Summary
Bright black (Morus nigra) and purple mulberry (Morus rubra) are particularly desirable
fruits in Turkey. More recently, the interest in these bright black and purple mulberry
fruits has also increased because of the popularization of healthy properties of these fruits.
The study was carried out in 2008 aiming to determine the antioxidant activity (ferric reducing
ability of plasma, FRAP), total phenolic, total anthocyanin, mineral, soluble solid,
vitamin C, and total acid content of four black and four purple mulberry genotypes grown
in Turkey. The results show that black mulberry genotypes have a higher bioactive content
than purple mulberry genotypes. The average total phenolic content and total anthocyanins
of black mulberry genotypes were 2149 mg of gallic acid equivalent (GAE) per g and
719 mg of cyanidin 3-glucoside equivalent (Cy 3-glu) per g of fresh mass. In purple mulberry,
these values were for GAE 1690 mg/g and for Cy 3-glu 109 mg/g on fresh mass basis.
The average antioxidant activity of black mulberry genotypes was also found to be higher
than that of the purple ones according to FRAP assay (Trolox equivalent (TE) per fresh
mass of black and purple mulberries was 13.35 and 6.87 mmol/g, respectively).
Key words: black and purple mulberry, antioxidant activity, mineral elements