Surveilling the Rise and fall of Macro/Micro Minerals, Sugars, Total Acidity, Phenolics and Anthocyanins during Fruit Development Stages in Five Mulberry (Morus) Cultivars

Abstract

Abstract The versatility of Morus (Mulberry) fruit is growing among various suppliers and users globally. This study assessed the comparative variability in terms of total sugar, acidity, minerals, phenolic and anthocyanin contents and antioxidant dynamics of three black mulberry (M. serrata, M. nigra and M. macroura black) and two white mulberry cultivars (M. alba and M. macroura white) during various fruit development stages. Over all, M. alba (white cultivar) displayed maximum increase in sugar (0.10 to 1.35%) with maximum sugar recorded at fruit developmental stage 3 (FDS-3) followed by M. serrata (black cultivar) at FDS-5 (1.1%) and M. macroura white (white cultivar) at FDS-4 (0.9%). Decrease in acidity in M. alba from 0.8% at FDS-1 to 0.09% at FDS-4, M. nigra from 0.8% at FDS-1 to 0.03% at FDS-7 and M. macroura white from 0.6% at FDS-2 to 0.04% at FDS-4 were observed. TPC was maximum (590 GAE/100g) in M. nigra at FDS-6 and M. serrata (450 GAE/100g) at FDS-7 while white mulberry showed minimum TPC of < 200 GAE/100g during development stages. Two black cultivars (M. serrata and M. nigra) showed significant increase in total anthocyanin contents (14.57 to 100.06 and 14.13 to 201.87) from FDS-1 to FDS-7, whereas M. alba showed little increase (6.51 to 6.90). However, a decrease in anthocyanin contents (CGE/100 g FW) was observed in both M. macroura black and M. macroura white (17.07 to 11.79 and 9.03 to 2.68) from FDS-1 to FDS-7. The DPPH inhibition of black mulberry cultivars was pointedly greater with elevated levels of Fe, Cu, Zn, Ca, Mg, Na, P and K as compared to the white cultivars during maturity. HPLC and MS procedures verified total six anthocyanins such as cyanidin, mono glucosides of malvidin, cyanidin rutinoside, delphinidin and pelargonidin in all mulberry cultivars that may be potential phyto-therapeutic agents for the prevention of diabetes and other metabolic syndromes. Conclusively, mulberry could be of great significance for people anticipated to take mulberry as adjuvant therapy against health related complications concerning reactive oxygen species and to overcome heavy metal toxicity.