Assessment of phenolic profile, and antioxidant activity in developed breeding populations of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill)

Antioxidant capacity, flavonoid, phenolic composition in three synthetic fennel cultivars, and their elite parents were evaluated. The total range of phenols, was from 26.19 to 88.9 mg GAE/g, and total flavonoids ranged from 2.95 to 18.17 mg QE/g, and the inhibitory concentration (IC50) for free radical scavenging activity varied between 174.39 and 290.47 μg/ml. Late maturity synthetic has the greatest antioxidant capacity, flavonoid, and phenolic content. The phenolic compounds of the fennel genotypes as determined by HPLC analysis (mg/100 g dry mass) were, sinapyl alcohol (1.756–9.034), ascorbic acid (22.11–70.00), chlorogenic acid (3.199–43.169), ferulic acid (1.081–4.413), salicylic acid (0.849–6.858), caffeic acid (1.33–6.289), coniferyl alcohol (0.451–2.272), and p-coumaric acid (1.238–6.484). According to the principal component analysis, the first two components were responsible for 81.94% of the overall variation for phenol, flavonoid and, antioxidant activity. Using multivariate analysis, fennel genotypes were classified into three major groups, however the synthetic cultivars showed a higher phenol content and a lower IC50 value. These findings indicated that new breeding populations are prospective sources of natural antioxidants and biochemical substances utilized in the food industry. •Fennel synthetic fennel cultivars and their parental were evaluated for antioxidant activity, and phenolic compound.•The late-maturing synthetic cultivar has the highest phenol content and antioxidant capacity.•The chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid were the primary phenolic components in the seed extracts of fennel genotypes.•All of Synthetic genotypes showed high phenol content and strong antioxidant capacity.