Total Phenolic Content, Flavonoid Content and Antioxidant Potential of Wild Vegetables from Western Nepal

Eight selected wild vegetables from Nepal ( , , , , , , and ) were investigated for their antioxidative potential using 2,2-dyphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging, hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), and ferric thiocyanate (FTC) methods. Among the selected plant extracts displayed the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity with an IC value 9.898 μg/mL, whereas had the maximum H₂O₂ scavenging activity with an IC value 16.25 μg/mL-very close to that of ascorbic acid (16.26 μg/mL). showed the highest absorbance in the FRAP assay and the lowest lipid peroxidation in the FTC assay. A methanol extract of resulted in the greatest phenolic content (292.65 ± 0.42 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g) measured by the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent method, while the smallest content was recorded for (72.66 ± 0.46 GAE/g). The greatest flavonoid content was observed with extracts of (39.38 ± 0.57 mg quercetin equivalents (QE)/g) as measured by an aluminium chloride colorimetric method, while the least was recorded for (6.61 ± 0.42 QE/g). There was a strong correlation between antioxidant activity with total phenolic (DPPH, R² = 0.75; H₂O₂, R² = 0.71) and total flavonoid content (DPPH, R² = 0.84; H₂O₂, R² = 0.66). This study demonstrates that these wild edible leafy plants could be a potential source of natural antioxidants.