Evaluation of Pigments, Phenolic and Volatile Compounds, and Antioxidant Activity of a Spontaneous Population of Portulaca oleracea L. Grown in Tunisia

Samia Dabbou, Karima Lahbib, Gaetano Pandino, Sihem Dabbou and Sara Lombardo
Additional contact information
Samia Dabbou: Unit of Bioactive and Natural Substances and Biotechnology UR17ES49, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Monastir, Avicenne Street, Monastir 5019, Tunisia
Karima Lahbib: Laboratory of Biodiversity, Biotechnology and Climatic Change, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, El Manar II 2092, Tunis, Tunisia
Gaetano Pandino: Dipartimento di Agricoltura, Alimentazione e Ambiente (Di3A), University of Catania, via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy
Sihem Dabbou: Center Agriculture Food Environment (C3A), University of Trento, Via E. Mach 1, 38010 San Michele all’Adige, Trento, Italy
Sara Lombardo: Dipartimento di Agricoltura, Alimentazione e Ambiente (Di3A), University of Catania, via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy

Agriculture, 2020, vol. 10, issue 8, 1-14

Abstract: Portulaca oleracea L., commonly known as purslane, is a weed with worldwide distribution and considerable medicinal uses due to its high levels of phytochemical compounds. However, until now, few studies have been conducted on the biochemical characterization of P. oleracea grown in Tunisia, a possible area of its origin as other North African countries. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to determine the phytochemical composition and antioxidant potential of leaves and stems from a Tunisian spontaneous population of purslane. Particularly, samples were analyzed for their proximate composition, pigments, and volatiles, whereas ethanolic and aqueous extracts were evaluated for their composition in phenolic compounds and in vitro antioxidant activities. Stems showed higher content of moisture (89.9%) and anthocyanins (4.61 µg g −1 dry matter, DM), whereas leaves revealed higher chlorophyll concentrations (7.42 mg g −1 DM). Significantly higher levels of phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacities ( p < 0.05) were obtained in ethanolic extracts, compared with water extracts, irrespective of the analyzed plant part. A high antioxidant activity of stems was obtained, especially when extracted with ethanol. Headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses revealed six volatile classes with monoterpene hydrocarbons, oxygenated monoterpenes, and non-terpene derivatives as the highly represented compounds. Limonene (17.3–32.2%), carvone (38–46%), 2,6-dimethylcyclohexanol (2.2–6.4%), and nonanal (3.4–3.8%) were the most abundant volatiles. Based on the results of the present study, Tunisian purslane should deserve major consideration as an edible vegetable due to its richness in phytochemical compounds and, hence, for its potential health effects.

Keywords: Portulaca oleracea L.; plant parts; pigments; phenols; antioxidant activity; volatile compounds (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/10/8/353/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/10/8/353/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:10:y:2020:i:8:p:353-:d:398412

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().