title: Antioxidant activity of various Mauritanian date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) fruits at two edible ripening stages.
abstract: The increasing interest in plant phenolics and flavonoids outlined the necessity of determining their contents and biological activity in Mauritanian date palm fruits. Methanolic extracts of fruit of six date palm cultivars commonly grown in Mauritania were screened for their antioxidant activity, total phenolics, and flavonoid content at two edible ripening stages. Polyphenols and flavonoids were higher in theBlah stage, corresponding toKhalal in the standard Iraqi Arabic nomenclature, compared to the fully matureTamr stage regardless the cultivar. The average of total phenolics atBlah andTamr stages were 728.5 and 558.9 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE) per 100 g dry matter (DM), whereas the average flavonoid content was 119.6 and 67.3 mg quercetin equivalents (QE) per 100 g DM, respectively. TheBlah stage also exhibited the highest total antioxidant activity with a Trolox equivalents antioxidant capacity (TEAC) value of 129.3 μmol/100 g DM founded in Bou seker's Blah date, followed by Tijib cultivar with TEAC value of 114.3 μmol/100 g DM and an average TEAC value of 107.5 μmol/100 g DM. Furthermore, a high positive correlation was found between total phenolics inTamr (r = 0.92) andBlah (r = 0.87) stages and TEAC of fruit methanolic extracts compared to the flavonoids, suggesting that phenolics were the major contributor to the antioxidant activity.
authors.affiliation: UR-Génomes et milieux, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université des sciences, de technologie et de médecine BP 5026, Nouakchott, Mauritania ; Laboratoire des produits naturels, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Cheikh Anta Diop Dakar, Senegal.
authors.forename: Fouteye Mint
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Mohamed Lemine
authors.affiliation: UR-Génomes et milieux, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université des sciences, de technologie et de médecine BP 5026, Nouakchott, Mauritania.
authors.forename: Mohamed Vall O
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Mohamed Ahmed
authors.affiliation: UR-Génomes et milieux, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université des sciences, de technologie et de médecine BP 5026, Nouakchott, Mauritania ; Département de production et protection végétale, Institut Supérieur de l'Enseignement Technologique Rosso, Mauritania.
authors.forename: Lobna
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ben Mohamed Maoulainine
authors.affiliation: UR-Génomes et milieux, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université des sciences, de technologie et de médecine BP 5026, Nouakchott, Mauritania.
authors.forename: Zein El Abidine O
authors.initials: Zel A
authors.lastname: Bouna
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire des produits naturels, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Cheikh Anta Diop Dakar, Senegal.
authors.forename: Abdoulaye
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Samb
authors.affiliation: UR-Génomes et milieux, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université des sciences, de technologie et de médecine BP 5026, Nouakchott, Mauritania.
authors.forename: Ali O Mohamed Salem
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: O Boukhary
keywords: Antioxidant activity; Mauritania; Phoenix dactylifera; date palm fruit; flavonoids; phenolics; ripening