J Food Sci Technol (July 2020) 57(7):2423–2432

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-020-04277-w

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Quantification of flavonoids, total phenols and antioxidant

properties of onion skin: a comparative study of fifteen Indian
cultivars
Narashans Alok Sagar1 • Sunil Pareek1 • Gustavo A. Gonzalez-Aguilar2

Revised: 13 January 2020 / Accepted: 22 January 2020 / Published online: 5 February 2020
Ó Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) 2020

Abstract Onion waste disposal issue could be solved by Introduction

using onion skin as food ingredient. Therefore, the aim of
present study is the estimation of flavonoid concentration, total Onion (Allium cepa L.) is the most important horticultural
phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and crop and cultivated worldwide. Globally, 3,92,536 tons of
antioxidant activities of onion skin of fifteen Indian cultivars. onion is produced from 24,08,498 ha land area. China is
Flavonoid quantification was achieved by high performance the main onion producer (2,20,813 hg/ha) followed by
liquid chromatography, which showed highest concentration India (1,71,723 hg/ha) (FAO 2018), with production con-
of quercetin, quercetin 3-b-D-glucoside, luteolin and kaemp- tinuously increasing. Onion processing generates copious
ferol in cv. ‘NHRDF Red’ (11,885.025 mg/kg), ‘Hissar-2’ waste, mainly skin (Gawlik-Dziki et al. 2015). For exam-
(1432.875 mg/kg), ‘Pusa Riddhi’ (1669.925 mg/kg) and ple, the European Union (mainly UK, The Netherlands and
‘Bhima Shakti’ (709.975 mg/kg), respectively in dry weight. Spain), annually discard 500,000 tons of onion waste,
Highest TPC and TFC were found in cv. ‘NHRDF Red’ while which has created an environmental issue in European
lowest were measured in cv. ‘Bhima Shubhra’. DPPH assay Union countries (Gawlik-Dziki et al. 2015). Most skin
(%), ABTS assay (%) and FRAP assay (lmol gallic acid/g) waste comes from industries that perform peeling. This
were showed maximum antioxidant capacity for cv. ‘NHRDF wasted skin is not suitable as fodder or fertilizers because
Red’ whereas least obtained for cv. ‘Bhima Shubhra’. Skin of of its peculiar aroma and growth of white rot (Sclerotium
cv. ‘Hissar-2’ and ‘NHRDF Red’ are the best source of fla- cepivorum) (Roldán et al. 2008).
vonoids and natural antioxidants. Many investigations have explored onion skin as a rich
source of fructooligosaccharides, dietary fibers, polyphe-
Keywords Onion skin powder (OSP)  Total phenolic nols and antioxidants (Downes et al. 2009; Sagar et al.
content  Flavonoids  Antioxidant activity 2018). Cultivar, environment, agronomic practices, matu-
ration stage and storage duration affect the chemical
composition of onion (Rodrı́guez et al. 2009). It has been
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this
article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-020-04277-w) contains sup- shown that waste onion skin contains significantly higher
plementary material, which is available to authorized users. flavonoid concentration as compared to the edible part
(Duan et al. 2015). There are two main flavonoids sub-
& Sunil Pareek
sunil_ciah@yahoo.co.in
groups found in onion; anthocyanins and quercetin and its
derivatives, which contribute yellow to purple colour to
1
Department of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, onion skins (Benı́tez et al. 2011). Primary onion flavonoids
National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and are quercetin, quercetin diglucoside, quercetin aglycone,
Management, Plot No. 97, Sector 56, HSIIDC Industrial
quercetin 40 -glucoside and kaempferol. Quercetin aglycone
Estate, Kundli, Sonepat, Haryana 131028, India
2
is found in higher amount in skin (Downes et al. 2009).
Coordinación de Tecnologı́a de Alimentos de Origen
Furthermore, onion skin has various health benefits in
Vegetal, Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y
Desarrollo, A.C. Carretera Gustavo Enrique Astiazarán Rosas terms of anti-carcinogenic, hypocholesterolemic, and hav-
No. 46, Col. La Victoria, 83304 Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico ing anti-asthmatic effect (Moreno et al. 2006; Hassan et al.

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2424 J Food Sci Technol (July 2020) 57(7):2423–2432

2014). Quercetin is the key flavonoid behind all the health aluminium chloride and all other chemicals were purchased
benefits because of its antioxidant activity (Bonaccorsi from Himedia Laboratories (Mumbai, India).
et al. 2008).
Recycling, re-using, bioconversion of waste and by- Sample preparation
products utilization are keys to a sustainable environment.
Hence, full characterization of biomass with proper Skin of the cultivars was collected (100 g each) after cur-
understanding is important for its utilization in an effec- ing at open field (20 days). Skins were washed with chlo-
tive way by obtaining ‘5-stage universal recovery process’ rinated water (0.5%) for complete removal of dust and
which helps to utilised bioactive compounds in effective other impurities. Skins were washed again with distilled
way (Galanakis 2015). There are many conventional and water and left open in a porous tray for 10 min to remove
non-conventional processing techniques which can be excess water, then kept in deep freeze (Vestfrost Solutions,
utilized for better extraction of bioactive components Denmark) at - 40 °C for 24 h. Samples were freeze-dried
(Galanakis and Schieber 2014). Additionally, several using lyophilizer (Mini Lyodel, Delvac Pumps, Chennai,
emerging technologies such as electro-osmotic dewater- India) with plate temperature at - 50 °C at 0.039 mbar
ing, pulsed electric field, electro-osmotic dewatering, high pressure and the drying process was continued up to 48 h.
voltage electrical discharge ultrasound-assisted extraction Freeze-dried skin was grounded using mixer-grinder (3053
etc. are taken into consideration to recover bioactive Colt, Usha International Ltd, India) for the formation of
materials from agricultural waste (Galanakis 2013). Sta- onion skin powder (OSP) (see supplementary material
bilisation and processing of onion wastes could solve two Fig. S1) and stored at - 30 °C in air tight plastic con-
problems: first, an environment solution related to the tainers for further use.
disposal of huge onion waste, second, utilisation of sta-
bilised onion by-products as natural antioxidant-rich food Extracts preparation
materials (Roldán et al. 2008). Therefore, the present
study was taken for flavonoid quantification, total phenols Extraction was carried out according to Jang et al. (2013)
and antioxidant capacities of onion skin of fifteen Indian with minor changes. One g OSP of each cultivar was mixed
cultivars. separately with 25 mL of methanol (1:25, 25 times diluted)
into beakers. All beakers with samples were left overnight
at 5 °C temperature. All the samples were sonicated for
Materials and methods 10 min using a sonicator (QSonica, Newtown, US) and
vortexed for 5 min. This step was repeated two times.
Plant material Centrifugation was carried out for 10 min on 5000g at 5 °C
temperature using a refrigerated centrifuge (3-18KS,
Fifteen popular, commercially available and process-able Sigma, Hossein Shakeri, Germany). This step was repeated
onion cultivars (‘Agri Found Dark Red, ADR’, ‘Agri 4 times and the supernatants were collected in capped tubes
Found Light Red, ALR’, ‘Arka Kirtiman’, ‘Bhima Kiran’, and stored at - 25 °C for further use.
‘Bhima Shakti’, ‘Bhima Shubhra’, ‘Hissar-2’, ‘Hissar-3’,
‘NHRDF Red’, ‘Phursungi Local’, ‘Pusa Madhavi’, ‘Pusa Quantification of flavonoids
Red’, ‘Pusa Riddhi’, ‘Sukh Sagar’, ‘Udaipur Local’) were
procured from All India Coordinated Research Project on Flavonoid quantification was carried out in an HPLC
Onion and Garlic, Division of Vegetable Sciences, Indian (Prominence UFLC, Shimadzu, Kyoto, Japan) equipped
Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India. with an auto-sampler and photodiode array (PDA) detector.
A Zorbax Eclipse plus C18 column (reverse phase)
Chemicals and reagents (100 mm 9 4.6 mm, 5 lm, Agilent, CA, US) was utilized
to separate flavonoids. Calibration curves from the stan-
High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-grade dards were used for quantification and the results are pre-
methanol and trifluoroacetic acid were obtained from sented in mg/kg dry weight (dw) (Sharma et al. 2014).
Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, MA, US). All phenolic Optimized chromatographic parameters for the detection of
standards (quercetin, quercetin 3-b-D-glucoside, kaemp- flavonoids are presented in Table 1.
ferol, luteolin) with C 97.0% purity were purchased from
Sigma-Aldrich Ltd. (New Delhi, India). DPPH (2,2- Total phenolic content
diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl), gallic acid, TPTZ (2,4,6-tri(2-
pyridyl)-s-triazine), Folin-Ciocalteu’s (FC) reagent, ABTS Total phenolic content (TPC) of OSP was measured by
(2,20 -azinobis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid), using method of Sun et al. (2007) with minor changes.

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Table 1 Chromatographic
Chromatographic parameters
conditions for HPLC to quantify
the flavonoids Mobile phase A (trifluoroacetic acid in water 0.1% (v/v)): B (methanol)
Gradients (elution) Time (min) Solvent Concentration (%)
10 B 20
20 B 80
30 B 20
Injection volume 20 lL (25 times diluted)
Flow rate 1 mL/min
Run time 32 min
Scanning 200–400 nm
Oven temperature 40 °C
Detection wavelength 365 nm

Extracts (20 lL) of OSP were mixed with 0.5 mL FC DPPH radical scavenging activity ð%Þ ¼ ðAc  As Þ=Ac  100
reagent (10-fold) and 5 mL of distilled water was added to
the test tubes. Test tubes were incubated for 10 min, then, where Ac = reference/control absorbance, As = sample
0.5 mL of sodium carbonate (2%) was poured into each absorbance.
test tube and incubated for 45 min. Absorbance was mea-
sured at 760 nm using UV–Vis Spectrophotometer (UV- ABTS scavenging assay
2600, Shimazdu, Kyoto, Japan). Gallic acid was used as
standard and the concentration was expressed as mg gallic The ABTS assay was determined from the method of Duan
acid equivalents (GAE/g dw). et al. (2015) with some modifications. Mixture containing
15 mL ABTS (7 mM) and 15 mL potassium persulfate
Total flavonoid content (2.45 mM) was kept in the dark for 16 h at room temper-
ature to get the green–blue free radical ABTS?. The
Total flavonoid content (TFC) was estimated as per the mixture was then diluted with ethanol to get 0.7–0.8
method of Benı́tez et al. (2011) with minor modifications. absorbance at 732 nm. Samples (0.1 mL) were mixed with
OSP extract was taken in quantity of 0.5 mL in test tube ABTS (2.9 mL) working solution. After 10 min of reac-
from different samples. Methanol (80%, 1.5 mL) was tion, absorbance was measured at 732 nm. Gallic acid was
added into each test tube. Further, 0.1 mL aluminium used as positive control. The calculation for the percentage
chloride (10%) and 0.1 mL of potassium acetate (1 M) was of ABTS radical scavenging effect was as follow:
poured. Distilled water (2.8 mL) was poured and incubated
ABTS scavenging activity ð%Þ ¼ ðAc  As Þ=Ac  100
for 30 min at room temperature (30 °C). The absorbance
was measured at 410 nm via UV–Vis Spectrophotometer
where Ac = absorbance of reference/control, As = sample
(UV-2600, Shimazdu, Kyoto, Japan). Quercetin was used
absorbance.
as standard and the results were expressed as mg quercetin/
g dw.
Ferric reducing antioxidant power assay
Assay of antioxidant potential
Ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay was car-
DPPH scavenging assay ried out as per the method of Benzie and Strain (1996) with
some changes. The FRAP reagent was prepared by mixing
DPPH radical scavenging assay was performed as per the 2.5 mL of TPTZ solution (10 mM/L) in hydrochloric acid
method of Duan et al. (2015) with minor changes. OSP (40 mM/L) and 25 mL of sodium acetate buffer (0.3 mol/
extract in 2.0 mL quantity was mixed with 2.0 mL DPPH L, 3.6 pH) mixed with 2.5 mL of FeCl3 solution (20 mM).
(0.4 mM) and shaken vigorously. Mixtures were kept in the Freshly prepared FRAP solution (2.8 mL) was mixed with
dark for 1 h at room temperature. The absorbance was 0.2 mL of OSP extracts. Mixtures were incubated for
measured with UV–Vis Spectrophotometer (UV-2600, 15 min at 35 °C in water bath and the absorbance was
Shimazdu, Kyoto, Japan) at 517 nm. Gallic acid was used noted at 593 nm. Gallic acid was used as positive control
as standard. The percentage inhibition of DPPH activity and the FRAP values were expressed as lM gallic acid/g
was determined by using following formula: dw.

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Statistical analysis (1497.5 mg/kg), kaempferol (832.0 mg/kg) and luteolin

(391.0 mg/kg) in dw (Miean and Mohamed 2001). In a
All analyses were carried out in triplicate and the results study of different skin-coloured onions, it was observed
are presented as mean ± standard deviation on dw basis. that red-skinned onions had higher concentration of quer-
One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Duncan’s cetin (83,477 mg/kg), as compared to yellow-skinned
test (post hoc) was applied for data analysis using IBMÒ onions (34,430 mg/kg) (Nuutila et al. 2003). This data is at
SPSS statistics (version 20). par with most of the cultivars reported herein, because cv.
‘NHRDF Red’, ‘Hissar-2’ and ‘Pusa Riddhi’ had red-
coloured skin, which were reported as having maximum
Results and discussion concentration of quercetin. Moreover, Prakash et al. (2007)
found quercetin and kaempferol in concentration of
Quantification of flavonoids 5110 mg/kg dw and 481 mg/kg dw, respectively, in outer
layers of red onions. Ko et al. (2011) analysed the flavonol
Quantification of quercetin 3-b-D-glucoside, quercetin, concentration in onion skin and obtained
luteolin and kaempferol was carried out for sonication 17,630 ± 0.87 mg/kg of quercetin and 880 ± 0.23 mg/kg
assisted OSP extracts (Fig. 1). There are many conven- of kaempferol. Total amount of quercetin and its deriva-
tional and unconventional methods like solvent extraction, tives were highest (66,330 mg/kg dw) in scaly leaf of red
percolation, mecaration, ultrasound assisted extraction, onions, while flavonoids were not detected in the inner
microwave-assisted extraction, pulse electric field and high layer of yellow and chartreuse coloured onions. The scaly
pressure with temperature are available which enhance leaf of commercial chartreuse onion had maximum con-
extraction and quantification of flavonoid (Deng et al. centration (32,810 ± 1.63 mg/kg) of quercetin (Kwak
2015). However, innovative (unconventional) extraction et al. 2017).
technique like Pressurized hot water extraction is far better
than other techniques for recovery of flavonoids from the Total phenolic content
samples (Kovačević et al. 2018). Additionally, half facto-
rial design (two-level) can also be utilised for better TPC of OSP ranged from 14.55 ± 0.41 mg GAE/g dw to
extraction level of bioactive compounds (Wong et al. 288.74 ± 1.27 mg GAE/g dw for cv. ‘Bhima Shubhra’ and
2015). In the present study, the concentration of flavonoids ‘NHRDF Red’, respectively (Table 2). A significant dif-
ranged from 56.175 to 1432.875 mg/kg for quercetin 3-b- ference (P B 0.05) was found between cv. ‘ADR’, ‘Bhima
D-glucoside, 88.40 mg/kg to 11,885.025 mg/kg for quer- Shubhra’, ‘Hissar-2’, ‘Phurgungi Local’, ‘Pusa Red’, ‘Pusa
cetin, 45.475 mg/kg to 1669.925 mg/kg for luteolin and Riddhi’, ‘Sukh Sagar’ and ‘Udaipur Local’, while no sig-
from 124.225 to 709.975 mg/kg for kaempferol. We nificant difference was obtained between cv. ‘Arka Kirti-
determined that on dw basis, quercetin 3-b-D-glucoside, man’ and ‘Hissar-2’, ‘Hissar-3’ and ‘NHRDF Red’,
quercetin, luteolin and kaempferol were found at highest ‘Bhima Shakti’ and ‘Pusa Madhavi’, ‘ALR’ and ‘Bhima
concentration in cv. ‘Hissar-2’(1432.875 mg/kg), ‘NHRDF Kiran’ at (P B 0.05) level. In previous studies, large
Red’(11,885.025 mg/kg), ‘Pusa Riddhi’ (1669.925 mg/kg) variation in TPC of red onion skin has been reported. An
and ‘Bhima Shakti’ (709.975 mg/kg), respectively. In approximately similar TPC content (384.7 ± 5.0 mg GAE/
contrast, lowest concentration was confirmed in cv. ‘Bhima g) was obtained in the extract of red onion skin (Singh et al.
Shubhra’ and ‘Udaipur Local’. Highest cumulative con- 2009). Another study revealed that TPC content of red
centration (mg/kg) of flavonoids was foundin cv. ‘Hissar-2’ onion skin was found between the ranges of 63.62 ± 2.03
followed by ‘NHRDF Red’, ‘Pusa Riddhi’, ‘Sukh Sagar’, to 208.42 ± 4.34 mg GAE/g, which varied according to
‘ADR’, ‘Bhima Shakti’ and ‘Phursungi Local’. Quantified solvent used to extract them. However, ethanolic extract
values of flavonoids are summarised in Supplementary had higher TPC content (Skerget et al. 2009). Generally,
material (Table S1). Ethanol and methanol are preferred for extraction of
OSP of white cultivars ‘Bhima Shubhra’ and ‘Udaipur bioactive compounds for food industries as they do not
Local’ had the lowest concentration of flavonoids, possess toxic effects on food products and human as well.
315.875 mg/kg and 339.375 mg/kg, respectively. Previous Study revealed that alcohol (ethanol or methanol) as sol-
papers report that white cultivars contain least or negligible vents increase the level of extraction than other organic
quantities of flavonoids (Zhang et al. 2016). It is well solvents (Galanakis et al. 2013). Extraction of total phenols
explained that onion is a rich source of flavonoids as in hydroethanolic mixture showed better recovery of total
compared to other edible crops. Among 62 edible tropical phenols (73.3 mg/g) at 40 °C for 8 h (Tsakona et al. 2012).
plants, onions contained highest amount of quercetin Other report a reported significantly higher TPC (79.82 mg

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mAU

PDA Multi 1 365nm,4nm

2
1000

500

1
0

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
min

(a) (b) (c)

(d) (e) (f)

(g) (h) (i)

(j) (k) (l)

Fig. 1 HPLC chromatograms of flavonoids quantified in the extracts g Hissar-2, h NHRDF Red, i Pusa Madhavi, j Pusa Red, k Pusa
of onion skin powder: a Standard, b Arka Kirtiman, c Agri Found Riddhi, l Sukh Sagar Where 1: Quercetin 3-b-D-glucoside, 2:
Dark Red, d Agri Found Light Red, e Bhima Shubhra, f Bhima Kiran, Quercetin, 3: Luteolin and 4: Kaempferol

GAE/g) in red onion skin compared to its edible part replace synthetic antioxidants in food products and cos-
(2.075 mg GAE/g) (Nuutila et al. 2003). A previous study metic industry. Galanakis et al. (2018a) compared olive
on red and white skin of onion reported higher amount of wastewater polyphenols with a-tocopherol and ascorbic
TPC in red skin (74.1 mg GAE/g) compared to white acid for antioxidant potential and found that phenols from
(4.6 mg GAE/g) (Prakash et al. 2007). Moreover, Duan wastewater showed higher antioxidant activity (as UV-fil-
et al. (2015) obtained 113.56 ± 0.86 (mg GAE/g) con- ter) than a-tocopherol and ascorbic acid. The phenolic
centration of TPC in the extract of onion peel. In addition compounds recovered from agricultural waste possess
to this, Sharma et al. (2014) also investigated onion bulb of various health benefits and can be utilised as natural food
18 Korean cultivars and obtained concentration ranges additives in the food products (Galanakis 2018b).
between 2952.67 ± 105.40 to 5546 ± 52.68 in lg GAE/g
DW for TPC. The polyphenols as natural antioxidants can

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Table 2 Total phenolic and

Cultivar Total phenolic content (mg GAE/g dw) Total flavonoid content (mg QE/g dw)
total flavonoids content in
extracts of onion skin powder of Agri Found Dark Red 265.10 ± 0.81i 92.31 ± 1.93h
fifteen cultivars d
Agri Found Light Red 241.12 ± 1.34 83.67 ± 0.37e
h
Arka Kirtiman 262.69 ± 0.69 96.46 ± 1.38i
d
Bhima Kiran 239.91 ± 0.64 81.48 ± 0.58d
e
Bhima Shakti 243.68 ± 1.25 75.36 ± 1.02c
Bhima Shubhra 14.55 ± 0.41a 1.31 ± 0.32a
h
Hissar-2 262.78 ± 1.52 98.09 ± 0.94j
k
Hissar-3 288.74 ± 1.27 160.18 ± 0.84l
k
NHRDF Red 289.04 ± 1.31 168.77 ± 0.87m
c
Phursungi Local 231.73 ± 1.23 66.58 ± 0.55b
Pusa Madhavi 245.58 ± 1.04e 66.88 ± 0.24b
f
Pusa Red 251.71 ± 1.21 89.62 ± 0.70g
j
Pusa Riddhi 269.74 ± 1.35 150.94 ± 0.17k
g
Sukh Sagar 254.41 ± 1.96 88.11 ± 0.19f
b
Udaipur Local 19.74 ± 0.45 2.01 ± 0.02a
a–m
Values are mean ± standard deviation (n = 3). Values with different superscripts in same column are
significantly different (P \ 0.05) by Duncan’s multiple range test

Total flavonoid content of onion contained higher amount of TFC than bulb. The
antioxidant property of phenolics and flavonoids provides
TFC of extracts of OSP is presented in Table 2. The safety to the body from the diseases as well as protect from
highest and lowest TFC was measured in cv. ‘NHRDF sunlight (UV-rays). Therefore, phenols and flavonols from
Red’ (168.77 ± 0.87 mg QE/g dw) and ‘Bhima Shubhra’ agri-waste are the best replacement for synthetic chemicals
(1.31 ± 0.32 mg QE/g dw), respectively. All cultivars as UV protectors in the cosmetic industry (Galanakis et al.
were significantly different (P B 0.05), except ‘Bhima 2018c). Study also suggested that polyphenols prevent
Shubhra’, ‘Udaipur Local’, ‘Phursungi Local’ and ‘Pusa oxidation of oils. Polyphenols concentration i.e. 500 mg/L
Madhavi’. According to our data, coloured cultivars had and 1000 mg/L showed best result when mixed into dif-
maximum concentration of TFC, as compared to white ferent oils (refined and extra virgin olive oil) against oxi-
cultivars. Same pattern of higher TFC was reported in red dation. It revealed that polyphenols can be added in
cultivar (111.10 ± 5.98), and lowest in white cultivar in vegetable oils as natural preservative (Galanakis 2018).
FW, according to a study of three coloured onions (Zhang
et al. 2016). Assay of antioxidant potential
Another study revealed that skin of red onion had
highest (20.22 ± 0.39) and yellow skin contained lowest The antioxidant potential of the extracts of OSP was
(10.69 ± 0.40) content of total flavonoid in mg QE/g dw studied through synthetic radicals (DPPH and ABTS), and
(Albishi et al. 2013). Moreover, Singh et al. (2009) con- FRAP assay. Values for antioxidant potential of fifteen
firmed that red onion skin possessed higher amount Indian cultivars are given in Table 3.
(165.20 ± 3.2) of TFC. In addition to this, skin and bulb of DPPH scavenging assay revealed a range of
red onion was analysed, reporting a higher concentration of 5.71 ± 0.47% to 94.17 ± 0.20% from lowest to highest
TFC in skin (163.14 ± 1.62 mg QE/g) than in bulb activity of OSP of fifteen cultivars. It was found that cv.
(13.76 ± 0.41 mg QE/g) (Skerget et al. 2009). Duan et al. ‘NHRDF Red’ had maximum DPPH scavenging capacity
(2015) also investigated onion peel and reported highest and ‘Bhima Shubhra’ (white cultivar) possessed lowest
TFC value (49.69 ± 0.55 mg QE/g). scavenging activity among studied cultivars. A significant
Apart from this, study of onion bulbs of six different difference (P B 0.05) was observed in all fifteen cultivars.
cultivars showed TFC in range of 7.48 ± 4.16 to Dark colour of onion skin is responsible for higher
9.92 ± 3.56 mg/100 g FW (Rodrı́guez et al. 2008). Onion antioxidant activity than light one. Prakash et al. (2007)
bulbs of 18 Korean cultivars were reported having TFC also reported the same pattern of antioxidant activity
value of 1.85 to 2.13 mg QE/g FW (Sharma et al. 2014). (AOA) in outer skin of onion. Red onion skin showed
As per the literature and present study, it is clear that skin highest AOA (84.1%), violet showed medium (73.9%)

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Table 3 Antioxidant activity assay (DPPH, ABTS and FRAP) in extracts of onion skin powder of fifteen cultivars
Cultivar DPPH scavenging activity (%) ABTS antioxidant activity (%) FRAP assay (lmol gallic acid/g)

Agri Found Dark Red 79.10 ± 0.14l 82.15 ± 0.37l 30.95 ± 0.18j
e e
Agri Found Light Red 59.33 ± 0.49 63.10 ± 0.67 14.98 ± 0.12d
k k
Arka Kirtiman 76.74 ± 0.47 79.10 ± 0.94 28.06 ± 0.81i
Bhima Kiran 57.88 ± 0.30d 60.86 ± 0.35d 12.20 ± 0.32c
f f
Bhima Shakti 63.35 ± 0.47 66.80 ± 0.66 17.96 ± 0.35e
a a
Bhima Shubhra 5.71 ± 0.47 6.97 ± 0.08 0.12 ± 0.03a
j j
Hissar-2 75.65 ± 0.78 78.07 ± 0.77 27.26 ± 0.39h
n n
Hissar-3 89.99 ± 0.24 91.91 ± 0.29 34.82 ± 0.24l
NHRDF Red 94.17 ± 0.20o 96.04 ± 0.17o 37.12 ± 0.49m
c c
Phursungi Local 55.45 ± 0.38 58.79 ± 0.35 10.06 ± 0.43b
g g
Pusa Madhavi 66.79 ± 0.54 69.66 ± 0.44 20.92 ± 0.37f
Pusa Red 69.97 ± 0.12h 73.18 ± 0.33h 23.26 ± 0.57g
Pusa Riddhi 81.81 ± 0.42m 84.61 ± 0.42m 32.63 ± 0.44k
i i
Sukh Sagar 73.07 ± 0.10 74.21 ± 0.65 23.19 ± 0.26g
Udaipur Local 9.79 ± 0.41b 10.89 ± 0.12b 0.73 ± 0.23a
a–o
Values are mean ± standard deviation (n = 3). Values with different superscripts in same column are significantly different (P \ 0.05) by
Duncan’s multiple range test

while white skin had lowest AOA (23.40%). Moreover, to light coloured onion (72.7 ± 0.72%) (Manohar et al.
red-skinned and yellow-skinned onions were investigated 2017). Analysis of onion peel revealed that it had 59.08%
for DPPH radical activity, concluding that red skin had ABTS scavenging activity (Duan et al. 2015). Moreover,
higher activity (74.7%), as compared to yellow skin Burri et al. (2017) measured a maximum ABTS inhibition
(40.8%) (Nuutila et al. 2003). Presence of flavonoids is a by the skin of ‘Donna’ cultivar (dark) (63.4 ± 8.3%) and
key factor that affects the level of antioxidant activity, minimum by skin of cv. ‘Hy Park’ (43.4 ± 10.8%) (light).
where quercetin plays a main role in it. In a previous study, FRAP assay is another important test to determine
red onion peel was analysed for DPPH assay. It showed antioxidant activity of plant materials. The basis of this
75.3 ± 4.5% antiradical power for DPPH assay (Singh assay is the capacity of the antioxidants to reduce Fe3? ions
et al. 2009). Another study was carried out for red onion into Fe2? in the presence of TPTZ, which produces a blue-
peel and 47.17 ± 1.85% DPPH activity was recorded coloured Fe2?-TPTZ complex. The values of FRAP assay
(Skerget et al. 2009). Likewise, a study showed DPPH are summarised in Table 3. Highest value of FRAP test
scavenging activity in higher amount 93.45 ± 0.42% for was observed in cv. ‘NHRDF Red’ (37.12 ± 0.49 lmol
onion peel (Duan et al. 2015). gallic acid/g) while lowest was found in ‘Bhima Shubhra’
ABTS? (radical-cation) is formed after the oxidation of (0.12 ± 0.03 lmol gallic acid/g) which is a white cultivar.
ABTS. ABTS remains stable in the absence of antioxidants Same pattern of test was detected in the skin of two vari-
but turns activated when reacts with phenolics (H?atom eties of onion, i.e. ‘Donna’ contained highest (43.6 ± 4.4),
donor). Hence, blue/green colour gets gradually converted whereas ‘Barito’ had lowest (28.2 ± 1.8) value for FRAP
into uncoloured form of ABTS according to antioxidant assay (Burri et al. 2017). In another study, six onion cul-
capacity of phenolics. Inhibitory effect values of OSP tivars were investigated for FRAP test, showing that red-
extracts on ABTS radical is given in Table 3. The range of coloured onion had higher FRAP value
ABTS radical scavenging test was found between (33.18 ± 0.43 lmol TE/g dw), as compared to the white
6.97 ± 0.08% and 96.04 ± 0.17%, which shows that cv. cultivar (12.58 ± 1.14 lmol TE/g dw) (Sharma et al.
‘Bhima Shubhra’ had the lowest inhibitory effect on 2015). Moreover, Sharma et al. (2014) analysed 18 Korean
ABTS, whereas ‘NHRDF Red’ had highest. Analysis of onion cultivars and range of FRAP assay was obtained
variance showed that all the cultivars were significantly between 11.59 ± 0.99 and 27.22 ± 1.34 lmol TE/g dw.
different (P B 0.05) from each other. A previous study was Previous investigations and present study showed that dark
carried out for ABTS assay with different onion cultivars coloured onion skin showed higher antioxidant activities,
and reported that dark coloured onion had highest per- while light or white coloured onion skin had lower
centage of ABTS inhibition at 95.8 ± 0.3%, as compared antioxidant capacity.

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Correlation analysis (r2 = 0.93) while a positive correlation was obtained

between TFC and DPPH activity (r2 = 0.84) at P [ 0.05.
The result of correlation analysis between TPC, TFC and Similarly, a higher correlation was observed between TPC
antioxidant potential of OSP of fifteen cultivars is given in and ABTS activity (r2 = 0.94) and a good correlation was
Fig. 2. According to the analysis, an excellent correlation found between TFC and ABTS activity (r2 = 0.84). A
was found between TPC and DPPH scavenging activity better correlation was observed between TFC and FRAP

350 180
Total phenolic content (mg

Total flavonoid content (mg

y = 3.2749x + 16.032 160 y = 1.7333x - 22.68
300 R² = 0.9314
140 R² = 0.8493
250
120
GAE/g)

200 100

QE/g)
150 80
60
100
40
50 20
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
DPPH scavenging activity (%) DPPH scavenging activity (%)
(a) (b)

350 180
Total flavonoid content (mg QE/g)
Total phenolic content (mg

y = 3.2575x + 8.9982 160 y = 1.7053x - 25.151

300 R² = 0.9432
140 R² = 0.8414
250
120
GAE/g)

200 100
150 80
60
100
40
50 20
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
ABTS scavenging activity (%) ABTS scavenging activity (%)
(c) (d)
350 180
Total phenolic content (mg GAE/g)

Total flavonoid content (mg QE/g)

y = 6.221x + 95.034 160 y = 3.7963x + 8.583

300 R² = 0.8458
R² = 0.6978
140
250
120
200 100
150 80
60
100
40
50
20
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40
FRAP assay (µmol Gallic acid/g ) FRAP assay (µmol Gallic acid/g )
(e) (f)
Fig. 2 a Correlation between TPC and DPPH assay (%). b Correla- ABTS scavenging test (%). e Correlation between TPC and FRAP
tion between TFC and DPPH assay (%). c Correlation between TPC assay. f Correlation between TFC and FRAP assay
and ABTS scavenging activity (%). d Correlation between TFC and

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J Food Sci Technol (July 2020) 57(7):2423–2432 2431

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