Investigation of antioxidant capacities of apricot and fig

In this work, antioxidant capacities of sulphited and unsulphited dried Hacıhaliloğlu, Kabaaşı and Soğancı varieties of Malatya apricot and sun dried ?sarılop? variety of Aydın fig were investigated. Two essential antioxidant capacity determination methods were applied to the prepared samples. These methods were Total Antioxidant Activity determination and DPPH Radical Scavenging Activity measurement. In addition, determination of phenolic compounds and proline which contribute to the antioxidant capacity were conducted. Existence of flavonoids was determined by cyanidine test. Reducing power of the samples was calculated as ascorbic acid percent.Total antioxidant activities (i.e inhibition %) of apricot and fig extracts were compared and ether extract of unsulphited dried Kabaaşı variety was found to posses highest antioxidant activity. Antioxidant activities of all samples were found to be similar or higher than that of well known antioxidant standards. IC50 values, a measure of DPPH radical scavenging activity, were compared and the lowest IC50 (i.e the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity) was calculated for unsulphited Kabaaşı variety. The highest total phenolic content was measured for Kabaaşı variety samples. In general, reducing power of the samples were higher than that of Ginkgo biloba, but lower than that of ascorbic acid and melatonin. Extracts of all samples, except ether extracts, gave positive cyanidine test. All of the varieties contained various amounts of proline. Proline content of Soğancı variety was found to be higher than other apricot varieties. Proline content of fig sample was found to be relatively high as well.