Abstract
Antioxidants and secondary metabolites have attracted a great deal of attention for their effect in preventing disease due to oxidative stress. In this study, two cultivars of Basella alba were evaluated for the ascorbic acid, total phenolic, flavonoid and total antioxidant activities by standard methods. Ascorbic acid of green cultivar was 19.38 mg/100g and red cultivar was 25.85 mg/100g fresh weight, highly significant difference (p < 0.05) was observed in ascorbic acid. Total phenolic contents were 61.00 and 90.52 mg/g fresh weight for the green and red cultivar respectively, flavonoid content of the green cultivar was 13.37 mg/g while red cultivar was 17.7mg/g significant difference was observed in the ferric reducing power of the two cultivars. DPPH of green cultivar was 78.85% while for red cultivar was 79.81%, no significant difference was observed between the cultivars. Total antioxidant activity for green cultivar was 60.86 mg/g while for red cultivar was 70.38 mg/g fresh weight, no significant difference was observed in the total antioxidant activity. Both cultivars were excellent sources of ascorbic acid, total phenolic compound, flavonoid and total antioxidant properties although red cultivar had higher values.
Highlights
Basella alba is a vegetable grown especially in the rainfall belt of Southern Nigeria
Basella alba is a leafy vegetables of the family Basellaceae which is consumed for their rich vitamins and mineral nutrients
Significant variation (p < 0.05) was observed in ascorbic acid as shown in figure 1. Both cultivars were rich in ascorbic acid, red cultivar was higher in ascorbic acid than the green cultivar
Summary
Basella alba is a vegetable grown especially in the rainfall belt of Southern Nigeria. Basella alba is a leafy vegetables of the family Basellaceae which is consumed for their rich vitamins and mineral nutrients They are cultivated around residential areas and in backyard gardens for easy access during food preparation. Antioxidants are important in disease prevention in both plants and animals and play a very important role in the body defense system and reactive oxygen species [14]. These naturally occurring compounds present in fruits and vegetables act by scavenging harmful free radicals, which are implicated in the most common cancers and other degenerative diseases; including poor brain function [7]. Cultivars of Basella alba have not being analyzed for such important compounds and the comparative study of the cultivars are desirable both from academic as well as consumer point of view
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