Raphanus sativus L. roots: Proximate analysis and antioxidant activity

Antioxidants are important quenchers of free radical, used to prevent and treat diseases. The presence of antioxidant in food has become an essential point of discussion. Very less data is available about the antioxidant activity of Indian food, specially when it comes to root vegetables, which is an integral part of the Indian diet. The present study aimed at extraction of phytochemicals present in Raphanus sativus L. root powder using different solvents and their evaluation for free radical scavenging activity using the 2, 2'diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl ( DPPH ) method. Dried R. sativus powder of roots contained 13.61% of crude fiber, 11.51% crude protein; 54.20 ppm iron, 8.82 ppm copper, 19.30 ppm zinc and 107.10 ppm of manganese. The evaluation result for total sugars, non-reducing and reducing sugars were 92.95 mg/g, 90.07 mg/g, and 2.88 mg/g, respectively. Comparing the aqueous root extract to the ethanol and acetone extracts, the aqueous root extract had the highest levels of total phenolics (3.93 mg GAE/g ) and flavonoids (1.06 mg CE/g ). The aqueous extract was found to have the highest DPPH free radical scavenging activity, with an IC 50 value of 0.44 mg/ml, and it was discovered that DPPH free radical activity was concentration dependent.