Pomological Traits, Sensory Characteristics, and Antioxidant Activity in Fruits of Nine Loquat Cultivars Grown in Sicily

Loquat cultivation in Italy currently aims at offering a wider choice of cultivars to growers. The present study determined commercial quality, characterized the antioxidant capacity, and quantified the major bioactive compounds of some local ('BRT 20', 'Claudia', 'Nespolone di Trabia', 'Sanfilippara') and international ('Algerie', 'El Buenet', 'Bueno', 'Golden Nugget' and 'Peluche') cultivars. Fruit was harvested at commercial ripening and chemical-physical determinations of weight, diameters, skin and flesh color, soluble solid content, tritable acidity, antioxidant activity and polyphenol content, and sensory analyses were carried out. Data showed a large variability among genotypes and within both local and commercial groups. 'BRT20', 'Nespolone di Trabia' and 'Algerie' revealed the best quality in terms of chemical-physical parameters, which were generally confirmed by the sensory analysis. Our results also showed that loquat fruits are valuable resources of phenolics and possess a relatively high antioxidant activity. The ethanolic extracts from all genotypes exhibited DPPH and ABTS scavenging capacity, in a concentration-dependent manner. The antioxidant capacity was associated with the polyphenol content and the highest values were observed in 'El Buenet', 'Algerie' and 'Claudia'.