| Summary: | Rupasinghe, H. P. V., Yu, L. J., Bhullar, K. S. and Bors, B. 2012. Short Communication: Haskap (Lonicera caerulea): A new berry crop with high antioxidant capacity. Can. J. Plant Sci. 92: 1311-1317. This study evaluated the antioxidant capacity and total phenolic content as well as total flavonoid content of three haskap (Lonicera caerulea) cultivars, Borealis, Indigo Gem and Tundra, grown in Saskatchewan in comparison with six other commercial fruits using ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay, oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay, the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay, the aluminum chloride colorimetric method and the Folin-Ciocalteu method, respectively. The results indicate that haskap berries, especially cv. Borealis possessed the highest antioxidant capacities and total phenolic contents, specifically total flavonoid among tested fruits, and could be used as a promising fruit source of natural antioxidants. The nutritional values of the fruits were also assessed using proximate analysis. Strawberry possessed the highest amount of most minerals and nutrients, whereas the nutritional values for the three haskap cultivars were average.
|
|---|