ABSTRACT
Kernels of sixty groundnut genotypes comprising thirty each of Spanish and Virginia groups were characterized and compared for the content of oil, protein, phenols and antioxidant activity along with their fatty acid and sugars profiles. The antioxidant activity for Virginia genotypes was ranged from 12.5 to 16.5 µM Trolox equivalent activity for Spanish genotypes ranged from 6.8-15.2 µM. Amongst Virginia types, the highest oleic acid/linoleic acid (O/L) ratio of 2.38 was observed for NRCG 12312 while from Spanish group the highest O/L ratio of 1.24 was observed for NRCG 12731. The sucrose content for Virginia genotypes ranged from 38.5 to 69.0 mg/g while it was 27.9 to 53.3 mg/g for Spanish genotypes. Average myo-inositol content was higher for Spanish genotypes (0.8-2.1 mg/g) compared to Virginia (0.4-1.8 mg/g) while the reverse was true for stachayose content (Spanish: 3.5-7.9 mg/g; Virginia: 4.6-10.3 mg/g). Thus, Virginia genotypes could be preferred to Spanish genotypes for better oil stability and antioxidant activity.
ABSTRACT
Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is considered as a highly nutritious foodstuff. Of late, the importance of peanut as a functional food has been growing. Kernels of forty-one Indian peanut cultivars were analyzed for their oil, fatty acid profiles, sucrose, raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFOs); phenolics, and free amino acids contents along with antioxidant capacity. The range and the mean value (given in parenthesis) for each of the traits analysed were, oil: 44.1-53.8% (50.1%), O/L ratio: 0.9-2.8 (1.4), sucrose: 2.61-6.5% (4.63%), RFOs: 0.12-0.76% (0.47%), phenolics: 0.14-0.39% (0.23%), free amino acids: 0.052-0.19% (0.12%) and antioxidant capacity: 1.05-6.97 (3.40) µmol TEg(-1). The significant correlation between phenol content and antioxidant capacity suggests phenol content as an easy marker for rapid screening of genotypes for their antioxidant capacity. A few cultivars with desirable traits and their prospective utility were identified which would be useful for future breeding programme to develop nutritional superior peanuts.
