Quantification and analysis of anthocyanin and flavonoids compositions,and antioxidant activities in onions with three different colors

• Published in: Journal of Integrative Agriculture Vol. 15; no. 9; pp. 2175 - 2181
• Main Authors: ZHANG, Shi-lin, DENG, Peng, XU, Yu-chao, LÜ, Shan-wu, WANG, Jian-jun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement/Key Laboratory of Biology and Germplasm Enhancement of Horticultural Crops in East China, Ministry of Agriculture/College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095,P.R.China 01.09.2016; KeAi Communications Co., Ltd
• Subjects: Allium cepa; anthocyanins; antioxidant activity; breeding; bulbs; color; cyanidin; delphinidin; flavonoids; HPLC-DAD-ESI/MS; onion (Allium cepa L.); onions; polyphenols; quercetin; vegetable crops; 定量分析; 总花色苷; 抗氧化活性; 比色法测定; 洋葱; 液相色谱/质谱; 颜色; 黄酮类成分; anthocyanins; flavonoids; antioxidant activity; onion (Allium cepa L.); HPLC-DAD-ESI/MS
• ISSN: 2095-3119; 2352-3425
• DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(16)61385-0

Onion（Allium cepa L.） is a very important vegetable crop widely cultivated throughout the world. In this study, we measured total anthocyanins and flavonols of onions of three colors. The fresh weight（FW） of total anthocyanins were（29.99±1.19）,（9.64±1.30） and（0.75±0.40） mg 100 g^–1 fruit in red, yellow and white onions, respectively. Likewise, the FW of total flavonoids were（111.10±5.98）,（36.64±3.59）, and 0 mg 100 g^–1 in red, yellow and white, respectively. Four types of anthocyanins（delphinidin 3,5-diglycosides, cyanidin 3,5-diglycosides, cyanidin 3-glycosides and cyanidin 3-（6′′-malonyl）-glucopyranoside） and two kinds of flavonoids（quercetin and quercetin 3-glycosides） were identified in two varieties（red and yellow bulb） of onions by HPLC/DAD-ESI/MS. The total polyphenol contents were also measured by means of Folin-Ciocalteu method. Moreover, all the concentrations of anthocyanins, flavonoids and polyphenols showed significantly positive correlations with antioxidant activities measured by DPPH˙, ABTS˙＋ and FRAP assays. This study provided information on anthocyanin and flavonoids compositions that will be useful for onion breeding.