MORPHOLOGICAL AND PHYTOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF Mahonia aquifolium FROM TURKEY

Mahonia aquifolium (Pursh) Nutt. is an important medicinal plant used as an ornamental plant in Turkey. We studied several morphological and phytochemical properties including fruit weight and dimensions, fruit soluble solid content, acidity, pH, total phenolic content, antioxidant activity and total monomeric anthocyanins capacities of four selected M. aquifolium accessions. Notable differences were detected among the accessions. On average, the fruit width and length were 8.4 and 10.2 mm, respectively. Fruit weight and seeds weight of accessions were between 2.9 and 7.3 g and 0.4 and 1.2 g. The total phenolic contents ranged from 5009.3 to 6646.8 μg GAE/g fresh weight (fw) with an average of 5976.4 μg GAE/g fw. Antioxidant activities, determined by Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity, on average to 12.9 μmol Trolox equivalent (TE)/g fw. Total monomeric anthocyanins, among the accessions tested ranged from 52.8 to 361.0 μg cy-3-glu/g fw. The results indicated that M. aquifolium is good source phenol, anthocyanins and antioxidants; thus, it can be used in pharmacological and food industry due to its antioxidant properties.