Effect of Cultivar on Levels of Chemicals and on Anthocyanin Content in Four Iranian Pomegranate (Punica granatu. L.) Cultivars

Pomegranate (Punica granatum. L) is one of the popular edible fruits believed to be native Iran. It is presently widely grown in many other tropical and subtropical countries. In this study, anthocyanin profiles for four cultivars of Iranian pomegranate (Punica granatum. L) juice were determined and quantified through high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to UV-Vis detector (HPLC-UV) using individual calculations from the peak areas based on standard curves of each composition. Anthocyanin contents were highly variable among cultivars (Sweet Alak, Saveh Black leather, Tabas bone leather and Saveh sweet white leather). Results demonstrated that despite morphological similarities among cultivars, there are significant differences observed in chemical comounds as well as anthocyanine content among them. The highest level of Total Tannin was observed in Sweet Alak cultivar (3.20 mg/l) and the cultivar Tabas bone contained the highest contents of Total Anthocyanin (7758.80 mg/l), Total Sugar (13.86 g/100g), Total Acidity (1.20 g/100g). So one can assign different cultivars to different uses. HPLC fingerprint of anthocyanins content for each cultivar was elaborated and stored in a database.