Abstract
Antioxidant activities and total phenolic content (TPC) were analyzed in ethanol extracts of 11 marigold cultivars grown in Thailand. Antioxidant activity assays performed in this study were the 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) radical cation scavenging activity, ferric ion reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, oxygen radical absorbance activity (ORAC), and superoxide anion radical scavenging activity (SRSA) assays. ‘Optiva Orange’ showed the best activity in the ORAC assay and in % SRSA, as well as the highest content of lutein (20.59 mg), gallic acid (25.77 mg), and quercetin (12.61 mg) per gram dry marigold petal among the 11 cultivars. Furthermore, ‘Optiva Orange’ showed the highest lutein yield per plant, as compared to other cultivars. In contrast, ‘Rodeo Gold’ showed the highest activity by ABTS testing (0.92 mmol of trolox/g dry sample), as well as an 89.90% inhibition of DPPH. Lutein content showed a positive correlation with TPC and all antioxidant activity assays. In conclusion, ‘Optiva Orange’ and ‘Rodeo Gold’ could be utilized as a good lutein source for functional food products and cosmetics.
marigold cultivars; antioxidant activity; phytochemical
1 Introduction
Marigold (Tagetes spp.) is an ornamental plant belonging to the
Asteraceae family, numerous species of which are found all over the world (Piccaglia et al., 1998Piccaglia, R., Marotti, M., & Grandi, S. (1998). Lutein and
lutein ester content in different types of and Tagetes
patulaT. erecta.Industrial Crops and Products,
8(1), 45-51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0926-6690(97)10005-X.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0926-6690(97)...
). A number of marigold
species are reported to possess therapeutic usage in various ailments, such as skin
complaints, wounds and burns, conjunctivitis and poor eyesight, menstrual
irregularities, varicose veins, hemorrhoids, duodenal ulcers, etc. (Wichtl & Bisset, 1994Wichtl, M., & Bisset, N. G. (1994). Herbal drugs and
phytopharmaceuticals. Stuttgart: Medpharm Scientific.; Ćetković et al., 2004Ćetković, G. S., Djilas, S. M., Čanadanović-Brunet, J. M., &
Tumbas, V. T. (2004). Antioxidant properties of marigold extracts. Food Research
International, 37(7), 643-650.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2004.01.010.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2004...
). The two major classes
of pigments present in the Tagetes spp. are the flavonoids and
carotenoids (Vasudevan et al., 1997Vasudevan, P., Kashyap, S., & Sharma, S. (1997).
Tagetes: a multipurpose plant. Bioresource Technology,
62(1-2), 29-35.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0960-8524(97)00101-6.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0960-8524(97)...
). The
lutein ester carotenoids, in particular, have been identified as the principal
pigment components in marigold flowers (Gong et
al., 2012Gong, Y., Liu, X., He, W. H., Xu, H. G., Yuan, F., & Gao, Y. X.
(2012). Investigation into the antioxidant activity and chemical composition of
alcoholic extracts from defatted marigold (. Tagetes erecta L.)
residueFitoterapia, 83(3), 481-489.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fitote.2011.12.013. PMid:22223143.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fitote.2011....
). Flavonoids are a class of secondary plant metabolites that
are thought to exert several effects beneficial to human health through their
antioxidant and chelating properties (Heim et al.,
2002Heim, K. E., Tagliaferro, A. R., & Bobilya, D. J. (2002).
Flavonoid antioxidants: chemistry, metabolism and structure-activity
relationships. The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, 13(10), 572-584.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0955-2863(02)00208-5. PMid:12550068.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0955-2863(02)...
; Číž et al., 2010Číž, M., Čížová, H., Denev, P., Kratchanova, M., Slavov, A., &
Lojek, A. (2010). Different methods for control and comparison of the
antioxidant properties of vegetables. Food Control, 21(4), 518-523.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2009.07.017.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.200...
). These
are commonly found in both edible and non-edible plants, and have been reported to
exert multiple biological effects, including antioxidant activity (Kähkönen et al., 1999Kähkönen, M. P., Hopia, A. I., Vuorela, H. J., Rauha, J. P.,
Pihlaja, K., Kujala, T. S., & Heinonen, M. (1999). Antioxidant activity of
plant extracts containing phenolic compounds. Journal of Agricultural and Food
Chemistry, 47(10), 3954-3962. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf990146l.
PMid:10552749.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf990146l...
).
Various tests and methods have been developed and adapted to specifically assess the
presence and activity of antioxidants in foodstuffs, nutraceuticals, dietary
supplements, and biological fluids (Huang et al.,
2005Huang, D., Ou, B., & Prior, R. L. (2005). The chemistry behind
antioxidant capacity assays. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 53(6),
1841-1856. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf030723c. PMid:15769103.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf030723c...
; Ma et al., 2011Ma, X., Wu, H., Liu, L., Yao, Q., Wang, S., Zhan, R., Xing, S.,
& Zhou, Y. (2011). Polyphenolic compounds and antioxidant properties in
mango fruits. Scientia Horticulturae, 129(1), 102-107.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2011.03.015.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2011...
). As no
single assay can accurately reflect the activities of all antioxidants in a mixed or
complex system, a combination of different antioxidant assays must be performed in
order to outline a complete antioxidant activity profile (Ma et al., 2011Ma, X., Wu, H., Liu, L., Yao, Q., Wang, S., Zhan, R., Xing, S.,
& Zhou, Y. (2011). Polyphenolic compounds and antioxidant properties in
mango fruits. Scientia Horticulturae, 129(1), 102-107.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2011.03.015.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2011...
).
The uses of lutein extracts in the formulation of nutritional supplements for the
prevention of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) have become increasingly
popular over the past few years (Kijlstra et al.,
2012Kijlstra, A., Tian, Y., Kelly, E. R., & Berendschot, T. T. J. M.
(2012). Lutein: more than just a filter for blue light. Progress in Retinal and
Eye Research, 31(4), 303-315.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.preteyeres.2012.03.002.
PMid:22465791.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.preteyeres.2...
). Synthetic methods have been developed for the production of
lutein; however, the cost of production cannot compete with that of lutein isolation
from marigold extracts (Fernández-Sevilla et al.,
2010Fernández-Sevilla, J. M., Acién Fernández, F. G., & Molina
Grima, E. (2010). Biotechnological production of lutein and its applications.
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 86(1), 27-40.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00253-009-2420-y. PMid:20091305.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00253-009-242...
). Many studies have reported on the increase in the use of marigold
extracts in functional food stuffs, cosmetics, and the pharmaceutical industry
(Li et al., 2007Li, W., Gao, Y., Zhao, J., & Wang, Q. (2007). Phenolic,
flavonoid, and lutein ester content and antioxidant activity of 11 cultivars of
chinese marigold. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 55(21), 8478-8484.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf071696j. PMid:17894452.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf071696j...
; Hojnik et al., 2008Hojnik, M., Škerget, M., & Knez, Ž. (2008). Extraction of lutein
from marigold flower petals-experimental kinetics and modelling. LWT-Food
Science and Technology, 41(10), 2008-2016.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2007.11.017.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2007.11....
). To date, marigold petals have also been
one of the main industrial sources for lutein production.
Only a few reports have been published on the Thai marigold extract, and its lutein content and antioxidant activity. This study is directed towards determining the best marigold cultivars for commercial applications, with respect to lutein yield and antioxidant activity.
2 Materials and methods
2.1 Plant material and chemicals
All marigold cultivars were obtained from the AFM Flower Seeds Company (Chiangmai, Thailand) except for the ‘Daonoi’ breed, which was supplied by the East-West Seed Company (Nonthaburi, Thailand), and grown at the KU farm located in the Kasetsart University campus, Bangkok, Thailand. The completely randomized experimental design (CRD) was used on the 11 cultivars with 10 replicates. The plants were grown in an 8 inch pot (2.6 L) of mixed soil media (34.01% organic matter (w/w), 0.22% P2O5, 0.67% K2O, pH 6.33, EC = 1.41 dSm–1, 0.80% CaO, 0.20% MgO, and 0.13% S). One gram of NPK (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium) fertilizer was applied to these pots every week from the time the saplings were 21 days old until the time of harvest. Flowers were harvested 13 weeks after sowing, and dried at 60°C for 48 h. The dried marigold petals were stored in plastic bags and protected from exposure to light, for further study. All chemicals used were of analytical grade and purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA.). Lutein (LT), gallic acid (GA), quercetin (QT) standard, and all solvents used were of HPLC grade.
2.2 Extraction of marigold petals
Dried marigold petals from 11 cultivars were extracted with 95% ethanol by continuous shaking at 120 rpm at 25°C for 24 h. The sample was then filtered through a 0.45 µm membrane, and the filtrate stored at 4°C in a refrigerator in the absence of light.
2.3 Determination of total phenolic content (TPC)
The total phenolic content in the marigold extracts was quantified using the
Folin-Ciocalteu method described by Al-Duais et
al. (2009)Al-Duais, M., Müller, L., Böhm, V., & Jetschke, G. (2009).
Antioxidant capacity and total phenolics of . Cyphostemma
digitatum before and after processing: use of different
assaysEuropean Food Research and Technology, 228(5), 813-821.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00217-008-0994-8.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00217-008-099...
. Twenty µL aliquots of marigold petal extract (MPE) were
mixed with 100 μL Folin-Ciocalteu reagent (1:10 diluted in distilled water). The
mixture was incubated for 2 min, followed by addition of 75 μL of 75g/L
NaCO3 solution. This reaction mixture was incubated in the dark
at room temperature for 2 h, and the absorbance measured at 760 nm. The total
phenolic content was expressed as mg of GA/g dry marigold petal.
2.4 Assays for the estimation of antioxidant activity
1 ABTS radical cation scavenging activity assay
The ABTS assay was carried out as per the procedures detailed by Sharma et al. (2008)Sharma, U. K., Sharma, K., Sharma, N., Sharma, A., Singh, H. P.,
& Sinha, A. K. (2008). Microwave-assisted efficient extraction of different
parts of . Hippophae rhamnoides for the comparative evaluation
of antioxidant activity and quantification of its phenolic constituents by
reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC)Journal of
Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 56(2), 374-379.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf072510j. PMid:18163559.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf072510j...
, with minor
modifications. An ABTS•+ working solution was prepared daily by
diluting the ABTS•+ stock solution with ethanol to get an
absorbance of 0.70 ± 0.02 at wavelength 734 nm. Briefly, 20 μL aliquots of
the MPE were mixed with 200 μL ABTS•+ working solution. The
mixture was incubated at 25°C in darkness for 4 min, and the absorbance
measured. The MPE activity was expressed as mmol of trolox/g dry marigold
petal.
2 Ferric ion reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay
FRAP assay was carried out according to the methods detailed by Benzie & Strain (1996)Benzie, I. F. F., & Strain, J. J. (1996). The ferric reducing
ability of plasma (FRAP) as a measure of “antioxidant power”: the FRAP assay.
Analytical Biochemistry, 239(1), 70-76.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/abio.1996.0292. PMid:8660627.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/abio.1996.0292...
and Al-Duais et al. (2009)Al-Duais, M., Müller, L., Böhm, V., & Jetschke, G. (2009).
Antioxidant capacity and total phenolics of . Cyphostemma
digitatum before and after processing: use of different
assaysEuropean Food Research and Technology, 228(5), 813-821.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00217-008-0994-8.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00217-008-099...
. Twenty μL
aliquots of the MPE were mixed with 200 μL of freshly prepared FRAP working
reagent. The FRAP working reagent consisted of 25 mL 300 mM acetate buffer
(pH 3.6) and 2.5 mL 20 mM FeCl3.6H2O. In addition, 2.5
mL of 10 mM 2,4,6-Tris (2-pyridyl)-S-triazina dissolved in 40 mM HCL was
added, and the final mixture incubated at 25°C in darkness for 8 min.
Following this, the absorbance was measured at 593 nm. The activities were
expressed as mmol of trolox/g dry marigold petal.
3 DPPH radical scavenging activity assay
The reaction mixtures contained 200 μL of 150 μM DPPH
(2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) in 95% ethanol, and 22 μL of diluted MPE.
The mixture was incubated in the dark at room temperature for 30 min, and
the absorbance recorded at 517 nm as detailed in a previous study (Fukumoto & Mazza, 2000Fukumoto, L. R., & Mazza, G. (2000). Assessing antioxidant and
prooxidant activities of phenolic compounds. Journal of Agricultural and Food
Chemistry, 48(8), 3597-3604. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf000220w.
PMid:10956156.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf000220w...
). The
percentage scavenging activity of the DPPH radicals was calculated as
follows: [(Abs blank – Abs sample)/Abs
blank] × 100, at MPE concentration of 20 mg/mL.
4 Oxygen radical absorbance activity (ORAC) assay
Twenty μL aliquots of MPE and 120 μL of fluorescein (final concentration, 70
nM) were mixed in a 96-well microplate, and pre-incubated for 15 min at 37°C
in the Synergy HT Multi-Detection microplate reader (BioTek, Winooski, VT,
USA). The reaction was initiated by the addition of 60 μL 2,2′-Azobis
(2-methylpropionamidine) dihydrochloride (AAPH; 12 mM final concentration).
The fluorescence values were kinetically recorded every minute for 120 min,
using a 485 nm excitation and a 528 nm emission filter. The activity of the
MPE was expressed as mmol of trolox/g dry marigold petal as described in a
previous study (Dávalos et al.,
2005Dávalos, A., Bartolomé, B., & Gómez-Cordovés, C. (2005).
Antioxidant properties of commercial grape juices and vinegars. Food Chemistry,
93(2), 325-330.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2004.09.030.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.200...
). The net area under the curve (AUC) of the samples was
calculated by subtracting the AUC of the blank.
5 Superoxide anion radical scavenging activity (SRSA) assay
The scavenging activity was measured using the method detailed by Lin & Chou (2004)Lin, H. Y., & Chou, C. C. (2004). Antioxidative activities of
water-soluble disaccharide chitosan derivatives. Food Research International,
37(9), 883-889.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2004.04.007.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2004...
. The reagent
mixture containing 50 μL aliquot of MPE, 50 μL of 300 μM nitrotetrazolium
blue chloride, 50 μL of 936 μM NADH, and 50 μL of 120 μM phenazine
methosulfate, was incubated at room temperature for 5 min. Subsequently, the
absorbance was measured at 560 nm against that of the blank sample. The
percentage of superoxide anion radical scavenging activity was then
calculated using the following equation: % Scavenging effect= [(Abs
blank – Abs sample)/Abs blank] × 100,
at MPE concentration of 0.33 mg/mL.
2.5 Analysis of lutein content
Marigold dry petals were mixed with an extractant (hexane:acetone:absolute
ethanol:toluene; 10:7:6:7) at ratio of 1:60. The MPE were saponified and lutein
was extracted according to the method of Bhattacharyya et al. (2010)Bhattacharyya, S., Datta, S., Mallick, B., Dhar, P., & Ghosh, S.
(2010). Lutein content and in vitro antioxidant activity of different cultivars
of Indian marigold flower (Tagetes patula L.) extracts. Journal
of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 58(14), 8259-8264.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf101262e. PMid:20568770.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf101262e...
. Lutein quantification was achieved by
the method detailed by Piccaglia et al.
(1998)Piccaglia, R., Marotti, M., & Grandi, S. (1998). Lutein and
lutein ester content in different types of and Tagetes
patulaT. erecta.Industrial Crops and Products,
8(1), 45-51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0926-6690(97)10005-X.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0926-6690(97)...
. Briefly, 20 µL of the diluted saponified MPE were injected
into the HPLC column, a Gemini C18 reversed-phase column (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm;
Phenomenex, Torrance, CA, USA) mounted on an Ultimate 3000 HPLC system (Dionex
Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA, USA). The peaks were identified by comparing the
retention time and spectrum to that of the lutein standard. The LT content was
expressed as mg of LT/g dry marigold petal.
2.6 Analysis of gallic acid and quercetin content
The marigold dry petals were saponified as the same process above in 2.5. Twenty
µL of diluted saponified MPE were injected into the same HPLC system that used
for lutein analysis. The GA and QT contents were determined using the method
described by Kumar et al. (2008)Kumar, N., Bhandari, P., Singh, B., Gupta, A. P., & Kaul, V. K.
(2008). Reversed phase-HPLC for rapid determination of polyphenols in flowers of
rose species. Journal of Separation Science, 31(2), 262-267.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jssc.200700372. PMid:18172921.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jssc.200700372...
. The
peak was identified based on a comparison of the retention time and spectrum
values with those of the GA and QT standard. GA content was expressed as mg of
GA/g dry marigold petal and the QT content was expressed as mg of QT/g dry
marigold petal.
2.7 Statistical analysis
The marigold extracts of each cultivar were analyzed in triplicate, and mean values were reported. Differences between the samples were evaluated by the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan’s multiple-range test, using the SPSS program (version 13; IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). Linear correlations were evaluated by the Pearson method.
3 Results and discussion
3.1 Antioxidant activity of the electron transfer reaction mode
The results of the ABTS, FRAP, and DPPH assays of marigold petal extracts from 11 cultivars are presented in Table 1. In case of ABTS, the antioxidant activity ranged between 0.44 and 0.92 mmol of trolox/g dry marigold petal. ‘Rodeo Gold’ showed the highest ABTS value among all the cultivars tested, followed by ‘Optiva Orange’ and ‘Sovereign Gold’ breeds, whereas the antioxidant activities for ‘Columbus Orange’ and ‘Lunar Orange’ were the lowest. The FRAP values varied between 0.31 and 0.62 mmol of trolox/g dry marigold petal. ‘Rodeo Gold’ and ‘Optiva Orange’ displayed the highest FRAP values of 0.62 and 0.61 mmol of trolox/g dry marigold petal, respectively. The lowest FRAP value was found in the ‘Columbus Orange’ cultivar. For the DPPH assay, free radical scavenging activity was expressed as % inhibition, and ranged between 46.6 and 89.9. ‘Rodeo Gold’ and ‘Optiva Orange’ showed the highest % inhibition values, followed by ‘Rodeo Orange’, ‘Barbuda Gold’, and ‘Sovereign Gold’ cultivars, respectively. In contrast, the ‘Lunar Orange’ cultivar showed the lowest % inhibition value at 46.6%. MPE from ‘Rodeo gold’ and ‘Optiva Orange’ cultivars showed remarkably high antioxidant activities in terms of ABRS, FRAP, and DPPH values.
Total phenolic content and antioxidant activity values of 11 marigold cultivars using different assays.
3.2 Antioxidant activities determined by fluorescent probe and superoxide radicals
The ORAC assay is based on the principle of free radical damage to a fluorescent
probe, such as fluorescein (Ou et al.,
2001Ou, B., Hampsch-Woodill, M., & Prior, R. L. (2001). Development
and validation of an improved oxygen radical absorbance capacity assay using
fluorescein as the fluorescent probe. Journal of Agricultural and Food
Chemistry, 49(10), 4619-4626. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf010586o.
PMid:11599998.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf010586o...
). This assay is particularly useful for samples containing
multiple ingredients, which display complex reaction kinetics (Karadag et al., 2009Karadag, A., Ozcelik, B., & Saner, S. (2009). Review of methods
to determine antioxidant capacities. Food Analytical Methods, 2(1), 41-60.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12161-008-9067-7.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12161-008-906...
). The results of the
ORAC assay conducted on marigold petal extracts are listed in Table 1. The antioxidant activities of the
assayed samples ranged between 1.64 and 1.93 mmol of trolox/g dry marigold
petal. ‘Optiva Orange’ showed the highest ORAC value, followed by ‘Rodeo Gold’
and ‘Sovereign Gold’ cultivars. In this assay, the ‘Columbus Orange’, ‘Discovery
Orange’, ‘Lunar Orange’, and ‘Daonoi’ cultivars showed the lowest antioxidant
potential.
Superoxide radicals were generated in the PMS (phenazine-methosulfate)-NADH
system by the oxidation of NADH. These were analyzed by NBT (nitro-blue
tetrazolium) reduction, which was measured as a decrease in color following
addition of the antioxidant (Sokolova et al.,
2011Sokolova, E. V., Barabanova, A. O., Bogdanovich, R. N., Khomenko, V.
A., Solov’eva, T. F., & Yermak, I. M. (2011). . In vitro
antioxidant properties of red algal polysaccharidesBiomedicine & Preventive
Nutrition, 1(3), 161-167.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bionut.2011.06.011.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bionut.2011....
). The percentage scavenging activity, as determined by the SRSA
assay varied from 77.13 to 115.00% (Table
1). The highest % scavenging activity was observed in ‘Optiva
Orange’, followed by ‘Rodeo Gold’ and ‘Rodeo Orange’. ‘Daonoi’ showed the lowest
% scavenging activity when compared to those shown by other marigold cultivars.
A suitable sample dilution was to be determined for the SRSA assay, as the
sample concentration was important for the interpretation of assay results
(Sokolova et al., 2011Sokolova, E. V., Barabanova, A. O., Bogdanovich, R. N., Khomenko, V.
A., Solov’eva, T. F., & Yermak, I. M. (2011). . In vitro
antioxidant properties of red algal polysaccharidesBiomedicine & Preventive
Nutrition, 1(3), 161-167.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bionut.2011.06.011.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bionut.2011....
). In the case
of our assay, the proper concentration was determined to be 0.33 mg of dry
sample/mL.
3.3 Phytochemical content in different marigold cultivars
The major phytochemical antioxidants in marigold petal extracts were reported to
be phenolics and carotenoids. Phenolics in the extract mainly constituted gallic
acid and quercetin (Kaisoon et al.,
2011Kaisoon, O., Siriamornpun, S., Weerapreeyakul, N., & Meeso, N.
(2011). Phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities of edible flowers from
Thailand. Journal of Functional Foods, 3(2), 88-99.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2011.03.002.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2011.03....
), whereas lutein is a major carotenoid present in marigold petals
(Rivas, 1989Rivas, J. D. (1989). Reversed-phase high-performance liquid
chromatographic separation of lutein and lutein fatty acid esters from marigold
flower petal powder. Journal of Chromatography, 464(2), 442-447.
PMid:2722992.).
Total phenolic content (TPC) for all tested marigold cultivars is listed in Table 1. The TPC values
ranged from 37.25 to 79.04 mg of GA/g dry marigold petal. ‘Rodeo
Gold’ and ‘Optiva Orange’ displayed the highest total phenolic contents of 79.04
and 78.18 mg GA/g dry marigold petal, respectively, followed by ‘Sovereign Gold’
and ‘Rodeo Orange’. ‘Columbus Orange’ and ‘Lunar Orange’ showed the
lowest total phenolic content.
Li et al. (2007)Li, W., Gao, Y., Zhao, J., & Wang, Q. (2007). Phenolic,
flavonoid, and lutein ester content and antioxidant activity of 11 cultivars of
chinese marigold. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 55(21), 8478-8484.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf071696j. PMid:17894452.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf071696j...
reported that TPC and
antioxidant activity of the ethanol extracts of 11 cultivars of Chinese
marigold, which showed higher TPC and ABTS values than those observed in this
study. The low activity obtained in our study, may be due to the effect of
prolonged drying time. The antioxidant activity of red grape pomace peels was
dramatically reduced with drying at 100°C; however, it was not significantly
affected by drying at 60°C (Larrauri et al.,
1997Larrauri, J. A., Rupérez, P., & Saura-Calixto, F. (1997). Effect
of drying temperature on the stability of polyphenols and antioxidant activity
of red grape pomace peels. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 45(4),
1390-1393. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf960282f.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf960282f...
). Drying time played an important role in the reduction of
antioxidant activity. When the drying time at 60°C was compared, our marigold
petals were dried 6 times longer than that of Larrauri et al. (1997)Larrauri, J. A., Rupérez, P., & Saura-Calixto, F. (1997). Effect
of drying temperature on the stability of polyphenols and antioxidant activity
of red grape pomace peels. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 45(4),
1390-1393. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf960282f.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf960282f...
. Gong et al.
(2012)Gong, Y., Liu, X., He, W. H., Xu, H. G., Yuan, F., & Gao, Y. X.
(2012). Investigation into the antioxidant activity and chemical composition of
alcoholic extracts from defatted marigold (. Tagetes erecta L.)
residueFitoterapia, 83(3), 481-489.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fitote.2011.12.013. PMid:22223143.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fitote.2011....
also reported that the antioxidant activities were highly
correlated with the content of total phenolics and flavonoids, suggesting that
the loss of these compounds during the drying process may reduce the antioxidant
activity significantly.
GA and QT content in the tested marigold cultivars is also displayed in Table 2. GA content ranged between 3.93 and 25.77 mg GA/g dry marigold petal, and the QT content ranged from 4.64 to 12.61 mg QT/g dry marigold petal. ‘Optiva Orange’ showed the highest of GA and QT contents. Even though the ‘Optiva Orange’ and ‘Rodeo Gold’ cultivars showed the highest total phenolic content, the contribution of GA and QT content in ‘Rodeo Gold’ was only 31.3% of total phenolics, as compared to that in ‘Optiva Orange’ (49.1%). This implies that the total phenolics of marigold petals may be composed of many different phenolic compounds. Only the ‘Optiva Orange’ cultivar showed high values of both GA and QT.
Lutein content in the marigold petal extracts ranged from 8.31 to 20.59 mg LT/g
dry marigold petal (Table 2). ‘Optiva
Orange’ showed the highest lutein content, followed by ‘Rodeo Gold’ and ‘Rodeo
Orange’, whereas ‘Daonoi’ showed the lowest lutein content among
all analyzed samples. Piccaglia et al.
(1998)Piccaglia, R., Marotti, M., & Grandi, S. (1998). Lutein and
lutein ester content in different types of and Tagetes
patulaT. erecta.Industrial Crops and Products,
8(1), 45-51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0926-6690(97)10005-X.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0926-6690(97)...
have reported that marigolds can be considered as a good
source of lutein and lutein esters. Although many fruits and vegetables contain
lutein, the marigold flower is the best commercial source of pure lutein. Khalil et al. (2012)Khalil, M., Raila, J., Ali, M., Islam, K. M. S., Schenk, R., Krause,
J. P., Schweigert, F. J., & Rawel, H. (2012). Stability and bioavailability
of lutein ester supplements from . Tagetes flower prepared
under food processing conditionsJournal of Functional Foods, 4(3), 602-610.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2012.03.006.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2012.03....
have also studied the
lutein and lutein ester extracted from the marigold flower (T.
erecta) planted in Germany. They found that the T.
erecta type ‘Orangeprinz’ was the richest source of lutein ester
(14.4 ± 0.234 mg/g) in comparison with other Tagetes spp.
However, our study has demonstrated that the Thai marigold cultivar, ‘Optiva
Orange’, contained much higher lutein content (20.59 mg of LT/g dry marigold
petal) than the ‘Orangeprinz’ cultivar.
Orange marigold cultivars, such as ‘Optiva Orange’, were reported to possess high
lutein content. This observation was in agreement with the conclusions of
studies on the Indian marigold, conducted by Bhattacharyya et al. (2010)Bhattacharyya, S., Datta, S., Mallick, B., Dhar, P., & Ghosh, S.
(2010). Lutein content and in vitro antioxidant activity of different cultivars
of Indian marigold flower (Tagetes patula L.) extracts. Journal
of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 58(14), 8259-8264.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf101262e. PMid:20568770.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf101262e...
. They reported that the orange marigold
cultivar showed the highest antioxidant values in the DPPH and ABTS assays, and
also displayed the same trend for lutein ester content as that observed in our
study. Conversely, ‘Columbus orange’, one of the orange cultivars tested did not
show high antioxidant activity. We believe that other antioxidant compounds in
the marigold extract might have acted synergistically, and affected the
antioxidant activity assay (Parejo et al.,
2002Parejo, I., Viladomat, F., Bastida, J., Rosas-Romero, A., Flerlage,
N., Burillo, J., & Codina, C. (2002). Comparison between the radical
scavenging activity and antioxidant activity of six distilled and nondistilled
mediterranean herbs and aromatic plants. Journal of Agricultural and Food
Chemistry, 50(23), 6882-6890. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf020540a.
PMid:12405792.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf020540a...
). Therefore, we propose that high antioxidant activity does not
necessarily indicate high lutein content in the extracts.
3.4 Correlation between assays
Relationship between TPC, antioxidant assays, LT, and GA and QT content (Table 3) was analyzed. Unlike the result
of Gong et al. (2012)Gong, Y., Liu, X., He, W. H., Xu, H. G., Yuan, F., & Gao, Y. X.
(2012). Investigation into the antioxidant activity and chemical composition of
alcoholic extracts from defatted marigold (. Tagetes erecta L.)
residueFitoterapia, 83(3), 481-489.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fitote.2011.12.013. PMid:22223143.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fitote.2011....
, our study showed
high correlation of LT content with all the antioxidant assays as compared to
those of GA and QT content.
Linear correlation coefficients (r) between total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant assays, lutein (LT), and gallic acid (GA) and quercetin (QT) contents of 11 marigold cultivars, obtained by Pearson’s analysis.
Two different results were observed in terms of correlation of GA and QT to
antioxidant activity values. In the case of the electron transfer assays, such
as the ABTS, FRAP, and DPPH assays, the correlation coefficient was observed to
be relatively low. However, the HAT assay (ORAC) showed a significantly higher
correlation coefficient value compared to those shown by the ET group. This
result coincides with the observations of two following studies. Leopoldini et al. (2004)Leopoldini, M., Marino, T., Russo, N., & Toscano, M. (2004).
Antioxidant properties of phenolic compounds: H-Atom versus electron transfer
mechanism. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 108(22), 4916-4922.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp037247d.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp037247d...
compared the
mechanism of hydrogen atom and electron transfer in phenolic compounds, and
concluded gallic acid to be one of the most active systems in the transfer of
hydrogen atoms. Supporting evidence was also provided by the research conducted
by Rice-Evans et al. (1996)Rice-Evans, C. A., Miller, N. J., & Paganga, G. (1996).
Structure-antioxidant activity relationships of flavonoids and phenolic acids.
Free Radical Biology & Medicine, 20(7), 933-956.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0891-5849(95)02227-9. PMid:8743980.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0891-5849(95)0...
, which
showed the effect of the chemical structure of flavonoids and phenolic acids on
the antioxidant activity.
3.5 Lutein yield from different marigold cultivars
The yield of marigold flower is an important factor to be considered; only the cultivar with high antioxidant activity and high yield can be considered as a good source for commercial use. Lutein yields obtained from different cultivars are shown in Figure 1. The ‘Barbuda Gold’ cultivar exhibited the highest fresh flower weight and yield, whereas ‘Rodeo Gold’ showed the highest number of flowers per marigold plant (Manochai et al., 2011Manochai, B., Sophon, W., Kaewsorn, P., & Hong, J. H. (2011). Antioxidant activity of commercial marigolds (Tagetes spp.). Thai Journal of Agriculture, 42, 375-378.). With regards to lutein yield, however, the ‘Optiva Orange’ cultivar showed the highest yield of 1089 mg per plant, and 17.9 mg per flower head, and also showed five times high lutein yield compared to the ‘Daonoi’, ‘Discovery Orange’, ‘Summer Sun Orange’, and ‘Columbus Orange’ cultivars. ‘Rodeo Gold’ cultivar was the second best type (although, with a significantly lesser yield compared to that in ‘Optiva Orange’). In addition, ‘Optiva Orange’ showed the highest gallic acid and quercetin content, as well as the highest activity values in the ORAC and % SRSA assays.
Comparison of lutein yield in 11 marigold cultivars. T1: ‘Discovery Orange’; T2: ‘Summer Sun Orange’; T3: ‘Columbus Orange’; T4: ‘Rodeo Gold’; T5: ‘Rodeo Orange’; T6: ‘Lunar Orange’; T7: ‘Barbuda Gold’; T8: ‘Jamica Orange’; T9: ‘Optiva Orange’; T10: ‘Sovereign Gold’; T11: ‘Daonoi’ (n=3).
4 Conclusions
Lutein obtained from marigold petals is of major commercial interest because of its use in functional food and cosmetics, as well as in pharmaceuticals. The production yield from each marigold plant is very important for the large-scale extraction of lutein, in terms of cost efficiency. In this study, ‘Optiva Orange’ and ‘Rodeo Gold’ cultivars were determined to be the best candidates for the commercial extraction of lutein, because of their high lutein yield and antioxidant activities.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a grant from Research Year of Inje University in 2012 (20120989).
-
Practical Application: Two marigold cultivars grown in Thailand showed high antioxidant activity among 11 cultivars tested.
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Publication Dates
-
Publication in this collection
June 2015
History
-
Received
11 Mar 2015 -
Accepted
15 May 2015