Classification of eight pomegranate juices based on antioxidant capacity measured by four methods

The antioxidant capacity of pomegranate juices (PJs) obtained from eight cultivars were determined by the scavenging activity against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethyl-benzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) and β-carotene-linoleate model system. Total phenolic content (TPC) and total anthocyanin content (TAC) were also determined and found to vary between the range of 208.3–343.6 mg catechin equivalents and 8.1–36.9 mg cyanidine-3-glucoside equivalents per 100 ml of PJ, respectively. Cultivar Izmir 8 showed the highest scores for trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) as 418.3 ± 5.2 mg/100 ml of PJ, anti-lipid peroxidative activity (ALPA) as 93.5 ± 1.8% and efficient concentration (EC₅₀) as 29.8 ± 2.9 ml of PJ/g of DPPH. The hierarchy of PJs for antioxidant capacity with respect to their TEAC and ALPA values was I8 > I1499 > I10 > I1264 > I1479 > I26 > I23 > Zivzik. Interrelationships among the analyzed parameters and PJs obtained from eight cultivars were investigated by principal component analysis (PCA). Dimension of data set was reduced to two components by PCA accounting for the 93% of the total variance. Eight PJs were classified into three groups by cluster analysis (CA).