Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 82 (3): 277–9, March 2012 Total phenolics and flavonoids content in ripened and unripened fruits of different mulberry (Morus alba) varieties* R VENKATESH KUMAR 1 , G SUNIL BABU 2 , SEEMA CHAUHAN 3 , AMIT SRIVASTAVA 4 , YASHWANT RAO 5 and DHIRAJ KUMAR 6 Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Vidya Vihar, Raebareli Road, Lucknow 226025 Received: 29 September 2010; Revised accepted: 12 September 2011 Key words: Mulberry, Phenolics and Flavonoids, Ripened and unripened fruits *Short note 1 Assistant Professor (e mail: drvenkateshkumar@yahoo.com), Department of Applied Animal Sciences, 2 Assistant Professor (e mail: sunil_gos@yahoo.com), Department of Biotechnology, 3,4,6 Research Scholar (e mail: seemachauhan.1982@gmail.com, dramit.sri7@gmail.com, dhirajindia1@gmail.com), 5 MSc Student (e mail: raoyash6@gmail.com), Department of Applied Animal Sciences Phytochemicals, phyto-nutrients, bioactive compounds, have become buzzwords in the growing market for natural health-food products and especially in fruit juice drinks. Fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of these compounds, and high consumption of fruits and vegetables have been associated with a lower incidence of diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease as well as immune dysfunction (Chun et al. 2005). Evidences of the health benefits of wild edible fruits, in addition to established role in nutrition are available. Marinova et al. (2005) highlights the preventive role of fruits and vegetables against free radicals effects. M. esculenta is an important source of natural antioxidants which can play vital role in reducing the oxidative stress and preventing from certain degenerative diseases (Rawat et al. 2011). Phenolic compounds, such as flavonoids, anthocyanins and organic acids, are common in fruits and vegetables, high in antioxidant activity and thought to contribute to the protective effects reported (Chun et al. 2005). Phenolic compounds also serve diverse functions such as imparting colour to leaves and fruits, attracting or repelling insects, antimicrobial and antiviral activity, protection from harmful ultraviolet radiation and protection from herbivores (Cushnie and Lamb 2005). Singh et al. (2010) observed the compositional differences between the various cultivars of tomato in terms phenols and found that phenolic content was highest in Cherry Red cultivar. Several specific plant phenolic compounds and fruit extracts have been reported to exhibit anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, vasodilatory and antimicrobial activities. Phenolics and polyphenols are secondary plant metabolites that are ubiquitously present in plants and their products. Many of the phenolics have been shown to contain high levels of antioxidant activities (Razali et al. 2008). Mulberry fruits have many bio-active composites such as anthocyanins, coumarins, flavonoids, stilbenes, chalcones flavones, alkaloids. Mulberry fruits rich in flavonoids which have been reported to posses anti-allergic, anti-thrombotic and anti-viral activity (Pawalowska et al. 2008). Anthocyanins are major pigments found in mulberry fruits which hold potential use as dietary modulators of mechanisms for various diseases and as natural food colorants. Resveratrol and oxyresveratrol are hydroxystilbenes found in mulberry fruits, in which resveratrol has neuro-protective and cardio- protective effects while oxyresveratrol has an inhibitory effect on tyrosinase to limit melanin biosynthesis and is used as cosmetics materials and medical agents for hyperpigmentation disorders. The production and consumption of mulberry fruits, juices and leaves are increasing rapidly because of their good taste and high nutritional value. Moreover, there are scanty reports regarding phenolic and flavonoids assays in reference to Indian mulberry varieties. Hence, current study was undertaken to determine the total phenolic and total flavonoid content in ripened and un-ripened fruits of different Indian mulberry varieties. The study was conducted in the experimental mulberry germplasm centre of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow in 2010, by using ripened and un- ripened mulberry fruits of different mulberry varieties namely, BR 2, AR 14, S 1, S 13 and K 2. Extraction of phenols and flavonoids was done as per Yunfeng Li et al. (2006) with slight modifications. The content of phenolic compounds in the extracts was determined as per Singh and Sakariah (2001). The final results were expressed as tannic acid equivalents. The data were subjected to one-way analysis of variance 85