Physiological characteristics and bioactive compounds of melon varieties, correlated with physicochemical properties of the soil
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.19136/era.a13n3.5246Keywords:
Antioxidant activity, flavonoids, inhibition, morphology, polyphenolsAbstract
In recent years, interest in antioxidant compounds has increased due to their ability to reduce oxidative stress that contributes to disease development. Given the relevance of these compounds present in melon fruit, this study was conducted to determine the total phytochemical content in the pulp of three melon varieties, evaluate their antioxidant capacity, and analyze the relationship between edaphic conditions, bioactive compounds, and fruit quality. Fruits from the early harvest of 2025 were evaluated, randomly collected from five commercial production units. The quantification of total phenolic compounds and flavonoids was performed through spectrophotometric analyses, and antioxidant capacity was estimated using the DPPH* radical. The study had an observational and exploratory approach; ten fruits were randomly selected from each production unit, obtaining a total of 50 subsamples. The processing and analysis of experimental data were performed using the statistical package SAS® OnDemand for Academics. Regarding antioxidant activity, the NP5VP treatment showed the highest inhibition percentage, with a mean value of 11.13 ± 0.95%, while the lowest inhibition percentage was recorded for the SP4VAG treatment (3.04 ± 1.10%) (P ≤ 0.01). For the equatorial diameter variable, the SP4VAG treatment showed 15.81 ± 0.38 cm and SP1VTR 15.58 ± 0.41 cm, while SP3VAG presented 5.66 ± 0.50 cm for peel thickness (P ≤ 0.01). The physicochemical characteristics of the soil favored the concentrations of antioxidant compounds, as well as the morphology and quality of melon fruit.
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