Effect of various fermentation types on antioxidant properties of selected medicinal - spice plants

Abstract

In present study, the effect of fermentation using bacteriocins producing lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus sakei) on the amount of phenolic compounds in different plant samples were investigated. Fermetation was used as the pretreatment step of medicinal-spice plants containing phenolic compounds. We used three types of fermentation: traditional, intermediate and solidstate. Spectrophotometric methods are reported to be sensitive and rapid for determinations of total amounts of different classes of compounds present in complex biological matrices. These techniques have been previously reported for the evaluation of antioxidant properties of various plant samples. We focused on direct determination of total phenolics, flavonoids and radical scavenging activity of Lepidium latifolium L., Nigella sativa L. and Allium barzewski L. obtained from Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas Botanical Garden. The fermentation of medicinal plants was verified in three consecutive days. The effect of various types of fermentation and level of moisture were studied. It was determined, that solid-state fermentation and traditional fermentation enhance the antioxidant properties of Nigella sativa L. ca. 1.5 times, while Lepidium latifolium L. antioxidant activity decrease ca. 8.5 and 5.0 times, correspondingly. Relative standard deviation was in range from 1.6% till 4.2%. The fermentation mode affected the results as wellBiochemijos katedraBotanikos sodasGamtos mokslų fakultetasKauno technologijos universitetasLietuvos sveikatos mokslų universitetas. Veterinarijos akademijaVytauto Didžiojo universiteta