## 3 Results and Discussion  
### Physico-Chemical Analyses  
Total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), and maturity indexes (MI) were significantly different (\(p\leq 0.05\)) among the control juices; however, treatment of pomegranate juices with albedoextract had no significant effects on any of these physico-chemical parameters in any sample (\(p>0.05\) between each control and its corresponding AT-juice) (Table 1). [PERSON] _et al._[15] reported that the MI of some blended juices, which main ingredient was pomegranate juice, was related to consumer overall liking. [PERSON] _et al._[11] reported a similar relationship between MI and consumer liking, when studying pure fresh pomegranate juice. In addition, MI and has been commonly used as an index of sensory acceptability in different juices [20; 21; 22]. Consequently and because treatment with albedo extract did not change TSS, it should not influence the acceptability of the juices under study. Considering the MIs of the different juices, 618 might be the juice with the highest acceptability of the studied samples, because it had the highest MI (\(p\leq 0.05\)). However, and although this could be a reasonable assumption, consumer studies should be conducted to prove it. This statement can be affected by other factors, such as the content of citric acid. [PERSON] _et al._[23] reported that citric acid content controls pomegranate sourness and a low content of this organic sugars leads to intense sweetness perception. [PERSON] _et al._[24] studied the main differences among juices prepared from arils and from pomegranate peel homogenates and found that the later exhibited lower levels of TSS, TA, soluble sugars and organic acids than nil juices. Different manufacturing processes [25] and/or different pomegranate cultivars [10; 11], brought different TSS, TAs, and MIs to the original samples in the present study; however, the addition of only a 10% of albedo was not enough to have a significant effect in these parameters. Total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity (AA) have been studied by different authors in pomegranate and pomegranate-based products from different countries: e.g., Spain [11], and Iran [10]. As can be seen in Table 1, control samples had different differences in their TPC values. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & & & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Physico-chemical characteristics \({}^{\dagger}\)**} \\ \hline
**Sample** & **Cluster \({}^{\ddagger}\)** & **TSS ( ‘Brix’)** & **TA (g citric acid L\({}^{\ast}\))** & **MI** & **TPC (mg gallic acid eq. L\({}^{\ast}\))** \\ \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{_Before albedo extract addition_} \\ \hline
324 & 2 & 16.6 \(\pm\)0.3 bed & 13.2 \(\pm\)0.1 de & 12.6 \(\pm\)0.4 c & 2577 \(\pm\)50 cd \\
981 & 5 & 18.2 \(\pm\)0.5 a & 10.0 \(\pm\)0.2 def & 19.6 \(\pm\)0.8 b & 997 \(\pm\)77 f \\
618 & 1 & 13.7 \(\pm\)0.4 f & 5.13 \(\pm\)0.1 f & 27.3 \(\pm\)2.4 a & 2003 \(\pm\)70 e \\
612 & 4 & 15.4 \(\pm\)0.3 de & 16.0 \(\pm\)0.3 bc & 10.2 \(\pm\)1.5 c & 846 \(\pm\)4 f \\
707 & 3 & 17.6 \(\pm\)0.9 abc & 20.9 \(\pm\)0.2 a & 8.5 \(\pm\)3.3 c & 3784 \(\pm\)5 b \\ \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{_After 24 h of maceration with albedo extract_} \\ \hline
324 & 2 & 16.2 \(\pm\)0.1 cde & 14.0 \(\pm\)0.1 cd & 11.7 \(\pm\)0.3 c & 3732 \(\pm\)116 b \\
981 & 5 & 18.0 \(\pm\)0.1 ab & 9.5 \(\pm\)0.1 ef & 19.4 \(\pm\)0.1 b & 2163 \(\pm\)113 de \\
618 & 1 & 13.7 \(\pm\)0.1 f & 5.13 \(\pm\)0.1 f & 27.1 \(\pm\)2.1 a & 2937 \(\pm\)113 c \\
612 & 4 & 14.9 \(\pm\)0.2 ef & 13.5 \(\pm\)0.2 cd & 11.3 \(\pm\)0.2 c & 2367 \(\pm\)114 de \\
707 & 3 & 16.6 \(\pm\)1.1 bcd & 19.4 \(\pm\)0.1 ab & 8.5 \(\pm\)0.7 c & 5072 \(\pm\)233 a \\ \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{\({}^{\dagger}\) Mean of 3 replications. Values followed by the different letter, in the same column, were significantly different (\(p<0.05\)), [PERSON]’s Least Significant Difference (LSD). \({}^{\ddagger}\) According to [PERSON] and [PERSON] [14].} \\ \end{tabular}
\end{table}