Phenolic profiles and antioxidant activities in selected drought-tolerant leafy vegetable amaranth

Four selected advance lines of drought-tolerant leafy vegetable amaranth were characterized for phenolic profiles, vitamins, and antioxidant activities. The selected advance lines exhibited differences in terms of genotypes with remarkable phenols, vitamins, flavonoids content, and potential radical quenching capacity. We identified twenty-five phenolic and flavonoid compounds including protocatechuic acid, salicylic acid, gentisic acid, gallic acid, β-resorcylic acid, vanillic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, chlorogenic acid, ellagic acid, syringic acid, ferulic acid, kaempferol, m-coumaric acid, trans-cinnamic acid, quercetin, p-coumaric acid, apigenin, caffeic acid, rutin, sinapic acid, isoquercetin, naringenin, myricetin, catechin, and hyperoside. The selected advance lines VA14 and VA16 had abundant phenols, vitamins, flavonoids, and antioxidants potentiality. The selected drought-tolerant leafy vegetable amaranth showed high antioxidant potentiality as phenols, vitamins, flavonoids of these lines had a significant positive correlation with antioxidant capacities equivalent to Trolox using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and ABTS⁺. Therefore, drought-tolerant leafy vegetable amaranth VA14 and VA16 can be grown in semi-arid and drought-prone areas in the world to attaining vitamins and antioxidant sufficiency. The phenolic and flavonoids compounds identified in drought-tolerant leafy vegetable amaranth demand a comprehensive pharmacological study. The baseline data on phenolic and flavonoids compounds obtained in the present study will contribute to the scientist forum for the scientific evaluation of these compounds in vegetable amaranth.