Phytogenotypic Anthocyanin Profiles and Antioxidant Activity Variation in Fruit Samples of the American Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton)

In this study, we conducted an analysis of the qualitative and quantitative composition of anthocyanins and anthocyanidins in different cultivars and genetic clones of American cranberries grown in Lithuanian climatic conditions. Four anthocyanin compounds predominated in fruit samples of American cranberry cultivars: cyanidin-3-galactoside, cyanidin-3-arabinoside, peonidin-3-galactoside, and peonidin-3-arabinoside. They accounted for 91.66 ± 2.79% of the total amount of the identified anthocyanins. The total anthocyanin content detected via the pH differential method was found to be by about 1.6 times lower than that detected via the UPLC method. Hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis showed that the ‘Woolman’ cultivar distinguished from other cranberry cultivars in that its samples contained two times the average total amount of anthocyanins (8.13 ± 0.09 mg/g). The group of American cranberry cultivars ‘Howes’, ‘Le Munyon’, and ‘BL-8’ was found to have higher than average levels of anthocyanidin galactosides (means 3.536 ± 0.05 mg/g), anthocyanidins (means 0.319 ± 0.01 mg/g), and total anthocyanins (means 6.549 ± 0.09 mg/g). The evaluation of the antioxidant effect of cranberry fruit sample extracts showed that the greatest radical scavenging activity of the cranberry fruit extracts was determined in the fruit samples of ‘Woolman’ (849.75 ± 10.88 µmol TE/g) and the greatest reducing activity was determined in ‘Le Munyon’ (528.05 ± 12.16 µmol TE/g). The study showed a correlation between the total anthocyanin content and the antiradical and reductive activity of the extracts in vitro (respectively, R = 0.635 and R = 0.507, p < 0.05).