Influence of Plant Origins and Seasonal Variations on Nutritive Values, Phenolics and Antioxidant Activities of Adenia viridiflora Craib., an Endangered Species from Thailand

Abstract

Adenia viridiflora Craib. is an indigenous plant found in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam that has become threatened owing to lack of knowledge about its agricultural management. This plant is now rare in the wild and was registered in the Plant Genetic Conservation Project under the initiation of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn (RSPG) to promote sustainable conservation and optimally beneficial utilization. A. viridiflora has a long history of utilization as a nutrient-rich source with medicinal properties but scientific evidence of the veracity of these claims is limited. Here, the nutritional compositions, phenolic contents and antioxidant activities of different plant parts (young shoots and old leaves) of A. viridiflora were investigated using plants collected from four areas of Thailand as Kamphaeng Phet (KP), Muang Nakhon Ratchasima (MN), Pakchong Nakhon Ratchasima (PN) and Uthai Thani (UT) at different harvesting periods (March-April, May–June and July–August). Results indicated that young shoots provided higher energy, protein, fat, dietary fiber, phosphorus, sodium, and zinc than old leaves. By contrast, nutrients such as total sugar, vitamin C, carotenoids, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and iron contents were higher in old leaves that also exhibited higher phenolic contents and most antioxidant activities than young shoots. Generally, most nutrients, phenolic contents, and antioxidant activities exhibited no clear trend among different plant origins. The harvesting period of July–August provided a suitable climate for biosynthesis of most nutrients, while high phenolics were mainly found in samples harvested in March–April. No clear trend was observed in the prevalence of antioxidant activities that varied according to assay techniques.

Improvement of Sourdough and Bread Qualities by Fermented Water of Asian Pears and Assam Tea Leaves with Co-Cultures of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae

“…Total dietary fiber was evaluated by the enzyme gravimetric method (AOAC 991.43). Total sugar was determined using a protocol previously reported by Wannasaksri et al, (2021) [31] as a liquid chromatographic method utilizing ultra-fast liquid chromatography (UFLC from Shimadzu Corporation, Kyoto, Japan) with a detector (Alltech 800 evaporative light scattering detector from BÜCHI Corporation, New Castle, DE, USA) and column (5 µm, 250 mm × 4.6 mm Shodex Asahi Pak NH2P-504E from Shodex Group, Kanagawa, Japan).…”

Seasonal Effects on Phenolic Contents and In Vitro Health-Promoting Bioactivities of Sacred Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera)

“…Stamen, collected at the beginning of the rainy season exhibited higher TPCs, antioxidant activities and enzyme inhibitions than stamen collected from the other two time periods. Our results concurred with a report on Adenia viridiflora Craib., indicating that higher TPCs were obtained in plants collected during March and April, after the plant resting stage [ 24 ]. Low rainfall is experienced in March in Thailand, with increased precipitation during the late April monsoon season.…”

“…Thus, high phenolic biosynthesis occurs after the plant resting stage or at the beginning of the rainy season. Phenolics with numerous biological functions (i.e., anti-microorganism and antioxidant activities) may also benefit plant growth and survival [ 24 , 25 ].…”

Exploration of the nutritional and carotenoids profiles of vegetables in Thai cuisine as potential nutritious ingredients

“…Vitamin C contents were determined as previously reported [ 17 ] with the utilization of high−performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The samples were extracted with 10% ( v/v ) metaphosphoric acid before loading onto an ODS column (5 μm, 250 × 4.6 mm, Zorbax from Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA, USA) attached to the HPLC system consisting of a Waters 515 pump (Waters Corporation, Milford, MA, USA) and a UV−975 UV/Vis detector (JASCO International Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan).…”