Antioxidant Ability of Some Common Indian Vegetables

Objective: The aim of this research work is to investigate antioxidant ability and analyse phytochemicals in some of the common Indian vegetables. Methodology: Different concentrations of the extracts were screened for estimating their DPPH scavenging ability by UV-spectrophotometry. Methanol was used as control while ascorbic acid was used as a standard antioxidant. IC₅₀ and percentage inhibition were calculated. Results: Chenopodium album was found to show higher ability with IC50 at 82.93 ± 0.17 μg/ml while maximum % inhibition of 68.74 ± 0.17% was obtained at 100 μg/ml. The R² values were greater than 0.9 indicating that the relationship between extract concentration and % inhibition was extremely strong. Qualitative biochemical analysis of both the extracts showed the presence of carbohydrates, reducing sugars, alkaloids, flavonoids, triterpenoids, steroids, tannin and phenolic compound. Conclusion: The in vitro study showed that Portulaca oleracea and Chenopodium album proved to be good scavengers of free radicals like DPPH.

Key words: DPPH scavenging, IC₅₀, In vitro, Qualitative analysis, R² values, UV-spectrophotometry.