ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF SELECTED FRESH GREEN LEAFY VEGETABLES CULTIVATED IN BASANTATAR, DHARAN

Abstract

Fresh green leafy vegetables Brassica juncea (Broad leaf Mustard), Chinopodium album (Lamb’s quarter), Trigonella foenum graecum (Fenugreek), Anethum sowa (Dill greens) and Amaranthus tricolor (Red Amaranth) were collected from Basantatar, Dharan, Sunsari district Nepal and were washed with distilled water, fresh leaves of plant were extracted in 99% methanol to carry out the antioxidant assays. The antioxidant assay was determined by three different parameters namely total antioxidant capacity, reducing power and DPPH scavenging assay. The total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of B. juncea, C. album, T. foenum graecum, A. sowa and A. tricolor were found to be 33.55±0.65, 38.78±0.35, 40.41±0.32, 50.87±0.28 and 36.53±0.73 mg AAE/100 g Fresh weight respectively. Similarly, the reducing power of B. juncea, C. album, T. foenum graecum, A. sowa and A. tricolor were found to be 19.38±0.05, 18.28±0.08, 18.06±0.12, 41.02±0.65 and 19.06±0.13 mg AAE/100 g respectively. Finally, the DPPH scavenging activity of B. juncea, C. album, T. foenum graecum, A. sowa and A. tricolor were found to be 21.85±0.61%, 26.97±0.4%, 31.55±1.22%, 58.45±2.22% and 41.38±1.12% respectively. Overall the study shows that the methanolic extract of fresh A. sowa possessed higher antioxidant activity in all three antioxidant assays among the vegetables selected in this assay