Abstract
Interest in local landraces has unfortunately decreased over, the last decades, in which they have been continuously subjected to a high genetic erosion in favour of new modern varieties. Within the Puglia region (S-E Italy), Foggia province was found to be the richest in vegetable landraces. In the present study, six garlic landraces collected from this area have been assessed for their chemical composition (minerals, organic acids, free sugars, volatile, and phenolic compounds) along with their main morpho-biometrical traits. A commercial genotype was also considered as a reference standard. The landraces show a large variability, but in general high morphological standards, high levels of cations and phenols, and low levels of volatile-(S)-compounds in comparison with the commercial genotype and the literature values. ‘Aglio di Peschici’ and ‘Aglio Rosso di Monteleone di Puglia’ are very rich in minerals and phenols (mainly ferulic acid and iso-rhamnetin). This increase in knowledge on the chemical properties of these garlic landraces could represent a tool for encouraging the consumption of a food product. At the same time, the consumption of these landraces would stimulate their cultivation and could highly contribute to protection against the risk of erosion of agro-biodiversity by their in situ/on-farm conservation.
Highlights
Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is one of the most important bulb vegetables and is mainly used as a spice or flavouring agent for foods
The present study describes for the first time the chemical properties of six landraces collected in the province of Foggia, along with their main morpho-biometric traits
The observed diversity in the morpho-biometrical and chemical traits among the examined landraces can be explained by considering the long process of adaptation to the specific ‘environment’
Summary
Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is one of the most important bulb vegetables and is mainly used as a spice or flavouring agent for foods. It is used in several types of products such as garlic oil, powder, salt, paste, and flakes. Garlic has a high nutritive value as a rich source of minerals, carbohydrates, proteins, and vitamins. It contains numerous bioactive molecules such as organic sulphur-containing (S-compounds) compounds and phenolic compounds [1,2,3]. Numerous studies have reported that the organic S-compounds are responsible for the biological activities revealed in different pathological situations [1,2,5]
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