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Pomegranate, a small tree with potential human health benefits, is grown mainly in Iran, India and USA as well as in most Near and Far East countries. It has been used extensively in folk medicine for a number of therapeutic purposes. In the present study, the ferric reducing/antioxidant power assay (FRAP) was employed and the FRAP value of the seed fraction of six different cultivars of pomegranate in Iran was determined in an attempt to compare their differing antioxidant acitivity. The antioxidant activity of seed fraction of six different cultivars of pomegranate in water extracts showed that the Sour white peel cultivar has the highest FRAP value (3.450.85 M) and the Agha Mohamad Ali cultivar has the lowest value (2.760.76 M); ethanolic extract of the seeds showed that Sour white peel and Black peel cultivars have the highest (3.881.31 M) and lowest (1.620.47 M) antioxidant activity, respectively. Results indicated that the extracts obtained from pomegranate seeds using various solvents exhibited various degrees of antioxidant activity. Further, it was cleared that Sour white peel had the highest potent antioxidant activity among different pomegranate seed cultivars and, so might be useful for its health benefits.

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Iran is one of the largest producers of pomegranate fruit in the world. Plenty of pomegranates produced are freshly consumed; however, fresh pomegranate consumption is not easy due to its nature. Pomegranate seeds are never sold fresh as in other ready-to-eat fruit packages in stores. For this purpose, in the present study, fresh pomegranate seeds were packaged in polyethylene-polyamide packages under atmospheric conditions modified with carbon dioxide: oxygen: nitrogen in three compounds: 15:10:75, 30: 0: 70, 0: 0: 100 were packaged and kept in refrigerator for two weeks. Pomegranate seeds were evaluated for sensory properties, biochemical parameters and the growth rate of yeast, Enterobacteriaceae, psychrophilic and mesophilic microorganisms. The results showed that packed pomegranate seeds in the presence of the highest amount of carbon dioxide (30% carbon dioxide+ 70% nitrogen) were significantly different from the other treatments, had the longest shelf life and more score in terms of sensory properties. It was also found that high levels of carbon dioxide in packaging significantly reduced the growth of psychrophilic, mesophilic, Enterobacteriaceae and yeast microorganisms.