Changes in the phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity of Berberis microphylla G. Forst. berries in relation to light intensity and fertilization

M ARENA; P POSTEMSKY; N CURVETTO

SCIENTIA HORTICULTURAE

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2017 vol. 218 p. 63 - 71

0304-4238

The objective of this study was to evaluate the qualitative and quantitative composition of the phenoliccompounds and the antioxidant activity of B. microphylla fruit under different light intensities and levelsof fertilization during two production years. Total monomeric anthocyanin concentration in high lightintensity conditions was three times more than that obtained at medium light intensity, expressed forboth fresh weight and dry weight terms (299.7 mg/100 g FFW and 9.5 mg/g DFW, respectively). How-ever, in the case of total polyphenol concentration, minor increases of 30 and 11% appeared under highlight intensity in comparison with medium light intensity (906.6 mg/100 g FFW and 30.7 mg/g DFW,respectively). Scavenging activity on DPPH was increased from 56.0 to 66.8% under the high light inten-sity treatment. This was also true for the reducing power which increased from 40 to 46.2%. Fertilizersreduced the flavonoid concentration, but increased the total polyphenol concentration at fertilizationlevel 2. In the case of flavonoids, the maximum contents in fruits were 200.2 and 7.6 mg (+)-catechinequivalents/100 g FFW and DFW, respectively in the control treatment. The total polyphenol concentra-tion was the highest (856.1 and 31.2 mg tannic acid equivalents/g FFW and DFW, respectively) with thelevel fertilization 2. The scavenging activity on DPPH was from 60.3 to 62.8% when raising the fertilizationlevel from 0 to 2, while the reducing power varied between 40.5 and 44.3% at levels 1 and 2. The totalmonomeric anthocyanin concentration increased with the level of fertilization in the fruits of plants athigh light intensity, whereas the trend was inversed in those under medium light intensity. Hence, thesestudies display the possibility for maximizing both the productivity and the antioxidant capacity of fruitsby crop management.