Recent trends on the quality assessment of Pomegranate: A detailed review

Abstract

Pomegranate (Punica granatum), furthermore to its ancient historical uses, has been well-known to have chemical constituents that improve human health. Pomegranate contains high levels of a different phytochemicals including phenolic compounds, fatty acids, sugars, amino acids, aromatic compounds, terpenoids, sterols, alkaloids, indolamines etc. Ellagitannins (including punicalagins), ellagic acid, flavonoids, estrogenic flavones, anthocyanidins, punicic acid, and anthocyanins, specifically contributed to marked health beneficial activities of pomegranate. Worldwide, there are more than five hundred pomegranate cultivars with about fifty commercially available cultivars. Furthermore, there is a broad diversity in textural, physico-chemical properties and the chemical composition of fruits among cultivars grown in many countries. This review covers different studies performed on bio-diverse pomegranate cultivars from different countries. This review highlighted various techniques employed for the quality control of pomegranate including different chemical and physical properties analysis. The study proves that either genetic or environmental conditions can contribute to the various desired traits.

Keywords

• quality control
• pomegranate
• punica granatum
• bio-diversity
• cultivar