Screening of Low Chill Peaches Grown under Indian Subtropics for Phenolic Compounds, Vitamins and Organic Acids

Peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] fruits are good source of phenolic compounds, vitamins and organic acids. Low chill peach cultivars require low chilling hour for bud burst and growth.

Seven phenolic compounds, four vitamins and six organic acids were profiled in eight low chill peach cultivars at edible ripe stage using HPLC-PDA and evaluated using multivariate analysis.

Gallic acid, chlorogenic acid and catechin were the most predominant phenolic components, ascorbic acid and niacin were the major vitamins and citric acid and malic acid were the prevalent organic acids in all peach cultivars. Though not a single low chill peach cultivar possessed all the nutraceuticals in good amount, Sharbati Surkha and Sharbati contained maximum amounts of total of identified phenolic components (1472.20 and 1306.89 μg/g, respectively), whilst Sharbati, Sharbati Surkha and Pant Peach-1 had maximum amounts of total of identified vitamins (368.22, 341.48 and 335.13 μg/g, respectively). Total of identified organic acids were recorded maximum in Pant Peach-1, Pratap, Shan-e-Punjab and Sharbati Surkha (21.12, 18.70, 18.56 and 17.66 mg/g, respectively). Sharbati Surkha was the best cultivar overall while other cultivars could be used either for fresh consumption or for imparting flavor in peach based processed products.