Antioxidant activity in some red sweet pepper cultivars

Cultivars and growing conditions seem to play an important role in affecting the metabolism of antioxidant components and antioxidant capacity. Ten cultivars of red sweet peppers grown over two consecutive years were compared with regard to ascorbic acid, total reducing content, β-carotene, total antioxidant activity and free radical scavenging activity. Cultivar Flamingo had the highest ascorbic acid content followed by cultivars Bomby and Parker. All cultivars fulfilled 100% RDA requirement for vitamin C. Torkel and Mazurka excelled in terms of β-carotene. Flamingo had the highest total reducing content and antioxidant activity. There was no effect of harvest year on antioxidant activity; however, ascorbic acid, total reducing content (mainly phenolics) and β-carotene differed significantly. A weak correlation was observed between total reducing content and antioxidant activity as measured by ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and free radical (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl, or DPPH) scavenging assays.