Nutritional Characterization and Total Phenolic Content of Arbutus andrachne L. (Fam. Ericaceae) fruit Collected from Syria Hmaidosh Diana1,*, Ali Mahmoud2, Salame Rim3 1Ecological Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Tishreen University, Latakia, Syria 2Department of Forestry and Ecology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tishreen University, Latakia, Syria 3Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tishreen University, Latakia, Syria *Corresponding Author E-mail: dianah1983@gmail.com
Online published on 12 June, 2018. Abstract The Eastern strawberry tree, Arbutus andrachne L., is a medicinal evergreen small tree naturally distributed from Eastern Mediterranean to the Northern Black Sea region. In this study, We determined several characteristics of four Arbutus andrachne accessions collected from different parts of Latakia province (Syria). The physicchemical properties of ripe fruits of Arbutus andrachne were determined. Fruits contain 3.33 g/100g of ash, 58.67% of water and 16.2% of soluble solids. Among nutritionally important components found in fruits were: 0.85 g/100g proteins, fibers (18 g/100g fw) of which 14.45 g/100g was insoluble fibers and 3.55 g/100g soluble fibers. All the element concentrations that were tested varied considerably. The average for total sugars of the Arbutus andrachne accessions was 20.65 g/100g fruit, fructose was the main sugar (average of 12.16 g/100g fruit) followed by glucose (6.25 g/100g fruit) and sucrose (2.24 g/100g fruit). Among the Arbutus andrachne accessions tested, the total phenolics ranged from 14.5 (Height 3) to 15.95 (Height2) mg GAE/100g (fw) with an average of 15.39 mg GAE/100g (fw), and Ascorbic acid with an average of 244.5 mg GAE/100g (fw). Top Keywords Arbutus andrachne, food composition, dietary fibers, phenolic content, fruit characteristics. Top |