Antioxidant capacity and contents of phenols, ascorbic acid, β-carotene and lycopene in lettuce

Abstract

The antioxidant activity of three lettuce varieties (Lactuca sativa L.) Emerald, Vera and Neva, cultivated in two kinds of protected spaces, a glasshouse and a plastic greenhouse, under controlled conditions, was determined. The content of antioxidant compounds: total phenols, flavonoids, L-ascorbic acid, β-carotene and lycopene, were determined in etha- nolic extracts of the lettuce with spectrophotometric methods. The largest content of total phenols (78.98±0.67 mg GAE/g of dry extract) was found in ethanolic extract of the lettuce variety Neva cultivated in a plastic greenhouse, whereas the largest content of flavonoids (35.45±0.95 mg RU/g of dry extract) was displayed in the lettuce Emerald cultivated in a glasshouse. It was observed that the lettuce cultivated in the glasshouse contained a somewhat higher content of L-ascorbic acid than the lettuce same variety from plastic greenhouse. The content of lycopene in the examined lettuce is negligible, and the content of β-carotene is low. On the other hand, the high content of phenolic components causes favourable antioxidant properties found in all varieties of examined lettuce.