phytochemical properties of local and introduced apricot cultivars grown under organic cultivation system in tunisia

Purpose: organic apricots are perceived to be healthier thanconventional ones. in tunisia, comparative studies on thephytochemical properties of these fruits are scarce. this work aimedto identify organically grown apricot cultivar(s) with high nutritionalvalue for human health. phytochemical compounds of organicallyapricots in local (‘oud rhayem’, ‘oud hmida’ and ‘oud aouicha’)and introduced (‘ninfa’ and ‘mogador’) cultivars were investigated.research method: polyphenols, flavonoids, anthocyanins andcarotenoids analysis were performed for 3 lots of 10mixed fruitseach. findings: significant variability in phytochemical propertieswas obtained between the studied cultivars. ‘mogador’ was foundto be superior for most phytochemical compounds: β-carotene(0.05mg/100g fresh mass), total phenolics (≥154 mg gae/100 g offresh mass) and total flavonoids (27mg catechin/100 g fresh mass).furthermore, highest phenolics content was found in ‘oud aouicha’and ‘oud hmida’ (≥160 mg gae/100 g fresh mass). the highestanthocyanins content was obtained in ‘oud aouicha’ and ‘ninfa’ (71and 62.5 mg cyaniding-3-glucoside /100g fresh mass, respectively).in conclusion, ‘mogador’ could be selected as the performingapricot genotype including the most phytochemicals components.nevertheless, ‘ninfa’, ‘oud aouicha’ and ‘oud hmida’ showed goodaccumulation of many antioxidant components. researchlimitations: further researches on other genotypes are required.originality/value: this study is original related to the phytochemicalproperties of local and introduced organic apricots. the results canbe considered as a preliminary database of the nutritional facts oforganic apricots and they could help breeders to select genotypeswith large antioxidant capacity of fruit related to the healthbenefits.