ANETHUM GRAVEOLENS - AN IMPORTANT SOURCE OF ANTIOXIDANT COMPOUNDS FOR FOOD INDUSTRY.

Dill (Anethum graveolens), a condimentary and aromatic plant belonging to the Apiaceae family is widely used in the food industry due to its preservative and functional properties. Current study aimed to obtain ethanolic extracts of Anethum graveolens (seeds and fresh leaves) and to investigate these plant parts for their antioxidant activity (AA), total phenolics content (TPC) and profile of individual polyphenols, including: caffeic, ferulic, coumaric, rosmarinic, gallic, protocatechuic acids, rutin, resveratrol, epicatechin, quercetin, kaempherol. The methodologies applied include Folin Ciocalteu method for TPC quantification, cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) method for AA evaluation and LC-MS for individual polyphenol's profile. The results highlights the remarcable antioxidant activity of Anethum graveolens seeds (4071.97 mg/L) and leaves (1244.02 mg/L), while the TPC level is 2.64 mg GAE/mL in dill seeds, and 0.76 mg GAE/ml in dill leaves. The LC-MS profile of seeds extract highlights important content of cafeic acid (2850.54 μg/g), epicatechin (2762.40 μg/g), resveratrol (1004.49 μg/g), rutin (846.59 μg/g), and smaller amounts of quercetin (470.66 μg/g) and kaempherol (305.12 μg/g). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]