Antioxidant constituents of three selected red and green color Amaranthus leafy vegetable

Red color (A. tricolor) genotypes are an excellent source of pigments, such as betalain (1122.47 ng g^-1 FW), β-xanthin (585.22 ng g^-1 FW), β-cyanin (624.75 ng g^-1 FW), carotenoids (55.55 mg 100 g^-1 FW), and antioxidant phytochemicals, such as vitamin C (122.43 mg 100 g^-1 FW), TFC (312.64 RE µg g^-1 DW), TPC (220.04 GAE µg g^-1 DW), TAC (DPPH and ABTS⁺) (43.81 and 66.59 TEAC µg g^-1 DW) compared to green color (A. lividus) genotype. Remarkable phenolic acids, such as salicylic acid, vanillic acid, protocatechuic acid, gallic acid, gentisic acid, β-resorcylic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, syringic acid, ellagic acid, chlorogenic acid, sinapic acids, trans-cinnamic acid, m-coumaric acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, and flavonoids, such as rutin, hyperoside, isoquercetin, myricetin, quercetin, apigenin, kaempferol, and catechin were observed in the red color amaranth genotypes, which was much higher compared to the green color amaranth genotype. We newly identified four flavonoids such as quercetin, catechin, myricetin, and apigenin in amaranth. Among the three selected advanced genotypes studied the red color genotype VA13 and VA3 had abundant antioxidant pigments, phytochemicals, phenolic acids, flavonoids, and antioxidant activity could be selected for extracting colorful juice. Correlation study revealed that all antioxidant constituents of red color amaranth had strong antioxidant activity. The present investigation revealed that two red color genotypes had an excellent source of antioxidants that demand detail pharmacological study.