Open AccessPHYSICAL AND COMPOSITIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CHESTNUT FRUITS
Author(s) -
Sina Cosmulescu,
Ion Trandafir,
Violeta Nour,
M. Botu
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
romanian journal of horticulture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2734-7664
pISSN - 2734-7656
DOI - 10.51258/rjh.2020.07
Subject(s) - cultivar , gallic acid , polyphenol , trolox , nutrient , composition (language) , horticulture , chemical composition , chemistry , food science , botany , antioxidant , biology , antioxidant capacity , biochemistry , linguistics , philosophy , organic chemistry
The objective of this study was investigationofphysical and compositional fruitscharacteristics of six chestnut cultivars. The fruits belonging to these cultivars weresubjected to physical and chemical composition determinations, and the obtainedresults were comparatively analysed. It can be noticed that there are significantdifferences between cultivars for all the analysed traits. A high variability was foundbetween cultivars in terms of nutrients content. The moisture content of chestnutsanalysed in this study ranged from 51.63% to 58.42%. The protein content recordedvalues between 5.40 and 7.18% fresh matter. The polyphenols content in cultivarstaken under analysis was between 1.65 and 19.60 mg GAE/g, which is a very largevariation range between different cultivars. The obtained values of antioxidantactivity of chestnuts are high, ranging from 0.73 to 9.90 mg Trolox/g of freshsubstance, revealing also a wide variation range. Among the individual phenoliccompounds, elagic and gallic acids were determined in higher amounts. The results of this study have shown that chestnut fruits contain significant concentrations ofprimary and secondary metabolites that are known for their positive effects onhuman health.