Changes of phenolic content and antiradical activity in hybrids of Nante carrots during storage

Abstract

Carrots are one of the most consumed plant foods in the world in all seasons; they are good sources of natural antioxidants and contain many different antioxidant components. Carrots are recommended for healthy diets as recognized sources of dietary fiber and antioxidant substances, such as phenols. The current research focuses on the evaluation total phenolic and antiradical activity changes in hybrids of Nantes carrots during storage. Late-bearing variety Nantes hybrid carrots were used for experiments such as Nantes/Berlikum, Nantes/Maestro, Nantes/Forto, Nantes/Bolero and Nantes/Champion. Changes of the quality parameters were evaluated after two and four months of storage in the comparison with non-stored carrots. Standard methods were used to evaluate the quality parameters: total phenols were analysed by the Folin – Ciocalteu colorimetric method with some modifications, and the antiradical activity was measured by the DPPH radical method. The present experiments revealed significant differences ( p < 0.05) in the content of total phenols and antiradical activity changes during carrot storage. The results of the research demonstrate that the content of total phenols decreases within four months of storage approximately 1.3 times as compared with the initial content before storage. However, changes of antiradical activity in carrots after two months of storage were not significant. The a ntiradical activity of carrots decreased significantly (1.8 times on average) after four months of storage. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ct.62.4.3119