Study on changes in chemical compositions and bioactive compounds in pouteria campechiana fruit during storage

Vietnam Journal of Science and Technology 57 (3B) (2019) 17-25 
doi:10.15625/2525-2518/57/3B/14065 
STUDY ON CHANGES IN CHEMICAL COMPOSITIONS AND 
BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS IN POUTERIA CAMPECHIANA 
FRUIT DURING STORAGE 
Tran Xuan Hien
1, *
, Huynh Lien Huong
2
, Nguyen Trung Thanh
3 
1
Department of Food Technology, An Giang University (VNU-HCM City), 18 Ung Van Khiem, 
Long Xuyen, An Giang 
2
Department of Chemical Technology, Can Tho University, Campus II, 3/2, Ninh Kieu, Can Tho 
3
Department of Education Management, An Giang University (VNU-HCM City), 
18 Ung Van Khiem, Long Xuyen, An Giang 
*
Email: txhien@agu.edu.vn 
Received: 30 July 2019; Accepted for publication: 2 November 2019 
Abstract. Pouteria campechiana, a fruit cultivated in many provinces of the Mekong Delta, is 
typically eaten fresh and has many benefits to human health. Therefore, quality control during 
storage of this fruit is very important for fresh consumption and food processing. This study was 
conducted to investigate the effects of postharvest maturity on the quality of the fruit stored at 
room temperature, mainly on its chemical composition and bioactive compounds content. The 
results showed that storage time greatly affected the amounts of carotenoids, tannin, phenolic 
and flavonoids: the highest content of carotenoids, polyphenols, flavonoids were obtained at day 
10
th
 of storage while tannin content gradually declined. The greatest antioxidant activity of fruit 
extracts was also obtained after 10 days storage. It was recommended that the highest nutritional 
value of Pouteria campechiana can be achieved from 8 to 10 days after harvest. 
Keywords: ABTS, DPPH, carotenoids, flavonoids, polyphenols, tannin. 
Classification numbers: 1.2.1, 1.3.4, 1.4.4. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
Pouteria campechiana is a fruit grown in Peru, Ecuador, Chile and Mexico, which is an 
important of the Spaniards diet [1-4]. In Viet Nam, harvesting season is from July to November 
[5]. The flesh is orange-yellow, specially aroma and natural sweetness. Pouteria campechiana 
fruit is usually eaten fresh, frozen powder, ice cream, candy and Jam products [4, 6]. The 
composition of Pouteria campechiana fruit consists of peel (7-17 wt.%), pulp (64-82 wt.%), 
membranes (2-3 wt.%), Seeds (8-15 wt.%) [4]. The pulps contain many nutritional ingredients as 
antioxidant especially, which is necessary for the body's activities. Therefore Pouteria 
Tran Xuan Hien, Huynh Lien Huong, Nguyen Trung Thanh 
18 
campechiana fruit can increase erythropoiesis in the blood, stimulating the activity of the 
nervous system, anti - depression, reducing cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood, preventing 
cardiovascular diseases and obesity, limiting myocardial infarction, increasing the immune 
systems and energy efficiency [5-9]. Currently, scientists have paid to create natural products 
from bioactive compounds to apply in medicine and agriculture by extraction and concentration 
or semi-synthetic methods. In the modern life, human food requirements are higher than before. 
Consuming food is not enough, but also good healthy and more beautifully. Recently, scientists 
are studying foods that contain antioxidants, a good healthy compound. They can prevent 
cardiovascular diseases and anti-aging, significant effects on beauty people. It is also a plant - 
great source - contains antioxidants [10]. For a long time, plants have become a food source, a 
main source of medicinal materials in the folk and have helped people to choose good plants that 
have contained both high nutritive and preventing diseases. Many studies have shown that plants 
contain antioxidants such as phenolics, flavonoids, carotenoids, anthocyanins, tannins, vitamins, 
quinines, coumarins, lignans, ligin [11-13]. Phenolics were high bioactive compound because 
they have delayed lipids oxidant, reducing risks of cancer and cardiovascular diseases, 
improving qualities life and nutritive value of food [14-17]. These compounds were attracted 
more and more because they are potential useful for human [18]. The first compounds are 
polyphenol and flavonoid that were demonstrated to scavenge free radical, prevent and treat 
many diseases such as inflammation, allergy and bacteria [19]. Results were shown that natural 
antioxidant contents of fruit and its by-products could prevent cancer, cardiovascular, declining 
nervous and soon aging - the main reason is stress oxidant (it is not balance free radical and 
antioxidants activities in the body). Therefore, plants will be potential sources that may contain 
bioactive compounds and applied in the life. In Viet Nam, there are many kinds of plants which 
are raw materials to produce medicines, functional foods including Pouteria campechiana fruit – 
rich sources. Using Pouteria campechiana fruit to produce food products will be advantaged in 
Viet Nam. Study on the chemical composition of Pouteria campechiana is necessary and 
suitable for tendency of social development nowadays. The present objective is to create 
Pouteria campechiana fruit with high qualities and safety for human requirements by 
maintaining its qualities after harvesting that is the first interest in manufacturers and consumers. 
Besides, Pouteria campechiana fruit is harvested on time for suitable processing. 
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 
2.1. Materials 
Pouteria campechiana fruits were collected directly in the morning (from 7-9 am) from My 
Khanh, Phong Dien District, Can Tho City. The fruits were harvested at 120-125 days after 
fructification. Fruit weight ranged from 200-250 g/each (harvest 20 fruits/tree). After harvest, 
Pouteria campechiana fruits were wrapped in sponge paper and preserved in carton box at room 
temperature for further study. All chemicals and reagents were of analytical grade and purchased 
from commercial sources. Total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC),  ... ssed as mean ± 
SD. Experimental data were analyzed using Portable Stat graphics Centurion software (Version 
15.2.11.0). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) with LSD test was used to determine the significant 
differences (P < 0.05) between means. 
 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
3.1. Variation of total polyphenol content (TPC) and flavonoid (TFC) 
Polyphenols are antioxidant groups that are able to prevent chain reactions by directly 
reacting to create more stable free radical or combine with metal ions to become a transitional 
complex that catalyzes for new free radical process [25]. In medicine field, polyphenols are one 
of the natural compounds with many effects such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, 
antibacterial, anti-allergy, anti-aging as well as its role in reducing the risk of chronic disease 
such as cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative. The role of these compounds is to change 
intestine bacteria to beneficial one [14-15]. Total polyphenol content is an important indicator to 
evaluate the oxidase resistance of a raw material. 
5.30
5.60
5.90
6.20
6.50
6.80
7.10
7.40
2 4 6 8 10 12
Storage time (days)
T
P
C
 (
m
g
G
A
E
/g
)
5.6
5.8
6.0
6.2
6.4
6.6
6.8
7.0
7.2
7.4
2 4 6 8 10 12
Storage time (days)
T
F
C
 (
m
g
Q
E
/g
)
(A) (B) 
Figure 1. Effect of storing time on TPC (A) and TFC (B) contents of Pouteria campechiana fruit. 
TPC of Pouteria campechiana fruit during storage (2-12 days) was presented in Figure 1A. 
It was observed that TPC of Pouteria campechiana fruit decreased during storing time. TPC 
decreased from 7.05 to 6.83 mg GAE/g after 2-6 days preserving. TPC kept decrease to 6.16 mg 
GAE/g) at day 10
th
 and then declined significantly to 5.88 (mg GAE/g db) at day 12
th
 (P < 0.05). 
Flavonoids are group of plant metabolites to provide health benefits through cell signaling 
pathways and antioxidant effects. Flavonoids are antioxidant compounds belonging to 
polyphenol groups with strong antioxidant activity due to the presence of aromatic hydroxyl 
groups [26]. TFC of Pouteria campechiana fruit during storage (2-12 days) was shown in Figure 
1B. It can be seen that TFC contents was also decreased form 7.15-7.01 mg QE/g db after 6 days 
Study on changes in chemical compositions and bioactive compounds in Pouteria Campechiana 
21 
preserving. TFC continued to decrease to 6.32 ± 0.169 mg QE/g db at day 10
th
 and decline to 
6.03 ± 0.100 mg QE/g db at day 12
th
. It can be stated that when Pouteria campechiana fruit 
changes from yellow green to yellow during storing, its TPC and TFC tend to decrease and the 
difference is statistically significant at the 95 % level. The results of this study are consistent to 
those of papaya, camellia and guava fruits during ripening [27-28] and peaches when 
refrigerated [29]. 
3.2. Variation of total carotenoid and tannin content 
In addition to polyphenols and flavonoids, carotenoids are also effective antioxidant 
compounds, which are important in maintaining healthy health and preventing human diseases 
such as cardiovascular, cancers as well as other chronic diseases [30-34]. It can be observed 
from Figure 2A that carotenoid content increased from 82.93 to 113.27 (mg/g) from 2 to 8
th
 day 
storage and reached the peak at 124.27 ± 3.05 (mg/g) on day10
th
. During ripening, the 
chlorophyll decreased whilst carotenoids gradually increased, leading to the change of colour of 
ripe fruit [35]. However, at day 12
th
, carotenoid content reduced to 119.28±3.05 (mg/g). This can 
be explained due to the entering of light and oxygen to the cracked skin of fruit during ripening. 
In addition, at the same time, the presence of intrinsic lipoxydase enzyme would also lead to the 
decrease of carotenoid content [35]. This result is similar to the increase in carotenoid content of 
some tomato varieties in the study [36-37] and ripening of tomatoes over time of storage [38]. 
Tannins are natural and common polyphenol compounds of plants. Fruit was change from 
green to ripe, polyphenol oxidase enzyme catalyzed the oxidation reaction of the polyphenol 
compound to quinone which combined with amino acids to produce color compounds [39]. In 
contradiction to carotenoid, tannin content tent to decrease with storage time from day 4
th
-8
th
(295.27 to 211.16 mg TAE/g db), and started to decrease rapidly at day 10
th
 (66.87 ± 2.83 mg 
TAE/g db) (Figure 2B). 
 (A) (B) 
Figure 2. Effect of storing time on carotenoids (A) and tannin (B) contents of Pouteria campechiana fruit. 
Thus, it can be observed that tannin contents of Pouteria campechiana fruit decreased 
gradually when fruits color changed from green to yellow. The results of this study was also in 
agreement with those of Sancho [28] and Nguyen Van Khoa [40] on papaya and cashew nuts 
ripening, respectively. This result suggested that selecting soft yellow ripe Pouteria 
campechiana fruit (usually after 8-10 days storing) as raw material for food processing would 
provide better nutrition values. 
Tran Xuan Hien, Huynh Lien Huong, Nguyen Trung Thanh 
22 
3.3 Antioxidant activity 
To evaluate antioxidant activity of Pouteria campechiana fruit during preserving, radical 
scavenging activities and reducing power of fruit extracts were analyzed. These methods are 
simple, quickly, stable and can be used for the screening effect of antioxidants [41]. 
Experimental results in Figure 3 showed that inhibition percent of DPPH and ABTS of Pouteria 
campechiana fruit during preserving gradually increased from 66.81 to 68.67 and from 67.58 to 
69.63, respectively after 6 days of storing. Highest inhibition percent of DPPH and ABTS were 
obtained at day 10
th 
(71.17 and 71.11). However, after 12 days, the inhibition percent of DPPH 
and ABTS suddenly reduced to 70.72 and 70.85. The results of this study indicated that 8-10 
days is the best storing period for Pouteria campechiana fruits. 
 (A) (B) 
Figure 3. Change of DPPH (A) and ABTS (B) Pouteria campechiana fruit during preserving 
4. CONCLUSIONS 
Study on the transformation of bioactive compounds (polyphenols, flavonoids, carotenoids, 
tannin) and antioxidant activity (DPPH, ABTS) of Pouteria campechiana fruit at different stage 
of maturity was evaluated. The results from this study indicated that highest quality of Pouteria 
campechiana fruit was obtained at 8 to 10 days storage after harvesting. 
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