Variation in contents of total phenolics and flavonoids and antioxidant activities in the leaves of 11 Eriobotrya species.

Eriobotrya plants are known to have significant amounts of phenolics and flavonoids, and exhibit a strong antioxidant activity. Experiments were conducted to examine variation in the contents of total phenolics and flavonoids, and antioxidant activities in the leaves of 11 Eriobotrya species (Tibet loquat, Daduhe loquat, Hengchun loquat, Taiwan loquat, Oak leaf loquat, Bengal loquat, Fragrant loquat, Guangxi loquat, Obovate loquat, Big flower loquat, and common loquat, the last species include two materials, one is a cultivar 'Zaozhong 6', another is a wild tree). In these species, 'Zaozhong 6' loquat is a cultivar. The leaf extracts of 'Tibet', 'Obovate', 'Taiwan', 'Bengal' and 'Hengchun' loquats exhibited significantly higher contents of total flavonoids and total phenolics, compared with those of other species. Of these 11 species, the highest contents of total phenolics and total flavonoids were observed in 'Tibet' and 'Obovatae' loquats, respectively. The significantly stronger antioxidant abilities assessed by the DPPH radical scavenging activity and reducing power were obtained in the leaf extracts of 'Taiwan', 'Tibet', 'Bengal', 'Oak leaf', 'Hengchun' and 'Obovate' loquats, compared with the other species. In addition, significant correlations were found between the contents of total phenolics or flavonoids and DPPH radical scavenging activity/reducing power. This work indicates that the leaf extracts of the wild Eriobotrya species, 'Tibet', 'Obovatae', 'Taiwan', 'Bengal', 'Oak leaf' and 'Hengchun' loquats, exhibited significantly higher levels of total phenolics and flavonoids, and significantly stronger antioxidant activities, compared with the cultivated species, 'Zaozhong 6' loquat, which suggests that these wild species have a better utilization value.