Seasonal Variation in Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Activity of Glechoma Hederacea L. Harvested from Six Hungarian Populations

Abstract

Ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea L.) is one of the prosperous plants for the food-industry as natural antioxidant. This fact led us to examine the chemical diversity of six ground ivy populations situated in different natural habitats and to analyse the effect of the harvesting time. Total phenolic content, chlorogenic acid, and rutin content, as well as the antioxidant capacity showed significant differences due to the harvest time. The highest total phenol content (115 mg g–1 GAE) and the strongest antioxidant activity (53.3 mg g–1 AAE) were measured in the population originated from Budapest (GLE 6), harvested in July. The highest chlorogenic acid (357 mg/100 g) and rutin (950 mg/100 g) contents were detected in the July harvested samples from the Soroksár Botanical Garden population (GLE 1). According to our results, the collection time has significant effect on the total phenolic content – first of all on the chlorogenic acid and rutin accumulation levels of ground ivy, while the influence of the habitat seems to be less important.