Sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) cultivars grown in Hungary are of local origin while most sweet cherry cultivars in Hungary areintroduced from other countries.A great phenotypic variability is displayed by both species. In the present study, we analyzed 10 sour and 9 sweetcherry cultivars for their antioxidant capacity, total polyphenolics (TPC) and total anthocyanin (TMAC) contents. In general, sour cherries showedhigher levels of antioxidant capacity, TPC and TMAC. The anthocyanin contents varied from 0.16 to 6.85 and 1.41 to 127.56 mg/100 g for sweetand sour cherries, respectively. However, TMAC generally seems to have a limited influence on the antioxidant capacity of cherries.An amarelletypesour cherry, ‘Pipacs 1’ showed the highest antioxidant capacity (21.21mmolAA/l) and TPC (44.07mgGA/l) in contrast to its lowanthocyanincontent. The detected diversity presents a choice that can satisfy different consumer preferences, and meet specific nutritional requirements

A., Hegedűs

J., Nyéki

N., Papp

T., Szabó

Z., Szabó

É., Stefanovits-Bányai

University of Debrecen Electronic Archive

Introduction
Currently a fruit grower faces severe challenges in
providing high yields of good quality fruits. Quality is
determined by size, colouration, flavour and other traditional
attributes. However, in addition to phytosanitarian demands
(fruits must be free from diseases or pests) more and more
requirements are also emerging to be covered by fruits. One
of these aspects gaining importance is the health-promoting
power of fruits consumed either in fresh or processed. This
demand also highlights the need for thorough surveys for
health-related contents in fruits including commercial
cultivars as well as specific landraces or locally grown
genotypes. The consumption of health-promoting foods
becomes more important and fashionable with many
consumers willing to pay more for a healthy product.
The oxygen in the cells of the human body naturally
produces free radicals. Some adverse effects (for example
smoking, UV light, air pollution, inappropriate nutrition etc.)
increase the intra- and intercellular quantity of active oxygen
species. The free radicals may initiate a chain reaction and
they are capable to deteriorate cells.Antioxidants can prevent
or slow the oxidative damage. Health problems such as heart
disease, inflammation, macular degeneration, diabetes,
cancer etc. are all induced by oxidative damage.Antioxidants
may also enhance immune defence and therefore lower the
risk of cancer and infection.
Sweet and sour cherry production has long tradition in
Hungary. Cultivars show great variability and it can be
considered as a native species around the Black Sea and
Europe. Hungarian sour cherry production ranks 8th among
all countries in terms of the production quantity. Hungary
produces 4% of the total world supply (Faostat, 2007) but
Hungarian cultivars are also grown in other Central European
countries or even in the USA. Hungarian sweet cherry
production has much restricted significance in world
production compared to sour cherries. It ranks 36th among all
countries (Faostat, 2007). Most commercial cultivars are
those introduced from other countries with only a limited
number of Hungarian cultivars in production.
Materials and methods
Plant material and sample preparation
Ten sour cherry and 9 sweet cherry cultivars were analyzed.
All cultivars and hybrids were cultivated at the same
germplasm collection in the Research and Extension Centre for
Fruit Growing in Újfehértó. Fruits were harvested at top
maturity stage.Approximatly 100 g of fresh fruits were halved,
seeded and homogenized and centrifuged with a Hettich
Zentrifugen (Mikro 22 R; Tuttlingen, Germany) device (4 °C,
35-min, 18,750 gn); supernatants were used for redox assays.
Determination of total antioxidant capacity (FRAP)
Antioxidant capacity was determined by the FRAP (ferric
reducing ability of plasma) method (Benzie & Strain, 1996)
with spectrophotometer. Ascorbic acid was used as standard.
Large variations in antioxidant capacity and contents
of Hungarian sour and sweet cherry cultivars
Papp, N.1,2, Nyéki, J.1, Szabó, Z.1, Stefanovits-Bányai, E.2, Szabó, T.3 & Hegedûs, A.4
1University of Debrecen, Institute for Extension and Development, H- 4032 Debrecen, Böszörményi út 138, Hungary
2Corvinus University of Budapest, Department of Applied Chemistry, H-1118 Budapest, Villányi út 29–31, Hungary
3Research and Extension Centre for Fruit Growing, Újfehértó, H-4244 Újfehértó, Vadastag út 2, Hungary
4Corvinus University of Budapest, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, H-1118 Budapest, Ménesi út 44,
Hungary; e-mail: hegedus.attila@uni-corvinus.hu
Summary: Sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) cultivars grown in Hungary are of local origin while most sweet cherry cultivars in Hungary are
introduced from other countries.A great phenotypic variability is displayed by both species. In the present study, we analyzed 10 sour and 9 sweet
cherry cultivars for their antioxidant capacity, total polyphenolics (TPC) and total anthocyanin (TMAC) contents. In general, sour cherries showed
higher levels of antioxidant capacity, TPC and TMAC. The anthocyanin contents varied from 0.16 to 6.85 and 1.41 to 127.56 mg/100 g for sweet
and sour cherries, respectively. However, TMAC generally seems to have a limited influence on the antioxidant capacity of cherries. An amarelle-
type sour cherry, ‘Pipacs 1’showed the highest antioxidant capacity (21.21 mmolAA/l) andTPC (44.07 mg GA/l) in contrast to its low anthocyanin
content. The detected diversity presents a choice that can satisfy different consumer preferences, and meet specific nutritional requirements.
Key words: FRAP, polyphenols, anthocyanin, sweet cherry, sour cherry
International Journal of Horticultural Science 2010, 16 (3): 25–28.
Agroinform Publishing House, Budapest, Printed in Hungary
ISSN 1585-0404
26
Determination of total phenolic content (TPC)
Total phenolic content (TPC) was measured using Folin-
Ciocalteu’s reagent according to the method of Singleton &
Rossi (1965) with spectrophotometer. The content of soluble
phenols was calculated from a standard curve based on gallic
acid concentration.
Determination of total monomeric anthocyanins
(TMAC)
A pH differential method was applied to quantify the total
monomeric anthocyanin content (TMAC) as described by
Lee et al. (2008). The anthocyanin content was expressed as
mg cyanidin-3-glycoside/100g fresh weight (?=26900). For
all spectrophotometric measurements, a spectrophotometer
(Nicolet Evolution 300 BB; Thermo Electron Corporation,
Cambridge, England) was used.
Results and discussion
The total antioxidant capacity of the tested sweet cherry
cultivars ranged between 1.32 (‘Sweet Heart’) and 4.55
mmolAA L
-1
(‘Santina’) (Fig. 1A). It is more than 3-fold
difference between the lowest and highest values. The total
antioxidant capacity of the sour cherry cultivars showed
higher variations (Fig. 1B). The lowest FRAP values were
measured in ‘Korai pipacs’ (1.53 mmolAA L-1). It is a bright
red, early ripening cultivar. The highest FRAP values were
determined in ‘Pipacs 1’, which had a FRAP value of 21.21
mmolAA L-1. It is also a bright red, amarelle-type cultivar
and hence this outstanding antioxidant capacity was
surprising. The antioxidant capacity of the ‘Pipacs 1’ was
much higher compared with strawberry, raspberry, red
currant cultivars and approached the range of the FRAP
values of the black currant (24–33 mmolAA L-1) (Hegedûs et
al., 2008). A 14-fold difference occurred between the FRAP
values of sour cherry cultivars. The main commercial
cultivars grown in Hungary (‘Érdi bôtermô’, ‘Kántorjánosi’
and ‘Újfehértói fürtös’) achieved lower values (3.74–4.86
mmolAA L-1). Two advanced selections, the ‘VN 1’ and ‘VN
7’ had the highest antioxidant capacities after ‘Pipacs 1’with
19.78 and 10.22 mmolAA L-1, respectively. These selections
have black skin and flesh colours (Fig. 2).
The total phenolic content of the tested cultivars showed
very similar tendencies as total antioxidant capacity. The
correlation coefficient of the FRAP and TPC results was
close (r= 0.805). It means that polyphenols define primarily
the total antioxidant capacity in case of the tested cultivars.
Among the sweet cherries ‘Sweet Heart’ showed the lowest
(2.49 mg GA ml-1) and ‘Santina’ the highest (6.87 mg GA
ml-1) total phenolic content (Fig. 3A). Approx. 3-fold
difference occurred between the sweet cherry cultivars.
Among the sour cherry cultivars the lowest TPC values were
measured in ‘Korai pipacs’ with 2.82 mgGA ml-1 and the
highest in ‘Pipacs 1’ with 44.07 mgGA ml-1 (Fig. 3B). It
presents a more than 15-fold variation. The main commercial
cultivars showed again lower and the advanced selections
showed higher values but none of the cultivars could
approach the TPC of ‘Pipacs 1’.
Anthocyanins are one of the most important
polyphenolics in sour cherry. Anthocyanins are responsible
for the bright red, blue and purple colours of fruits and are
also potent antioxidants. Generally, sour cherries contained
more anthocyanins than sweet cherries. In sweet cherry,
Papp, N., Nyéki, J., Szabó, Z., Stefanovits-Bányai, E., Szabó, T. & Hegedûs, A.
Figure 1.Total antioxidant capacity of sweet (A) and sour (B) cherry cultivars.
Figure 2. Visual appearance of different sour cherry types tested in the
present study.A: ‘Pipacs 1’, B: ‘Újfehértói fürtös’, C:VN-01; 1: intact fruits,
2: stone cavity of halved fruits, 3: peeled fruits.
27
TMAC ranged from 0.16 to 6.85 mg cyaniding-3-
glucoside/100 g (Fig. 4A). The lowest values were detected
in the introduced cultivar, ‘Sunburst’ and the highest in
‘Santina’. Some articles reported that berries are fruits with
outstanding anthocyanin contents (Pantelidis et al., 2007). In
this study the tested selections, ‘VN-1’ and ‘VN-7’ reached
the total anthocyanin content of blackberries (Fig. 4B). In
fruits of ‘VN-1’ and ‘VN-7’ 127.56 mg and 100.22 mg
cyaniding-3-glucoside/100 g total anthocyanin contents were
detected, respectively. The TMAC values of all tested sour
cherries ranged between 1.41 and 127.56 mg cyaniding-3-
glucoside/100 g.
Generally consumers suppose that dark coloured cherries
may accumulate more antioxidants than light red cherries.
However, our results show some important exceptions to this
assumption. For example, VN selections with black skin and
juice colour due to their high total anthocyanin content have
lower antioxidant capacity than the yellow fleshed ‘Pipacs 1’
fruits with extremely low contents of anthocyanins (Fig. 2).
Experiments are carried out to identify which phenolic
compounds are responsible for this extreme antioxidant
capacity.
Concluding remarks
In general, sour cherries were characterized by higher
antioxidant capacity, total phenolic and anthocyanin contents
than sweet cherries. However, both fruit species displayed
great variations among cultivars. In sour cherry, some
advanced selections (VN) were identified with high
anthocyanin contents, while an amarelle-type cultivar
‘Pipacs 1’ was shown to have high antioxidant capacity
presumably due to colourless polyphenolic compounds. The
VN selections are characterised by good eating quality and
hence are suitable for fresh consumption and processing. The
fruits of ‘Pipacs 1’ are more suitable for processing into
functional foods as fresh fruits are unpleasantly bitter or
astringent.
Acknowledgements
This work was co-financed by the NKTH-OTKA
K68921, OM-00042/2008 and OM-00270/2008 grants.
Attila Hegedûs is grateful for receiving a János Bolyai
Scholarship, HAS and the prize Excellence in science, CUB.
Authors express their thanks to Ferenc Szôke for providing
plant material.
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Large variations in antioxidant capacity and contents of Hungarian sour and sweet cherry cultivars
Figure 3. Total phenolic content of sweet (A) and sour (B) cherry cultivars
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Large variations in antioxidant capacity and contents of Hungarian sour and sweet cherry cultivars

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Large variations in antioxidant capacity and contents of Hungarian sour and sweet cherry cultivars

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