Assessment of phytochemical composition and antioxidant potential in some indigenous chilli genotypes from North East India.

Twenty five chilli genotypes from North East region of India evaluated showed variation for capsaicin from 0.27% (CHF-CA-1) to 3.03% (CHF-CA-21), oleoresin content from 2.49% (CHF-CA-5) to 9.26% (CHF-CA-18) with high to moderate ascorbic acid. Total phenolics ranged from 5.1 (CHF-CA-8) to 26.8 (CHF-CA-23) mg GAE/g and total carotenoids from 0.09 (CHF-CA-16) to 7.72 (CHF-CA-17) mg/g dry weight. The antioxidant activity varied from 15.3% (CHF-CA-4) to 60.7% (CHF-CA-21). Free radical scavenging activity using DPPH assay showed low IC50 ranging from 0.021 to 0.041 mg/mg, low EC50 from 0.92 to 1.78 mg/mg DPPH, high ARP values (56.17-109.52) in CHF-CA-6, CHF-CA-7, CHF-CA-17, CHF-CA-21, CHF-CA-22 and CHF-CA-23 genotypes. The reducing power ranged from 0.92 to 4.10 ASE/ml and specific phenolic composition showed presence of gallic acid with other hydroxycinnamic acid. Among the flavonoids, presence of catechin was maximum followed by quercetin and rutin.