Comparison of Chemical Compositions and Antioxidant Activities of Fresh and Dried Rosa roxburghii Tratt Fruit

Abstract

Fresh fruit of Rosa roxburghii Tratt has attracted great interest and is used in many functional products in China. However, fresh fruits are perishable products with quite short shelf lives and few studies have focused on dried fruits. Therefore, this study aimed to explore whether the drying process can be used to preserve bioactive components of R roxburghii fruits by comparing phytochemical profiles and antioxidant activities between fresh and dried fruit. As result, a total of 95 compounds, mainly including organic acids, phenols, and flavonoids, were identified in fresh and dried fruits by using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry. The relative quantitative result showed that contents of phenols and acylamide were significantly higher ( p  < .05) in dried fruit. Furthermore, dried fruit showed stronger antioxidant activity by using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging ability and ferric reducing antioxidant power. This research suggested that dried R roxburghii fruit could be considered a more effective and economical health and functional source for functional food and industry.