Antioxidant Activity of Pulp Extract and Microencapsulates of Feijoa (Acca sellowiana)
Feijoa (Acca sellowiana (berg) Burret), Myrtaceae family, is a native plant originated in south of Brazil and Uruguay. Feijoa fruit presents translucent jelly-like pulp, with sweet acidulated flavor and unique aroma [1]. Several studies present that the consumption of this fruit and its products is associated with many benefits for human health, especially due to the high nutritional value and antioxidant activity attributed to the phenolic compounds presents in the fruit. This study was carried out using Feijoa, Alcântara variety, cultivated and collected in Água Doce-SC, and the purpose was to evaluate the antioxidant activity in fresh and spray dryed pulp, with maltodextrin (sample 1) and gum Arabic (sample 2) as encapsulating agents. The fresh pulp was extracted in three different methods. A sample amount was extracted under magnetic stirring with 50% ethanol for 1 hour, then centrifuged, the supernatant was stored for analysis and the precipitate used for further extraction with 70% acetone under the same conditions. In the extraction with water, the same procedure was done, but with a new amount of sample. For the extraction of the microencapsulated samples, the microparticles were ruptured with acidified methanol, sonicating for 15 minutes and finally centrifuged. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was then evaluated by the DPPH, ABTS and FRAP methods. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was evaluated by the DPPH, ABTS and FRAP methods. For the DPPH methodology, the ethanolic extract showed the highest activity (32.455 ± 1.286 mg TEAC g-1), followed by sample 1 (30.636 ± 1.286 mg TEAC g-1), sample 2 (24.424 ± 0.214 mg TEAC g-1) and the extracts of water and acetone that presented the same activity (19.879 ± 1.071 mg TEAC g-1). These results are lower than those identified by Souza (2015) [2]. For ABTS, sample 2 presented the highest activity (1452.00 ± 56.35 mmol TEAC g-1), followed by sample 1 (1948.67 ± 33.29 mmol TEAC g-1), acetone extract (1850, 33 ± 23.62 mmol TEAC g-1), extract with water (1548.67 ± 20.82 mmol TEAC g-1) and extract with ethanol (1452.00 ± 56.35 mmol TEAC g-1). The results found for this methodology are higher, when compared with the values obtained by Souza (2015) [2]. In the FRAP methodology it was observed that the ethanol extract presented the best result (66.528 ± 0.396 mmol TEAC g-1) followed by sample 2 (63,408 ± 1,867 mmol TEAC g-1), sample 1 (58.448 ± 0.057 mmol TEAC g-1), extraction with water (44.208 ± 0.057 mmol TEAC g-1) and extraction with acetone (28.088 ± 0.226 mmol TEAC g-1). The values obtained by this methodology are higher than those found by Silva (2017) [3]. These results showed that feijoa has interesting antioxidant activity, especially in ABTS and FRAP tests when compared to related research. These results serve as a justify the continuation of the study on the feijoa collected in this region.