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. 2024 Apr 27;10(9):e30453.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e30453. eCollection 2024 May 15.

Nutritional and bioactive properties and antioxidant potential of Amaranthus tricolor, A. lividus, A viridis, and A. spinosus leafy vegetables

Umakanta Sarker  1 , Shinya Oba  2 , Riaz Ullah  3 , Ahmed Bari  4 , Sezai Ercisli  5 , Sona Skrovankova  6 , Anna Adamkova  6 , Magdalena Zvonkova  6 , Jiri Mlcek  6
Affiliations

Nutritional and bioactive properties and antioxidant potential of Amaranthus tricolor, A. lividus, A viridis, and A. spinosus leafy vegetables

Umakanta Sarker et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

Climate change results in continuous warming of the planet, threatening sustainable crop production around the world. Amaranth is an abiotic stress-tolerant, climate-resilient, C4 leafy orphan vegetable that has grown rapidly with great divergence and potential usage. The C4 photosynthesis allows amaranth to be grown as a sustainable future food crop across the world. Most amaranth species grow as weeds in many parts of the world, however, a few amaranth species can be also found in cultivated form. Weed species can be used as a folk medicine to relieve pain or reduce fever thanks to their antipyretic and analgesic properties. In this study, nutritional value, bioactive pigments, bioactive compounds content, and radical scavenging potential (RSP) of four weedy and cultivated (WC) amaranth species were evaluated. The highest dry matter, carbohydrate content, ash, content of iron, copper, sodium, boron, molybdenum, zinc, β-carotene and carotenoids, vitamin C, total polyphenols (TP), RSP (DPPH), and RSP (ABTS+) was determined in Amaranthus viridis (AV). On the other hand, A. spinosus (AS) was found to have the highest content of protein, fat, dietary fiber, manganese, molybdenum, and total flavonoids (TF). In A. tricolor (AT) species the highest total chlorophyll, chlorophyll a and b, betaxanthin, betacyanin, and betalain content was determined. A. lividus (AL) was evaluated as the highest source of energy. AV and AT accessions are underutilized but promising vegetables due to their bioactive phytochemicals and antioxidants.

Keywords: ABTS+; Antioxidant activity; Bioactive compounds; DPPH; Flavonoids; Minerals; Phenolics; Pigments; Protein; Weedy and cultivated amaranth.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
A field layout of the study showing the placement of genotypes using randomization in 48 experimental units with three replications.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Macronutrient compositions, moisture, fiber, ash (g 100 g−1 FW), and energy (kcal) of four weedy and cultivar of amaranth species, (n = 6), Different letters mean statistical significance evaluated by DMRT (P < 0.01), * average of four accessions.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Macroelements (mg g−1 FW) of four weedy and cultivar of amaranth species, (n = 6), Dissimilar letters in the bar are significantly varied by DMRT (P < 0.01), * average of four accessions.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Microelements (μg g−1 FW) of four weedy and cultivars of amaranth species, (n = 6), dissimilar letters in the bar are significantly varied by DMRT (P < 0.01), * average of four accessions.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Colorant composition of four weedy and cultivar of amaranth species, chlorophyll a, b, and total chlorophyll (μg g−1 FW), betaxanthins, betalains, betacyanins (ng g−1 FW), carotenoids (mg 100 g−1 FW); (n = 6), Dissimilar letters in the bar are significantly varied by DMRT (P < 0.01), * average of four accessions.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Phytochemicals and RSP of four weedy and cultivars of amaranth species, β-carotene and ascorbic acid (mg 100 g−1 FW), TP (μg GE g−1 FW), TF (μg RE g−1 DW) RSP (ABTS+ and DPPH) (μg TE g−1 DW); (n = 6), dissimilar letters in the bars significantly differed by DMRT (P < 0.01), * average of four accessions.
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