Nutritional evaluation of 24 Iranian Punica granatum genotypes

Punica granatum L. is one of Iran’s native medical plants which represents many nutritional compounds and pharmaceutical properties. The amount of biochemical composite of the fruit depends on the cultivar, environment, climate, ripeness stage, cultivating operations, and method of storage. The point of this research focuses on describing, assessing, and comparing 24 genotypes of the Iranian pomegranate using some noticeable nutritional features belonging to different provinces. In October 2017 pomegranate fruits from the collection of Yazd Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Training Center were harvested in three repetitions. The results revealed significant differences between genotypes of the pomegranates in terms of nutritious characteristics at 1%. Our finding showed that the most amount of anthocyanin was seen in genotype Tabestani shirin Saveh (S783) while the maximum level of polyphenols and total soluble solids were in genotype Gell mamouli Taft (Y491). The highest amount of antioxidant capacity was obtained in genotype Malas Daneh ghermez Kan (T191) when the maximum level of total acidity was observed in Malas zoodras Kan (T411). (T191) Malas Daneh ghermez Kan and (Y976) Malas Poost Nazok Yazd which have good appearance quality and red-colored juice. The grouping of all the existing genotypes in the mentioned collection, due to biochemical and nutritional properties, should be considered a research priority.