In the present study, morphological traits, organic acids, sugars, total phenols, total flavonoids, total anthocyanins, total anthocyanidins, antioxidant activity and color parameters such as lightness(L*), Chroma (c*) and hue angle (h°) were investigated in 11 local and introduced fig cultivars cultivated in Moroccan climate. Since only limited information on that topic is available in the literature, this study was performed in order to compare local clones with some of introduced varieties based on their morphological and biochemical attributes. Results showed highly significant differences among genotypes. The cultivar ‘Kadota’ had the most promising morphological traits. Reducing sugars levels were slightly similar among all cultivars. Thus, glucose varied from 5.55 ± 0.27 to 29.94 ± 0.81 g.kg⁻¹ dw, while fructose amounts were in the range of 6.23 ± 0.28–28.15 ± 0.78 g.kg⁻¹ dw. ‘Palmera’ exhibited the highest level of Malic acid (4.99 ± 0.2 g.kg⁻¹). The latter was predominant in all cultivars. Total phenols, flavonoids and total anthocyanins were, generally, abundant in dark-colored cultivars, while total proanthocyanidins were dominant in light-colored ones. The local cultivars ‘Fassi’ and ‘Noukali’ contained the highest amounts of total phenols and total anthocyanins, respectively (524.74 ± 35.9mg GAE 100 g⁻¹ dw and 23.77 ± 6.41 cyanidin-3-rutinoside/100 gdw). Free radical scavenging activity (DPPH and ABTS) was, generally, higher in light-colored figs, while, ferric reducing ability (FRAP) was generally higher in dark skin-colored cultivars. The study confirmed the effectiveness of combining morphological and biochemical analyses in fig assessment and its use pre-breeding programs of the species in Morocco.

In the present study, chromatic coordinates, phenolic acids, flavonoids and antioxidant capacity assessed by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate (ABTS) and lipid peroxidation inhibition capacity (LPIC) essays and their relative IC50 were investigated in 25 fig cultivars growing in Morocco. The aims of this study were to determine (i) the variation in these compounds among light and dark-colored cultivars, (ii) their partitioning between fruit peel and pulp and (iii) to display network connections among these variables. Twelve phenolic compounds (PCs) were isolated in peel extract versus eight in pulp samples. Anthocyanins, mainly cyanidin-3,5-diglucoside and cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside, were the predominant compounds in peels, where the mean concentrations were 75.90 ± 18.76 and 77.97 ± 18.95 µg/g dw, respectively. On the other hand, (−)-epicatechin and cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside were the major compounds in the pulp extracts, where the mean values were 5.23 ± 4.03 and 9.01 ± 5.67 µg/g dw, respectively. A two-dimensional hierarchically clustered heatmap was applied to the dataset to explore correlations in the dataset and similarities between cultivars, without dimensionality reduction. Results showed that anthocyanins, particularly pelargonidin-3-O-rutinoside, cyanidin-3,5-diglucoside and cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside, were the main contributors to the peels’ free radical scavenging capacity. This capacity was particularly higher in the peel of dark-colored figs compared to the fruit pulp. The local cultivar “INRA 1301” showed the most promising phenolic profile due to its very high levels of almost all detected PCs, especially (−)-epicatechin, quercetin-3-O-rutinoside, quercetin-3-O-glucoside, cyanidine-3,5-diglucoside, cyanidine-3-O-rutinoside and pelargonidin-3-O-rutinoside (54.66, 141.08, 35.48, 494.08, 478.66, 12.56 µg/g dw, respectively). Having the darkest figs in the collection (L* = 25.72, c* = 22.09 and h° = 20.99), this cultivar has also combined promising IC50 values, which were of 19.85, 40.58 and 124.78 µg/mL for DPPH, ABTS and LPIC essays, respectively.