3.2. Antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds
To evaluate the influence of biofortification on the antioxidant
activity and the amount of total phenolic content of different broccoli
maturation, in vitro methods were used, as described in
Table 1.
Sample BC showed higher antioxidant activity when measured
by the ABTS and FRAP methods than did sample BS. This increase
was also evident in the amount of phenolic compounds. The MC
sample had significantly higher antioxidant activity than the MS
sample when evaluated using the three methods (DPPH, ABTS,
FRAP) and higher amounts of phenolic compounds in relation to
the MS sample. For the inflorescences, the IC sample showed larger
results compared to the IS sample for antioxidant activity and the
amount of phenolic compounds. The antioxidant activity measured
using the FRAP method was the highest compared to those measured
using the DPPH and ABTS methods.
The samples with a higher content of phenolic compounds also
had higher antioxidant activity, which can be explained by the fact
that the phenolic compounds are the main natural antioxidants of
brassicas, especially broccoli. Moreover, the biofortification of
broccoli with selenium