Physicochemical and bioactive compounds at edible ripeness of eleven varieties of avocado (Persea americana) cultivated in the Andean Region of Peru

This work aimed evaluating some physicochemical compounds, hydrophilic (H-AC) and lipophilic (L-AC) antioxidant capacity of eleven avocado genotypes grown in the Andes. The results show great variability in physical and chemical properties, dry matter (DM) and lipid contents with ranges of 18.4–39.3% and 10.1–23.2%, respectively. All genotypes had high oleic acid content (50.4–69.9%) and a high unsaturated fatty acid/saturated fatty acid ratio (UFA/SFA, from 3.05 to 6.05), while the unsaponifiable fraction contained mainly β-sitosterol (140.83–235.51 mg/100 g DM) and α-tocopherol (17.44–71.29 µg/g DM). Total phenolic compounds (TPC), H-AC and L-AC ranged from 0.48 to 0.88 mg EAG/g DM, 5.37 to 14.00 and 1.87 to 6.71 μmol ET/g DM, respectively. Although the genotype influences avocado characteristics, climatic conditions in the Andean region seem to be important for the biosynthesis of metabolites of interest and should be considered in future studies.