Secondary Metabolites Contents and Antioxidant Capacities of <i>Acmella</i><i> </i><i>Oleracea</i><i>e</i> Grown under Different Growing Systems

Abstract

<i>Acmella</i><i> </i><i>oleracea</i><i>e</i> (L.) R.K. Jansen (Asteraceae) is a therapeutically important medicinal plant used in traditional systems of medicine. Present study was undertaken to compare the total phenolic contents (TPC), total flavonoid contents (TFC), total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) profiles of areal parts and callus extracts of <i>A. oleracea</i><i>e</i> grown under different growing systems (field grown, hydroponically grown and callus culture. Callus established in Murasige and Skoog (MS) medium, areal parts of field grown and hydroponically grown plants were extracted in 80% methanol. TPC, TFC and TAC were carried out by using colorimetric Folin-Ciocalteu method, aluminum nitrate method and Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) assay respectively. TLC profiles were developed using established protocol. The best callus growth and the highest mean callus weight were observed in leaf explants established in MS medium supplemented with 2 mg/L BA and 1 mg/L IBA. Comparatively higher TPC (11.45 ± 0.17), TFC (12.33 ± 0.92) and TAC (10.27 ± 0.28) were observed in hydroponically grown plants. Order of TPC, TFC and TAC were increased as callus<field grown plants< hydroponically grown plants. The presence of higher TPC, TFC and TAC in hydroponically grown plants opens a new window for use of hydroponic system for growing of <i>A. oleraceae</i> for better secondary metabolites content.