Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Industrial Crops & Products journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/indcrop Exploring the nutraceutical potential and biological activities of Arbutus unedo L. (Ericaceae) fruits Issam Ben Salem a , Souad Ouesleti b , Yassine Mabrouk a , Ahmed Landolsi c , Mouldi Saidi a , Abdennacer Boulilla d, ⁎ a Laboratory of Biotechnology and Nuclear Technology, National Centre of Nuclear Science and Technology (CNSTN), Sidi Thabet Technopark, 2020 Ariana, Tunisia b Laboratoire de Biochimie de l'Hôpital Farhat Hached, Sousse, Tunisia c Faculty of Science of Bizerte, Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte, 7021 Zarzouna, Tunisia d Laboratoire des Substances Naturelles, Institut National de Recherche et d’Analyse Physicochimiques, Biotechnopole de Sidi Thabet, Ariana 2020, Tunisia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Arbutus unedo Phenolics Vitamins Mineral composition Nutraceutical properties ABSTRACT Arbutus unedo L. fruits have a great potential to serve as an important source of biomolecules known for panoply of applications in food and pharmaceutical industry. Therefore, the chemical composition, nutraceutical prop- erties, antioxidant power, mineral content and biological properties of ripe Arbutus unedo L. fruits were in- vestigated. Fruits contain 10.17% carbohydrates, 0.51% lipid, 1% protein, 48 mg/100 g vitamin C, 0.2 mg/100 g α-tocopherols, 0.117 mg/100 g β-tocopherols and 0.33 mg/100 g vitamin A. Fructose (57.96%) and glucose (33.87%) were the major sugars in fruits, followed by xylose (1.40%), maltose (0.51%) and sucrose (0.16%). The mineral content was 302.91 mg/100 g of Mg, 101.19 mg/100 g of Ca, 99.43 mg/100 g of K, 72.08 mg/100 g of Na, 5.11 mg/100 g of Fe, 3 mg/100 g of Zn, 0.82 mg/100 g of Cu and 0.9 mg/100 g of Mn. The liquid chroma- tography with photodiode array and electrospray ionisation mass spectrometric detection (LC/PDA/ESI-MS) demonstrates that the phenolic fraction was dominated by galloyl and quercetin derivatives. All extracts proved to have antioxidant activity (measured by ABTS and DPPH assays) being more significant for ethanolic one (EC 50 values lower than 324.06 ± 1.32 μg/mL). The ethanolic extract showed a strong antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a moderate activity against Salmonella ty- phimurium, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus feacium and Candida albicans, and a poor activity against Streptocoque strain. On the basis of these results, A. unedo fruits could serve as an excellent source of high added-value phyto- chemicals for industrial uses. 1. Introduction Nowadays, recent studies have demonstrated that plant-derived foods were characterized by their richness in bioactive phytochemicals and their consumption has a protective effect for human health (Gasparetto et al., 2012). Arbutus unedo L, commonly known as straw- berry tree, is an evergreen shrub belonging to the Ericaceae family and native to the Mediterranean region. It has been used as food and medicine making an important contribution to the health of local communities. In the literature, the strawberry tree fruits and leaves were characterized by the presence of bioactive substances such as polyphenols, aromatic acids, iridoids, monoterpenoids, phenylpropa- noids, sterols, triterpenoids and flavonoids (Albuquerque et al., 2017a,b; Ayaz et al., 2000; Barros et al., 2010; Fonseca et al., 2015; Guimarães et al., 2013; Maleš et al., 2006; Pallauf et al., 2008; Pawlowska et al., 2006; Kähkönen et al., 2001) which may explain their nutraceutical and pharmacological properties. Mature strawberry tree berries can be classified as fruits with very high carotenoid content (Delgado-Pelayo et al., 2016). The attractive color, the energetic power due to the high sugar concentration and the presence of high contents in carbohydrates and precious contribution of polyunsaturated fatty acids of the wild A. unedo tree fruits, make them a distinctive food (Barros et al., 2010). The fruits were used in folk medicine for their antiseptic, diuretic, laxative and vascular properties (Pallauf et al., 2008). Never- theless, fruits were consumed freshly or used traditionally for the fab- rication of jam, marmalade, wine, alcohol and liqueur (Celikel et al., 2008). They are not used at industrial scale because of the hetero- geneity of plant material as well as the difficulty of selection of https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2018.06.024 Received 7 February 2018; Received in revised form 12 April 2018; Accepted 7 June 2018 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: abdennacer.boulila@inrap.rnrt.tn (A. Boulilla). Industrial Crops & Products 122 (2018) 726–731 0926-6690/ © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. T