Antioxidant properties of selected fruit cultivars grown in Sri Lanka

•Local gooseberry exhibited the highest DPPH, FRAP, TPC, TFC and vitamin C content.•Starfruit and Sugar apple had the second highest DPPH and FRAP values.•Sugar apple obtained second highest TPC followed by governor's plum.•Second highest TFC was observed in governor's plum.•Second and third highest vitamin C content was observed in guava and then in mango.

Extracts of twenty locally available Sri Lankan fruits were analysed for 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging activity, ferrous reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and vitamin C content. The results showed that gooseberry (Phyllanthus emblica 'local') exhibited the highest DPPH scavenging activity (111.25 mg ascorbic acid equivalent antioxidant capacity (AEAC)/g), FRAP (1022.05 μmol FeSO4/g), TPC (915.7 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/100 g), TFC (873.2 mg catechin equivalents (CE)/100 g) and vitamin C (136.8 mg ascorbic acid equivalents (AAE)/100 g), respectively. Sugar apple (Annona squamosa 'local') and star fruit (Averrhoa carambola 'Honey Sweet') obtained the second and third highest antioxidant activities in terms of rankings of FRAP, DPPH activities, TPC, TFC and vitamin C content. Strong correlation between vitamin C, TPC and TFC with FRAP and DPPH showed their contribution to antioxidant capacity. Among the selected fruits, underutilized fruit cultivar gooseberry showed the highest overall antioxidant potential.