IN VITRO ANTIOXIDANT, TOTAL PHENOLIC AND FLAVONOID CONTENTS OF SIX ALLIUM SPECIES GROWING IN EGYPT

Abstract

This study was designated to determine the total phenolic and flavonoid contents as well as evaluation the in vitro antioxidant activity of the defatted methanolic extracts of six Allium species growing in Egypt. Three of them are subspecies of Allium cepa L. (ssp. red onion, ssp. white onion and ssp. green onion), the other three species are Allium sativum L. (garlic), Allium porrum L. (leek) and Allium kurrat L. (kurrat baladi). The results exhibited that A. cepa (ssp. red onion) and A. porrum have the highest phenolic contents. On the other hand, in vitro antioxidant activity using three methods, 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, phosphomolybdate and reducing power assays revealed that A. cepa (ssp. red onion) and A. porrum have high antioxidant activities. Moreover, there was positive correlation between the antioxidant activity and total phenolic contents of the tested Allium species. Therefore, the two plant species A. cepa (ssp. red onion) and A. porrum were submitted to fractionation process using chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol. The results showed that the ethyl acetate fractions of the two plants have high phenolic and flavonoid contents as well as have high antioxidant activities. Also, the preliminary phytochemical screening of the tested Allium species showed that A. cepa (ssp. red onion) and A. porrum have high quantities of flavonoids, steroids, terpenoids and saponins.