The Antioxidant Capacity of Pepino (solanum Muricatum) Cultivated in the Çanakkale Region, Turkey

Pepino (Solanum muricatum) also known as pepino dulce or pear melon is a plant that is originally grown in South America, mainly for its juicy fruits. Recently, pepino is successfully cultivated not only in South and North America, but also in Australia, Europe, Asia and the Middle East countries such as Turkey. In Turkey, the pepino crops were found to be well adapted to grow well and with high productivity. The fruits of pepino are preferred not only due to their attractiveness because of colorful appearance, taste and juiciness but also due to their medicinal significance. Therefore, in this study, the antioxidant capacity of the ripe fresh pepino fruits cultivated in the region of Çanakkale was determined by using the free radical 1,1’diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging method. For this purpose the methanolic and hexane extracts of the ripe pepino fruits were prepared. Furthermore, the DPPH free radical scavenging activity of the pepino fruits were compared with that of butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), ascorbic acid, and α-tocopherol. The % inhibition level of the methanolic extract (96.46±0.53) was found to be similar to that of BHT, ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol, while the hexane extract of the pepino fruits (74.46±0.38) exhibited significantly lower % inhibition levels. Furthermore, the methanolic extracts of pepino showed very good EC50 inhibition values (defined as the concentration of the compounds that was able to inhibit 50 % of the total DPPH radicals) (41.79±0.12 μg/mL).