Antioxidant Potential of Different Dill (Anethum Graveolens L.) Leaf Extracts

Abstract

Dill (Anethum graveolens L.) have been extensively used in salads, soups, and pickles for its aromatic odor and flavor. Recently, interest in plant-derived food additives has grown. In this study, the possible antioxidant properties of water, ethanol, and acetone extracts of dill leaves were investigated. In order to evaluate antioxidant activities of all extracts, different antioxidant tests were used, such as total antioxidant activity by ferric thiocyanate method, reducing power, DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl) free radical scavenging, hydrogen peroxide scavenging, and ferrous ions chelating activities. The content of phenolic compounds was also determined to be the gallic acid equivalent. Among the three extracts, the water extract of dill leaf showed the most potent antioxidative capacity in each assay, showing 79.66% (at 1 mg/mL) in the DPPH^• radical scavenging activity, 63% (at 800 μg/mL) in the metal chelating effect, 60% (at 400 μg/mL) in the H₂O₂ scavenging activity, and 0.61 absorbance (at 1 mg/mL) in the reducing power.

Keywords:

• Anethum graveolens L.
• Dill leaf
• Antioxidant activity
• Radical scavenging
• Phenolic compound

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors are grateful to Necmettin Guler for the taxonomic identity of the plant and F. Nesrin Turan for statistical analysis. This work was supported by the Research Fund of Trakya University, Project number: TUBAP-660.