Phytochemical Evaluation of Two Cultivated Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) Green and Red rubin leaves
Abstract: Basils are aromatic herbs which are used in foods as natural flavors and color. This study includes a comparison between two cultivated basil Ocimum basilicum L. cv (Green and Red rubin) fresh and dried leaves concerning chemical composition, minerals content, antioxidants profile and volatile oil fractions.
Crude fibers and total hydrolysable carbohydrates were the higher in red basil than those in the green one, also ash content was the highest in red basil (15.25%). In contrast, the fixed oil (ether extract) in the green basil was higher than that in the red basil (5.44 and 2.79%, respectively). While, the percentage of crude protein contents in green and red rubin basil were the same (15.45 and 16.25%, respectively).
Red rubin basil contained higher concentration of polyphenols and flavonoids than in green one (93.21, 13.68 and 51.32, 10.88 mg/g on dry weight, respectively). Red basil contained anthocyanins (55.17 mg/g on dry weight basis) but the green one was free. Also, the antioxidant activity as measured by reducing power, showed that ‘Red Rubin’ exhibiting the highest activity (1.03), significantly the lowest activity was observed in the green basil (0.92) compared to tannic acid (0.887).
The essential oils profile of Ocimum basilicum L. Green and Red rubin cultivated in Sinai were investigated by GC. Six major constituents were identified in the volatile oil of O. basilicum L .cv. red rubin. The main constituents found in the oil were the linalool (35.4%), methyl chavicol (15.7%), eugenol (11.4%), cadinol (7.3%), linalool-oxide (6.2%) and 1,8-cineole (4.6%). In the volatile oil of O. basilicum L. cv. green. The major components were characterized representing 94.94% of the total volatile oil. Methyl chavicol (68.9%), cadinole (6.2%), linalool (5.5%), 1,8-cineole (3.2%) and D-limonene (2.2%) were the major components. The essential oils of O. basilicum L. cv. green were characterized by their high content of methyl chavicol, whereas the most important essential oil constituent of O. basilicum L .cv. red rubin was the linalool. Also, regarding to the methyl chavicol (estragole) content being the higher in green basil the matter giving it the priority to be used better than the red basil.
Publication year 2011
Organization Name
serial title مؤتمر الجودة الشاملة للنباتات الطبية و العطرية و منتجاتها
Author(s) from ARC
External authors (outside ARC)
    أمنية فاروق أبوالليل مصطفى معهد بحوث البساتين
Publication Type Conference/Workshop
↑