Antioxidant capacity and phenolic contents of newly developed seedless lemons

Recently, three totally seedless lemon cultivars, registered as 'Alata', 'Uzun' and 'Gulsen', have been developed by induced mutation breeding method in Turkey. They originated from 'Kutdiken' lemon known with its high yield and quality. These new cultivars have superior fruit quality and storage performance. In this study, antioxidant and total phenolic content of juice from new seedless lemon cultivars and 'Kutdiken' were determined. Two methods, namely beta-carotene bleaching and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, were used to determine total antioxidant capacity, while Folin-Ciocalteu reagent was used to determine total phenols. Results indicated significant differences in antioxidant capacity and phenolic content of lemons. 'Alata' had the highest total antioxidant capacity determined both with 8 carotene bleaching (84.46%) and with DPPH (114.73 mg GAE 100 mL(-1) FW) methods. A phenolic content of lemon cultivars studied was very high and 'Kutdiken' was the best for this trait (181.26 mu g GAE mg(-1) FW). The study demonstrated that new lemon cultivars had high nutritional potential for human health.