Bioactive Compounds and Antioxidant Activity on Fruits from Different Acai (Euterpe oleracea Mart) Progenies

Nowadays, there is great interest in a a fruits due to their functional and energetic properties. Based on some of these characteristics (bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity), a a fruits from different progenies were evaluated in order to select superior genetic materials. The fruits were harvested from eight progenies of the Tropical Fruits Collection at the Curu Experimental Station of the Embrapa Tropical Agroindustry, Paraipaba, CE, Brazil. Each sample was evaluated for ascorbic acid, carotenoids, yellow flavonoids, anthocyanins, total extractable polyphenols tannins and AA by the beta-carotene/linoleic acid bleaching method. Regarding the majority of parameters evaluated, a a fruits presented a high variation among progenies. It was observed that the average ascorbic acid mean of the a a fruit was 58.7 mg/100 g. The anthocyanin average was 108.9 mg/100 g, with variations from 73.52 to 143.52 mg/100g, and progenies P131-3 (143.62 mg/100 g) and P034-3 (134.71 mg/100 g) showed the highest contents. In general, a high content of biological active compounds was observed when compared to others tropical fruits in the literature. A a extracts presented an excellent oxidation inhibition, with progenies presenting different antioxidant capacities. AA varied from 47.7 to 75.0% of oxidation inhibition (% OI), with higher values for progenies P049-6 (75.0% OI), P048-8 (72.0% OI), P032-5 (70.0% OI) and P308-2 (67.0% OI).