The Point of Harvest of Pomegranates through the Analysis of Bioactive and Antioxidant Compounds during the Development Stages of the Fruit

Abstract

The knowledge of the biochemical and physical-chemical transformations that happen in each stage of the development of the fruit is important to point the maturation rates and to define the point of harvest. Thus, this work intended to characterize the ‘Molar’ pomegranate regarding the changes on its bioactive compounds and its antioxidant potential during the phenological stages of its development, as a support to determine its point of harvest. Flowers were marked on the field, in a farm in Várzeas de Sousa, Paraíba, with ribbons of different colors, to register the age of the fruit in days after the anthesis (DAA). The harvests supposed to characterize the phenological stages were reaped at 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100 DAA, and those fruits were submitted to the laboratory, where a randomized experimental design was conducted, which treatments were the ages of the fruit, registered in days after the anthesis, with four repetitions and five fruit per parcel. 90-day-old fruit display the best quality indicators for the harvest and the commercialization of raw products. When pomegranate cv. ‘Molar’ is 90 days old, it reaches the maximum value of soluble solids, SS/TA ratio, total amount of sugars, reducing sugars, ascorbic acid, anthocyanins and antioxidant activity, while it presents a reduction of the titratable acidity, the pH and the phenolic compounds. The ascorbic acid and the anthocyanins were the main bioactive compounds responsible for the antioxidant activity of the pomegranate cv. Molar analyzed through the DPPH and ABTS methods.