CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND ANTIOXIDANT CAPACITY OF CHICORY LEAVES ORIGINATING FROM WILD PLANT (Cichorium intibus L.) AND ITS CULTIVAR (Cichorium intybus var. foliosum Hegi `Zuccherina di Trieste`)

<p>Wild chicory and its cultivar `Zuccherina di Trieste` were grown in organic garden. The samples were taken from young leaf rosettes. A slightly higher concentracion of observed elements was found in wild chicory leaves, in relation to the leaves of the cultivar `Zuccherina di Trieste`. Wild chicory leaves also contain more moisture (87.28%), cellulose (2.23%) and vitamin C (6.52 mg/100g) compared to the leaves of the cultivar (84.77%, 2.196% and 3.93 mg/100g, respectively).  When it comes to phytochemicals, leaves of the cultivar predominate in total phenols (2.49 mg GAE/g) and lag behind in total flavonoids (0.94 mg Qc/g) and flavonols (1.00 mg Qc/g) compared to the leaves of wild chicory (1.74 mg GAE/g, 1.21 mg Qc/g and 1.66 mg Qc/g, respectively). Fresh leaves of the cultivar showed significantly stronger antioxidant activity, compared to fresh leaves of wild chicory.</p>