The influence of flesh colour and growing locality on polyphenolic content and antioxidant activity in potatoes

Compounds contained in potato tubers that may act as antioxidants have been attracting increased attention. The main antioxidants in potatoes are polyphenolic compounds. The total polyphenolic (TP) content and antioxidant activity (AA) in potato tubers of four yellow-fleshed cultivars and two purple-fleshed cultivars from the 2004 harvest were tested. The total polyphenolic content was determined using the Folin-Ciocalteau reagent (FC) and the antioxidant activity, with the DPPH method using stable free radical 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH·). Significant differences were found in total polyphenolic content between the yellow-fleshed cultivars Karin, Impala, Ditta, and Saturna. Significant differences between yellow and purple-fleshed potatoes were found: the yellow-fleshed cultivars had an average of 2.96g gallic acid equivalents (GAE) per kg DM, the purple-fleshed cultivars 4.68g GAE per kg DM. Significant differences in AA between the yellow and purple-fleshed cultivars were determined (yellow-fleshed in an average of 139.3mg equivalents of ascorbic acid [EAA] per kg DM, purple-fleshed 332.3mg EAA per kg DM) as well as between the purple-fleshed cultivars Valfi (298mg EAA per kg DM) and Violette (366mg EAA per kg DM). The major antioxidants in purple-fleshed cultivars were anthocyanidins petunidin (Valfi 92%rel) and malvidin (Violette 85%rel). Cv. Violette contained three times higher content of anthocyanidins than cv. Valfi. Among four experimental localities, the higher situated potato-growing region of Stachy (locality with the lowest average annual and daily minimum temperatures and the highest sum of precipitation in the vegetative period) differed significantly from other localities by a higher TP content, AA and yield in the analyzed cultivars. A high positive correlation between antioxidant activity and total polyphenolic content with R =0.8648, R ² =0.7478 (P =0.0001) was found.