Antioxidant potential of tomatoes cultivated in organic and conventional systems

• Main Authors: Renata Galhardo Borguini, Deborah Helena Markowicz Bastos, José Machado Moita-Neto, Fernanda Sobral Capasso, Elizabeth Aparecida Ferraz da Silva Torres
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto de Tecnologia do Paraná (Tecpar) 2013-08-01
• Series: Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology
• Subjects: Antioxidant activity; ascorbic acid; lycopene; phenolic compounds
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-89132013000400001&lng=en&tlng=en

The objective of the study was to compare the effect of organic and conventional cultivation on the antioxidant compound content and antioxidant activity of the Carmen tomato cultivar. Tomatoes were analyzed regarding ascorbic acid, phenolic compounds, lycopene content and antioxidant activity. Organic tomatoes presented higher content of ascorbic acid and total phenolics (641.39 and 4466.66 mg/100 g EAG on dry wt basis) than did the conventional tomatoes (510.16 and 3477.50 mg/100 g EAG on wt dry basis, respectively). There was no difference in lycopene concentrations between the organic and conventional. The ether, alcohol and aqueous extracts obtained from the tomatoes were subjected to the DPPH test and the β-carotene/linoleic acid system assay. The alcohol and aqueous extracts from organic tomatoes presented higher antioxidant activity in the DPPH test (25.43 and 14.28%, respectively) than the conventional tomatoes (19.52 and 11.33%, respectively). Organic tomatoes had higher antioxidant potential probably due to its higher ascorbic acid and total phenolic values.