IMPACT OF MATURITY STAGE ON ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY AND PHYTOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF DIFFERENT PARTS FROM PAWPAW: CARICA PAPAYA L. VAR SOLO 8

The purpose of this paper has been to study the antioxidant activities and phytochemical compounds at different stages of maturity from papaya (Carica papaya L. var solo 8) peel, pulp and seeds in order to understand the correlation throughout these parameters. Thereby, three parts of papaya such as peel, pulp and seeds were sampled fresh, dried in an oven at 45 °C for 48 hours, ground and analyzed according to standard procedures. Carica papaya L. var solo 8 peels, seeds and pulps were specifically rich in phytochemical content around 1/8 and ¼ advanced stage of maturity before decreasing at advanced maturity stage. Results showed high level of total phenolic (434.36 ± 0.10 mg (GAE)/100 g DW), flavonoids (23.74 ± 0.01 mg (QE)/100 g DW) and tannins (89.33 ± 0.06 mg (TAE)/100 g DW) respectively in seeds and peels. The DPPH, FRAP and ABTS assays of methanolic extracts from this papaya (Carica papaya L. var solo 8) showed that the antioxidant activity measured was high for the peels followed by pulp and seeds at immature stage. These data indicated that the whole parts of this papaya (Carica papaya L. var solo 8) could constitute a potential good source of natural antioxidant for local population.