EFFECT OF SPRAY DRYING ON VOLATILE AND BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS IN SOURSOP PULP (ANNONA MURICATA)
Soursop is a seasonal highly perishable fruit, which restricts its commercialization. Thus it is extremely necessary to conserve its pulp so that the pulp is available throughout the year. One of the most common forms for fruit preservation is the dehydration process. This work had an objective to dehydrate soursop pulp by spray drying at optimum conditions and to analyze the retention of volatile and bioactive compounds in soursop powder, besides analyzing its antioxidant capacity. A UFLC-QQQ-MS system was used to separate, identify and quantify bioactive compounds while Volatile compounds were analyzed by Stir Bar Sorptive Extraction coupled with GC-MS system. A total of 78 volatile compounds were identified, of which 29 were esters, representing the largest class of organic compounds identified, 14 were terpenes, 7 alcohols, 7 ketones, 6 aldehydes, 5 acids, 3 aromatic compounds, 3 lactones and 4 others compounds. Of these 78 compounds, 68 were identified in the soursop pulp and 70 in the rehydrated powder. The major compounds for both samples were (E)-2-hexenoic acid, methyl ester; hexanoic acid, methyl ester and (E)-2-butenoic acid, methyl ester. The total phenolic compounds, flavonoids and antioxidant capacity did not show any significant difference (p<0.05) between the fresh fruit pulp and dehydrated powder. The total content of the phenolic compounds and flavonoids in the fresh pulp was 160.28 mg of GAE/100 g and 87.17 mg of quercetin/100g, respectively. While for rehydrated powder the values were 158.95 mg of GAE/100 g and 85.17 mg of quercetin/100g, respectively. Considering that there was no significant difference (p<0.05) between fresh pulp and the rehydrated powder in concentrations of bioactive compounds and principal volatile compounds, it can be concluded that spray drying of soursop pulp retains its nutritional and aroma quality, besides maintaining the antioxidant capacity.