Affiliation:
1. Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Abstract
The chemical composition, carotenoids, anthocyanins, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, and antioxidant activity of three date seed cultivars, mainly Barhi, Ruthana, and Qatarah, were investigated. Date seed bioactive compounds were extracted by using different extraction solvents. The chemical analysis revealed that the Barhi cultivar has the highest moisture and fat content, while Ruthana has the highest carbohydrate content. There were no significant differences in protein and ash contents among the three date seeds. Ethanol (100%) showed the highest bioactive compound contents and antioxidant activity, whereas water showed the lowest content among the six solvents. Generally, all the date seed cultivars contain high amounts of phenolic, flavonoid, and antioxidant activity. The carotenoid content was highest in the Barhi (1.98 mg/g DW) followed by Qatarah (1.25 mg/g DW) and Ruthana (0.89 mg/g DW) seed, while the anthocyanin content was highest in the Ruthana cultivar (5.51 ± 0.71 cyanidin 3-glucoside/g DM.) and lowest in Barhi date seed (3.335 ± 0.23 cyanidin 3-glucoside/g DM.). Among the three date seeds, the Ruthana seed showed the highest phenolic (93.36 ± 0.30 mg GAE/g) and flavonoid compounds (59.9 ± 0.44 mg CE/g), DPPH activity (78.6 ± 0.92%), and total reducing power (60.3 ± 0.09%). The optimum solvent for the extraction of the antioxidants and their activity in each date seed was validated by using partial least squares regression (PLS). The results revealed a variation in the valid and optimum extracts for each seed; 100% ethanol extract for Barhi seed and mixture of methanol:ethanol:water (M 40:E40:W20) extract for Ruthana and Qatarah cultivars were the best solvent systems. The high natural antioxidant content of date seeds indicates that they can be considered functional ingredients for food and medicinal uses.
Funder
Deanship of Scientific Research, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Subject
Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes,Computer Science Applications,Process Chemistry and Technology,General Engineering,Instrumentation,General Materials Science
Reference56 articles.
1. Al-Alawi, R., Al-Mashiqri, J.H., Al-Nadabi, J.S.M., Al-Shihi, B.I., and Baqi, Y. (2017). Date palm tree (Phoenix dactylifera L.): Natural products and therapeutic options. Front. Plant Sci., 8.
2. MEWA (2020). FAO Approves Saudi Arabia’s Proposal to Declare 2027 the International Year of Date Palm.
3. Quality evaluation of the physical properties, phytochemicals, biological activities and proximate analysis of nine Saudi date palm fruit varieties;Mustaffer;J. Saudi Soc. Agric. Sci.,2020
4. Biodiversity and Conservation of Date Palm;Jain;Biodivers. Conserv. Woody Plants,2017
5. Comparative analysis of chemical, mineral and in-vitro antibacterial activity of different varieties of date fruits from Saudi Arabia;Perveen;Saudi J. Biol. Sci.,2020