Growth and ripening season effects on antioxidant capacity of strawberry cultivar Selva

There is wide awareness on the importance of antioxidants in cell protection against free radicals constantly produced by the cell metabolism. In this work, carried out with strawberry cultivar “Selva”, the antioxidant capacity and content of the main accepted antioxidants – ascorbic acid, dehydroascorbic acid, total phenols and anthocyanins – were determined along 10 growth stages of the fruit. Strawberries were harvested in winter and summer. Minimum/maximum temperatures in the two seasons were 6.3 °C/14.9 °C and 14.5 °C/27.8 °C, respectively. Antioxidant capacity in the small green stage was 27 mmol DPPH/100 g fresh tissue, keeping noticeably high values in the large-green one. Towards the white stage, antioxidant capacity reduced, to remain mostly constant. The antioxidant capacity was higher in those stages where cell division was more important and this parameter correlated mostly with the contents of total phenols and ascorbic acid.