Morpho-Physicochemical, Nutritional Composition and Phenolic Compound Profile of Two Avocado Landraces in Different...

Avocado landraces have gained great interest due to their importance in maintaining biodiversity and the presence of bioactive compounds in their fruit, depending on fruit tissues or ripening stages. This study aimed to evaluate the morpho-physicochemical and nutritional components of the peel, pulp, and seed tissues from Lagunero (LA) and Criollo (CA) avocado landraces at different ripening stages. Additionally, phenolic profiles were analyzed by using UPLC-DAD/ESI-MS, and a principal component analysis (PCA) was constructed to determine variations among the determined contents from avocado landraces, fruit tissues, and ripening stages. The CA showed a 30% higher fruit weight and higher percentages of seed (0.52%) and peel (3.62%) weight yields as compared to the LA. Ripening significantly affected the physical characteristics of LA and CA, and a substantial decrease in hardness (83%) after 4 days of storage. In LA, ripening resulted in an increase in fat content in both the peel and pulp. In contrast, CA showed an increase in protein content in the peel and pulp but a decrease in seeds; fat content increased significantly in the pulp of CA and carbohydrates remained the predominant component in all tissues, though they decreased slightly in CA peels during ripening. The ripe LA peel presented approximately 50% more total phenolic compounds than other tissues. The unripe CA peel showed a higher antioxidant capacity according to DPPH (3831.97 µMol Eq Trolox/g dw) and ABTS+ (3674.70 µMol Eq Trolox/g dw) assays. The main phenolic compounds identified in the avocado peel were chlorogenic acid, catechin, quercetin-3-O-hexoside, quercetin-3-O-pentoside, coumaric acid, caffeic acid, neochlorogenic acid, ferulic acid, kaempferol-3-O rhamnoside, and quercetin-3-O-rhamnoside. The PCA analysis revealed a strong correlation between chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid with TPC, while catechin was more closely related to antioxidant activity. These findings suggest that peel and seed tissues of avocado landraces, often considered byproducts, are valuable sources of bioactive compounds with high antioxidant potential.