Abstracto

Total phenolic content of organic and conventional green leafy vegetables

Jemima B Mohankumar, L Uthira and Maheswari SU

Green Leafy Vegetables (GLVs) contain an immense variety of bioactive non-nutritive health enhancing factors. GLVs have an abundance of phenolic compounds. The AOA of phenolic compounds is mainly due to the redox properties, which allow them to act as reducing agents, hydrogen donors, singlet oxygen quenchers, heavy metal chelators and hydroxyl radical quenchers Total phenoplic content (TPC) of organic and conventional GLVs was determined using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent spectrophotometrically with Gallic acid as the standard. Fresh samples of GLVs were extracted separately with water, methanol and ethanol for the estimations. Curry leaves (Murraya koenigii), a commonly used green in most India preparations had the highest phenolic content ranging from 3468.80 ± 88.03 to 5084.53 ± 123.49 μg of GAE/g of FW in all the solvents of both OG and CV farming system. Agathi (Sesbania grandiflora) and fenugreek (Trigonella foenum graecum) had more polyphenolics in water extract. These greens are generally cooked in water medium; hence they are a valuable source of phenols in the diet. In our study, a one-way between extracts of solvents ANOVA was conducted to compare the effect of solvents used in the extraction of total phenols in each type of farming methods (OG or CV). The results elucidate that the quantity of total phenolics in GLVs varied among different extracting solvents.