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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Raleigh, North Carolina » Market Quality and Handling Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #157126
Title: ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF PEANUT PLANT PARTS

Author
item GREEN, RODNEY - NC STATE UNIVERSITY
item Sanders, Timothy

Submitted to: National Meeting of Institute of Food Technologists/Food Expo
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/16/2004
Publication Date: 12/31/2004
Citation: Green, R.J., Sanders, T.H. 2004. Antioxidant activity of peanut plant parts. National Meeting of Institute of Food Technologists/Food Expo. IFT Book of Abstracts 67B-37, 2004.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Antioxidant research is an important topic in the medical field as well as in the food industry. Recent research with important bioactive compounds in many plant and food materials, including peanuts and peanut plants has received much attention. This research being presented is the first step in identifying known, or novel, bioactive compounds from peanut plants that may provide the basis for value added products for the peanut industry. The objective of this work is to identify an extract of peanut plant parts that has substantial antioxidant activity. Peanut plants were collected from a NC research farm on two separate dates. Plants were separated into leaves, stems, and roots, dried, and extracted with solvents ranging in polarity. The solvents used were hexane, methylene chloride, acetone, methanol, and a 1:1:1:1 mixture of the previous solvents. Extracts were tested using the oxidative stability index (OSI), inhibition of the free radical action in the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) and inhibition of -carotene compared with those of synthetic antioxidants. The highest antioxidant activity of all of the plant parts tested was found in the leaves, and activity increased with increasing polarity of solvents. The root extracts did not show the same evidence of a polarity trend with antioxidant activity. The 0.5g equivalent methanolic extracts from the leaves had an OSI value of ca. 30, in comparison with the 10mg BHT standard at ca. 20. Differences between the activity of the 9/17/03 and 10/30/03 harvest dates were not significantly different among the plant parts. Results suggest that there is extractable antioxidant activity in peanut plant parts. Further understanding of the specific compounds may lead to value added products for peanut farmers along with new and novel bioactive compounds to be utilized in the food or pharmaceutical industries.