Variability and relationship of fruit color and sampling location with antioxidant capacities and bioactive content in Morus alba L. fruit from trans-Himalaya, India

- Fruit color has no significant relationship with total polyphenol content (TPC) & total flavonoid content (TFC).
- Sampling location has significant effect on antioxidant activity (AA), TPC, TFC and TAC.
- Fruit color and sampling location interaction has significant effect on AA and TAC.
- Sampling location is more important than fruit color in determining AA, TPC and TAC.

Thirty seven genotypes of Morus alba L. from the trans-Himalaya with white, pink and black fruit were studied to find out variability and relationship of fruit color and sampling location with total antioxidant capacity, total polyphenol content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and total anthocyanin content (TAC) in fruit. The ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) ranged from 34.2 to 46.2 μmol Fe(II)/g DW. TPC ranged from 1.8 to 8.3 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g DW. The TFC ranged from 0.4 to 0.9 mg quercetin equivalent/g DW. Two way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that fruit color has no significant relationship with TPC and TAC. However, fruit color showed inconsistent effect on antioxidant capacity as determined by different methods. Sampling location has significant effect on antioxidant capacity, TPC, TFC and TAC. Interaction between fruit color and sampling location showed significant effect on antioxidant capacity and TAC. The study therefore showed that source of genotypes from different sampling location is more important as compare to fruit color in determining antioxidant capacity, TPC, TFC and TAC in M. alba fruit from the trans-Himalaya.