content of eriocitrin and neoeriocitrin than the others.