Analysis of nutrients, bioactive compounds, and antioxidants in apple flowers at two stages of flowering

This work determines and analyzes methanol extracts from Malus domestica flowers at two stages of flowering. The initial flowering extract had more primary mineral and amino acid content and was also rich in phenolic and flavonoid at 127.67 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE) g(-1) and 12.37 mg rutin equivalent (RE) g(-1), respectively. In the initial -flowering and full -flowering stages, potassium, lysine, and rutin were the most abundant in mineral, amino acid, and phenolic compounds, respectively. Although no difference between the antiradical activity of the two flowering stages was observed, the antioxidant activity was significantly different between the initial -flowering and the full -flowering stages, with ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) values of 1736.74 mol Fe2+ L-1 and 1430.69 gmol Fe2+ L-1, respectively. Our findings demonstrated that the flowers of M. domestica, especially in the initial flowering stage, can be evaluated as a natural antioxidant source that may have human health applications in many fields.