The Content of Selected Minerals, Bioactive Compounds, and the Antioxidant Properties of the Flowers and Fruit of Selected Cultivars and Wildly Growing Plants of Sambucus nigra L.

Abstract

This study compared the mineral content and bioactive properties of flowers and fruit coming from wild elderberry plants with those of flowers and fruit harvested from elderberry cultivars grown in an orchard. Elderberry fruit and flowers were analyzed for the content of selected minerals, phenolic compounds, and anthocyanins, as well as for antioxidant activity. Mineral content was determined by the atomic absorption spectrometry method, while antioxidant activity and the content of polyphenols and anthocyanins were determined by spectrophotometric methods. Flowers were found to contain more total ash and much higher content of most of minerals, except magnesium which was present in high concentrations in fruit. Fruit showed significantly higher antioxidant activity than flowers, whereas the total phenolic content varied depending on the growing location or cultivar. The material obtained from selected cultivars growing in an orchard had higher antioxidant activity and polyphenol and anthocyanin content than the material obtained from wild plants. Fruit of the ”Haschberg” cultivar and flowers of the ”Sampo” cultivar had the best bioactive properties of the studied samples.

Near-Infrared Spectroscopy as a Rapid Screening Method for the Determination of Total Anthocyanin Content in Sambucus Fructus

“…TAC expressed as cyanidin-3-O-glucoside of the elderberry samples are shown in Table 2 and are ranging from 632.87 mg/kg to 4342.01 mg/kg in Sambucus nigra . The determined values are in accordance with the ones reported in literature [ 39 , 40 ]. Validation of the method revealed an interday RSD of 2% and an intraday RSD of 10%.…”

“…The AOAC pH-differential method [ 8 ], applicable to monomeric anthocyanin determination, expressed as cyanidin-3-glucoside, was used as one of the two reference approaches. Our resulting TAC values ranging from 632.87 mg/kg to 4342.01 mg/kg are consistent with existing literature [ 39 , 40 ]. The differences of the values is due to their different degree of ripeness of the collected elderberry samples.…”

The Effect of Mechanical Vibrations During Transport under Model Conditions on the Shelf-Life, Quality and Physico-Chemical Parameters of four Apple Cultivars

“…Antioxidant capacity of plant material is significantly correlated with the content of bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties, such as polyphenols or vitamins [53,[56][57][58]. This is also confirmed by this study, in which the correlation coefficient between TPC and antioxidant capacity was between 0.94 and 0.97 depending on cultivar, thus demonstrating a high positive correlation.…”

Wild Sambucus nigra L. from north-east edge of the species range: A valuable germplasm with inhibitory capacity against SARS-CoV2 S-protein RBD and hACE2 binding in vitro

“…Assessed values fall within the range of elderberry fruits and flowers TPC reported by other authors. Młynarczyk et al (2020) reported TPC of 56 mg g −1 DW for wild elderbery fruits from Poland, wild S. nigra berries collected in Turkey comprised TPC 4 mg GAE g −1 FW ( Akbulut et al, 2009 ) and wild elderberry fruits from southern Italy comprised TPC 7 mg GAE g −1 FW ( Caruso et al, 2016 ). TPC values of wild S. nigra berries from Latvia are also comparable to cultivated S. nigra from Portugal (highest value being 14 mg g −1 FW) ( Ferreira et al, 2020 ), Poland (70 mg g −1 DW) ( Młynarczyk et al, 2020 ) and Hungary (10 mg g −1 FW) ( Csorba et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Geographical location also significantly affects the chemical composition of elderberry fruits ( Johnson et al, 2017 ; Senica et al, 2017 ), suggesting that S. nigra fruits and flowers from populations growing at extremes of the distribution range could hold valuable germplasm resource for S. nigra breeding. However, data on the chemical content of elderberry fruits mainly represent cultivated S. nigra ( Młynarczyk et al, 2020 ; Csorba et al, 2020 ; Veberic et al, 2009 ) or wild populations from southern and western parts of distribution range –Turkey ( Akbulut et al, 2009 ), Italy ( Caruso et al, 2016 ), Slovakia ( Sedláčková et al, 2018 ), Croatia ( Jatoi and Jemrić, 2016 ). Due to geographical location wild S. nigra populations from Baltic region growing at extremes of distribution range could offer a valuable source of genetic resources for S. nigra breeding and for assessment of potential for new industrial applications.…”