Biochemical contents of mulberry (Morus spp.) fruits

Morus alba and Morus nigra are native to Far East and Eurasia, respectively. Fruits and leaves of both species are widely used in folk medicine. Both species are mostly used in Turkey to consume as fresh or dried fruits, juice and jam. Fruits of M.alba are white, purple or black in color whereas M. nigra has only black colored fruits. Study was conducted to compare fruits of M.alba and M. nigra fruits for natural biochemicals and antiradical activities. All fresh fruits were obtained from Southern Turkey and total phenols were analysed by Folin-Ciocalteu method. While spectrophotometric method were used for analysing of total flavonoids. Antiradical activity were measured by DPPH method. M.nigra has the highest phenolic content (368,2 mgGAE/100g FW) when compared to fruits of M.alba. White colored fruits in M. alba has the lowest phenolic content (267,5 mgGAE/100gFW). Amount of total flavonoids (mg CTE/100g FW) ranged from 214,5 in M. alba'black' to 170,0 in M. Alba 'white' but M. nigra (247,9) has more flavonoid than that of M. alba genotypes. Amount of total phenols and flavonoids increased with rising color intensity. M. nigra had superior values for both biochemicals tested when compared to M. alba. Antiradical acivity (1/EC₅₀) was higher in M. nigra (2.81) than all kind of fruits of M. alba ranging from 2.65 in black and 2.46 in white colored fruits. Natural antiradical activity of M. nigra has nearly equal to synthetic antioxidant known as BDH (2.91). M. nigra have superior numbers for all biochemicals tested when compared to M. alba.