The Content and Radical Scavenging Capacity of Phenolic Compounds from Black Radish Roots of Various Sizes

. In this paper content of phenolic compounds from black radish (Raphanus sativus L. var niger) roots of different size were examined. Black radish grown in Serbia, with the same period of development, grouped by size into three groups: (R1) with mass of 350 15 g; (R2): 100 10 g and (R3): 35 5 g, were used. Plant extracts were prepared by using 80% (v/v) ethanol and total phenolic compounds content was determined by spectrometric and the free radical scavenging abilities by DPPH radical method. The phenolic compounds content was in range 42.9 (R1) to 19.7 (R3) mol chlorogenic acid per g of dried plant material, i.e. 443.7 to 208.6 mol chlorogenic acid per g of dry extract. The radical scavenging capacity ranged from 88.3 (R1) to 55.6% (R3) and the EC50 values were from 1.59 to 2.24 mg/ml. The phenolic compounds content and radical scavenging capacity depended on root size in such a way that bigger root means higher content of phenolic compounds and higher scavenging capacity. By statistical analysis, there was a positive correlation between the phenolic compound content and radical scavenging capacity and Euclidean linkages distances results showed higher similarity between R2 and R3 sample.