Antioxidant and radical scavenging activities in fruits of 6 sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) cultivars

Abstract

Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) is a minor fruit crop. The most important breeding activities focused on the production of sea buckthorn fruits as a top-quality food product have been performed in Russia, Germany, and the Czech Republic. Over the past several decades, plant breeders have selected a number of cultivars that show excellent physical and nutritional properties. The aim of this study was to monitor and determine the total contents of phenols and flavonoids as well as antioxidant capacity and scavenging activity of methanolic extracts on reactive oxygen species and lipid peroxidation in some cultivars of sea buckthorn suitable for growing in Central Europe. Altogether, 6 cultivars of this fruit species presented total phenolic contents ranging from 8.62 g of gallic acid kg(-1) of fresh mass to 14.17 g of gallic acid kg(-1) of fresh mass. There were high correlations between the contents of phenols and flavonoids on the one hand and the antioxidant properties of sea buckthorn berries on the other. This study indicates that for Central European conditions, sea buckthorn is a promising fruit species that can be used for consumption due to its antioxidant properties.