Assessment of the Bioactive Composition and in vitro Antioxidant Effect of the Aqueous and Ethanol Extract of Two Pepper Cultivars

Pepper is one of the most important economic fruits with abundant of nutritional qualities. This study was carried out to assess the important bioactive compounds present in the two selected pepper cultivars. Ripe-fruit extracts were used to determine total phenolic content, flavonoid content, ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), beta-carotene and lycopene among the cultivars quantitatively. The results showed that there were significant variations on the nutrients and bioactive compound concentrations. The highest amount of vitamin C was 187.62 ± 0.60 mg/100g recorded from bird eye variety. The highest concentration of Phenol was 52.98 ± 0.00 mgGAE/ 100g obtained from bird eye pepper. High variability was observed among the pepper cultivars; bird eye cultivar with the highest concentrations of total phenol, flavonoid and ascorbic acid, showed to have the highest radical scavenging capacity. Both pepper cultivars can be a cheap source of natural antioxidants, therefore recommended for future development of healthy food products and conveying great benefits for food and pharmaceutical industries, consumers, and producers. Keywords: Pepper, beta-carotene, phenol, flavonoid, antioxidant, ascorbic acid and cultivar