The Content of Selected Minerals, Bioactive Compounds, and the Antioxidant Properties of the Flowers and Fruit of Selected Cultivars and Wildly Growing Plants of Sambucus nigra L.

Karolina Młynarczyk,Halina Staniek,Marcin Kidoń,Dorota Walkowiak-Tomczak,Grzegorz P Łysiak

doi:10.3390/molecules25040876

Karolina Młynarczyk, Halina Staniek + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25040876

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Abstract

This study compared the mineral content and bioactive properties of flowers and fruit coming from wild elderberry plants with those of flowers and fruit harvested from elderberry cultivars grown in an orchard. Elderberry fruit and flowers were analyzed for the content of selected minerals, phenolic compounds, and anthocyanins, as well as for antioxidant activity. Mineral content was determined by the atomic absorption spectrometry method, while antioxidant activity and the content of polyphenols and anthocyanins were determined by spectrophotometric methods. Flowers were found to contain more total ash and much higher content of most of minerals, except magnesium which was present in high concentrations in fruit. Fruit showed significantly higher antioxidant activity than flowers, whereas the total phenolic content varied depending on the growing location or cultivar. The material obtained from selected cultivars growing in an orchard had higher antioxidant activity and polyphenol and anthocyanin content than the material obtained from wild plants. Fruit of the ”Haschberg” cultivar and flowers of the ”Sampo” cultivar had the best bioactive properties of the studied samples.

Highlights

Elderberry belongs to the Adoxaceae family, which is rather widespread in temperate regions of Europe and other continents of the northern hemisphere
The only exception was magnesium, which was present in considerably larger amounts in elderberry fruit than in flowers
We found that flowers and fruit had high concentrations of phenolic compounds, but fruit contained high amounts of anthocyanins, and could show higher antioxidant capacity than flowers

Summary

Introduction

Elderberry belongs to the Adoxaceae family, which is rather widespread in temperate regions of Europe and other continents of the northern hemisphere. Elderberry shrubs grow in the wild, but there are elderberry cultivars, the most popular of which are ”Sampo”, ”Samyl”, ”Alleso”,. Compared with plants growing in the wild they bear more abundant crops of larger and heavier berries [1]. Elderberry is grown mainly for its fruit, which can be used to produce juices, soft and alcoholic beverages, marmalades, or colorants. Berries are rich in various bioactive compounds, the most important of which are polyphenols, including anthocyanins, notably cyanidin-3-sambubioside-5-glucoside, cyanidin-3,5-diglucoside, cyanidin-3-sambubioside, cyanidin-3-glucoside, and cyanidin-3-rutinoside. Among other phenolic compounds present in Molecules 2020, 25, 876; doi:10.3390/molecules25040876 www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules

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