Fruits of twelve quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) commercial cultivars and selections were compared in the ferric reducingantioxidant power (FRAP) and total phenolic content (TPC) of intact and peeled fruits. The antioxidant capacity and total phenolic contentranged between 5.99 and 63.10 mmol AA/100 g FW, and 3.92 and 12.83 g GA/100 g FW, respectively. These ranges cover an almost8-times variation among the tested genotypes in case of antioxidant capacity and also declares two-times variation for total polyphenoliccontent. Cultivars ‘Aromate’ and ‘Bereczki’ possessed the lowest antioxidant capacity and ‘Román portugál’ and ‘Bereczki’ had the lowestpolyphenolic contents. In contrast, cultivars ‘Champion’ and ‘Konstantinápolyi’ possessed the highest antioxidant capacity and ‘Mezôtúri’and ‘De Husi’ had the highest polyphenolic contents. The Pearson’s coeffi cient was relatively moderate but signifi cant (r=0.51) indicating aweak interdependence between FRAP and TPC values of quince fruits. Our results led us to the conclusion that quince might be consideredas a valuable source of antioxidants and polyphenolics

A., Hegedűs

J., Nyéki

N., Papp

T., Szabó

Z., Szabó

University of Debrecen Electronic Archive

 International Journal of Horticultural Science 2013, 19 (3–4): 33 –35.
Agroinform Publishing House, Budapest, Printed in Hungary
ISSN 1585-0404
Introduction
Quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) belongs to the Maloideae 
subfamily of Rosaceae and is a native to Southwest Europe 
and Minor Asia (Patel et al., 2011). It produces golden yellow 
pome fruits, when mature. Although quince is regarded as a 
minor fruit crop with limited economical importance, this 
fruit may provide good opportunities to be exploited. It 
has been long known that quince is a rich source of pectins 
(Rop et al., 2011) containing higher quantities from such 
compounds than apple fruits.
The average vitamin C content of quince fruit is 
approximately two-times higher than vitamin C contents in 
apple (Bíró and Lindmayer, 1992); however, other studies 
detected similar levels of ascorbic acid in quince and apple 
(Souci et al., 2002). For Czech quince cultivars, vitamin C 
content in intact fruits of quinces ranged between 50 and 80 
mg/100 g fresh weight. The cultivar ‘Muškatova’ contained the 
highest amount of ascorbic acid (79.31 ± 2.01 g/100 g FW). 
This value is markedly higher than the average value set for 
quince in the USDA database (USDA, 2012), which indicates 
great variations presumably due to genetic background.
Quince is also a rich source of polyphenolic compounds. 
Quince pulp has a much lower amount of phenolics than 
quince peel (Silva et al., 2002). Quince pulp and peel 
differ in their phenolic proﬁ les: the pulp contains mainly 
caffeoylquinic acids, whereas the peel possesses both 
caffeoylquinic acids and several ﬂ avonol glycosides in great 
amounts. In Tunisian quinces, the total phenolic content of 
the ﬂ esh and peel parts ranged from 37 to 47 and 105 to 157 
mg/100 g of fresh weight, respectively (Fattouh et al., 2007). 
Chlorogenic acid (5-O-caffeoylquinic acid) was the most 
abundant phenolic compound in ﬂ esh (37%), whereas rutin 
(quercetin 3-O-rutinoside) was the main one in peel (36%). 
The radical scavenging potential of the extracts was higher 
for those obtained from the peel. The phenolic fraction gives 
a higher contribution for the antioxidant potential of quince 
fruit than organic acids (Silva et al., 2004).
Polyphenolics in quince fruit may have preventive or 
protective effects against several diseases including anti-
ulcerative effects (Hamauzu et al., 2006), chronic inﬂ am-
mation (Essaﬁ -Benkhadir et al., 2012), atopic dermatitis 
(Shinomiya et al., 2009) etc. Alesiani et al. (2010) identiﬁ ed 
several compounds with antiproliferative effects from quince 
peels although Carvalho et al. (2010) could not show inhibitory 
effects of quince on human kidney and colon cancer cells.
The present study was carried out to characterize the 
antioxidant power and total polyphenolic contents of the 
most popular quince cultivars grown in Hungary. In addition, 
the tested germplasm contained Hungarian and foreign 
cultivars as well as a selected clone to characterize genetic 
variability in this trait.
Antioxidant capacity and total polyphenolic content 
in quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) fruit
Papp, N.1, Szabó, T.2, Szabó, Z.3, Nyéki, J.3, Stefanovits-Bányai, É.1 & Hegedûs, A.4
1Corvinus University of Budapest, Faculty of Food Science, Department of Applied Chemistry, 
1118 Budapest, Villányi út 29., Hungary
2Research and Extension Centre for Fruit Growing, Újfehértó, H-4244 Újfehértó, Vadastag út 2, Hungary
3University of Debrecen, Centre of Agricultural Sciences, H-4032, Debrecen, Hungary
4Corvinus University of Budapest, Faculty of Horticultural Science, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, 
1118 Budapest, Villányi út 29., Hungary; E-mail: hegedus.attila@uni-corvinus.hu
Summary: Fruits of twelve quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) commercial cultivars and selections were compared in the ferric reducing 
antioxidant power (FRAP) and total phenolic content (TPC) of intact and peeled fruits. The antioxidant capacity and total phenolic content 
ranged between 5.99 and 63.10 mmol AA/100 g FW, and 3.92 and 12.83 g GA/100 g FW, respectively. These ranges cover an almost 
8-times variation among the tested genotypes in case of antioxidant capacity and also declares two-times variation for total polyphenolic 
content. Cultivars ‘Aromate’ and ‘Bereczki’ possessed the lowest antioxidant capacity and ‘Román portugál’ and ‘Bereczki’ had the lowest 
polyphenolic contents. In contrast, cultivars ‘Champion’ and ‘Konstantinápolyi’ possessed the highest antioxidant capacity and ‘Mezôtúri’ 
and ‘De Husi’ had the highest polyphenolic contents. The Pearson’s coefﬁ cient was relatively moderate but signiﬁ cant (r=0.51) indicating a 
weak interdependence between FRAP and TPC values of quince fruits. Our results led us to the conclusion that quince might be considered 
as a valuable source of antioxidants and polyphenolics.
Key words: antioxidant, Cydonia oblonga, quince, total phenolics
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Papp, N., Szabó, T., Szabó, Z., Nyéki, J., Stefanovits-Bányai, É. & Hegedûs, A.34
Materials and methods
Genotypes tested
Altogether, 12 Cydonia oblonga Mill. commercial 
cultivars and local selections (‘Angersi’, ‘Aromate’, 
‘Bereczki’, ‘Bereczki bô ter mô’, ‘Champion’, ‘De Husi’, 
‘Konstanti nápolyi’, ‘Leskovacka’, ‘Mezôtúri’, ‘Moldova 
nesti’, ‘Román portugál’ and ‘Triumph’) were used for the 
analyses. All cultivars and hybrids were 
grown at the same germplasm collection 
in the Research and Extension Centre for 
Fruit Growing in Újfehértó and fruits were 
harvested in the season of 2010.
Fruit sample preparation
For antioxidant assays, 100 g fruit were 
homogenized as intact whole fruits (peel and 
ﬂ esh together) or peeled fruits (ﬂ esh without 
skin) in distilled water and centrifuged with a 
Hettich Zentrifugen (Mikro 22 R; Tuttlingen, 
Germany) device (4 oC, 35 min, 18750g), 
after which supernatants were used for most 
of the redox assays. Samples for further 
analyses were kept at –80°C until use.
Antioxidant and total phenolic assays
Antioxidant capacity was determined using the FRAP 
(Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power) method (Benzie 
and Strain, 1996) and expressed as mmol ascorbic acid 
(AA)/100 g fresh weight. Total phenolic content (TPC) 
was measured using Folin-Ciocalteu’s reagent according to 
the method of Singleton and Rossi (1965). The content of 
soluble phenols was calculated from a standard curve based 
on gallic acid concentration.
Statistical analysis
Data presented for each cultivar represent the 
mean values determined from three independent 
homogenates. Correlation coefﬁ cients of redox 
parameters were determined by the coefﬁ cient 
of Pearson. One-way analysis of variance 
(ANOVA) was carried out in Microsoft Excel 
2003. Differences at P£0.05 were considered 
statistically signiﬁ cant. The signiﬁ cance of the 
correlation coefﬁ cient was tested by t-test.
Results and discussion
Antioxidant capacity measured as the 
ferric reducing ability of fruit extracts ranged 
between 5.99 and 63.10 mmol AA/100 g FW, 
with an average value of 26.45 mmol AA/100 g 
(Figure 1). In general, the antioxidant capacity was higher in 
intact fruits than in peeled fruit extracts. Differences between 
the antioxidant capacities of intact and peeled fruit varied 
according to genotypes. It must be considered that peels form 
only a small portion of the fruit weight although its inﬂ uence 
seems crucial to antioxidant capacity of whole fruits. In case 
of ‘Bereczki’ and ‘Bereczki bôtermô’, difference was not 
detected between FRAP values of intact and peeled fruits, 
which must be further studied.
The antioxidant capacity of intact fruits ranged between 
8.02 and 63.10 mmol AA/100 g. This range represents an 
almost 8-times variation among the tested genotypes. The 
lowest FRAP values were measured in fruits of the ‘Aromate’ 
and ‘Bereczki’ cultivars, while the highest values were 
obtained for cultivars ‘Champion’ and ‘Konstantinápolyi’.
The total phenolic contents in samples ranged between 
3.92 and 12.83 g GA/100 g FW, with an average value of 7.74 
g GA/100 g (Figure 2). Interestingly, the total polyphenolic 
content of fruits was again very similar in case of ‘Bereczki’ 
and ‘Champion’. Phenolic contents in intact fruits ranged 
Figure 1 Antioxidant capacity in peeled (white columns) and intact (grey columns) fruits of 
Cydonia oblonga genotypes harvested in 2010, Újfehértó, Hungary
Figure 2 Total phenolics content in peeled (white columns) and intact (grey columns) fruits 
of Cydonia oblonga genotypes harvested in 2010, Újfehértó, Hungary
7_Pappetal.indd   34 1/29/14   10:21 AM
Antioxidant capacity and total polyphenolic content in quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) fruit 35
between 6.01 (‘Román portugál’) and 12.83 g GA/100 g 
(‘De Husi’), presenting two-times variation among the 
genotypes. The most popular Hungarian cultivar, ‘Bereczki’, 
was also characterized by low polyphenolic content, while a 
Hungarian local selection, ‘Mezôtúri’, accumulated relatively 
high quantities of polyphenolics.
Since cultivars showing the lowest and highest antioxidant 
capacity and total polyphenolic content were not identical, it 
was interesting to run a correlation analysis to characterize 
the inﬂ uence of quince polyphenolics to the antioxidant 
power of fruit. The Pearson’s coefﬁ cient was relatively 
moderate (r=0.51) compared to other species (Cevallos-
Casals et al., 2006; Hegedûs et al., 2008; 2010; Papp et al., 
2010, 2011; Yildiz et al., 2010). However, the t-test conﬁ rmed 
a signiﬁ cant correlation between FRAP and TPC values 
measured in quince fruit.
Our results led us to the conclusion that the fruit of 
Cydonia oblonga might be considered as a rich source 
of antioxidants and polyphenolics, especially cultivars 
‘Champion’, ‘Konstantinápolyi’ and ‘De Husi’. In addition, 
contribution of peel polyphenolics to the antioxidant capacity 
of whole fruits seems to be a genotype-dependent trait for 
quince.
Acknowledgements
This work was ﬁ nanced by the OTKA K84290 grant. 
Attila Hegedûs is grateful for receiving a János Bolyai 
Scholarship, Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
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Antioxidant capacity and total polyphenolic content in quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) fruit

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Antioxidant capacity and total polyphenolic content in quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) fruit

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