The content of antioxidants in sunflower seed and kernel

Abstract

The primary objective of this research was to determine differences among investigated sunflower genotypes and whether the analysed hybrids could be sources of phenols and tocopherols important for storage stability of sunflower seeds and their derived products. DPPH• radical scavenging activity, the content of phenolic components and tocopherols (α-, β-, γ-, and δ-) in seeds and kernels of three sunflower hybrids were analysed. In the present study, six different phenolic compounds were separated by the HPLC analysis. Chlorogenic acid was the most abundant phenol. The chlorogenic acid content strongly correlated with total phenols (r=0.93). Other marked phenolics were caffeic acid, ferulic acid, rosmarinic acid, myricetin and rutin. The total tocopherols were significantly higher (P<0.05) in kernels than in seeds of all sunflower hybrids. Concentrations in sunflower seeds ranged from 200.67 to 220.05 μg/g and from 256.62 to 267.49 μg/g in sunflower kernels where a-tocopherol was the dominant isomer in all samples. The a-tocopherol content was 98% of averaged of the total tocopherols in all analysed samples. All these nutrients with antioxidant properties influenced the capacity of DPPH• scavenging. Accordingly, sunflower kernels had a higher DPPH• scavenging activity, and a higher nutritive value than sunflower seeds.