Determination of Antioxidant Activities of Plant Extracts (Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench.) Harvested at Different Times

This research was carried out to determine the antioxidant activities of extracts obtained from plant parts of Echinacea purpurea L. (Moench) species harvested at different times. In the preparation of plantation, seeds for seedling production were planted in peat-containing pots on 24 April 2012. Rooted seedlings were planted in the experimental area in May. After planting, necessary cultural practices (irrigation, hoeing, etc.) of the plants were performed in 2013, 2014 and 2015. In this study, cone, leaf, flower and root parts of Echinacea plant harvested at different times between September 2014 and August 2015 were used. This study was conducted using the cone, leaf, flower, and root parts of the echinacea plant. While the cone, leaf and flower parts were harvested on 3 different dates, namely 24 July, 6 August and 19 August, the root part was harvested only once on 10 October. In this study, it was stated that the antioxidant activities of Echinacea purpurea species vary depending on the harvest period and the organs of the plant. The values of the highest total phenolic content and total flavonoid compound content were calculated. These values were determined as 59.107 mg GAE g-1 extract and 1807.286 mg QE g-1 extract, respectively. The lowest DPPH value was found to be 1.157 mg mL-1. These datas were found for the flower parts of the plant from the first harvest time, the leaf parts from the second harvest period and the flower parts from the second harvest date, respectively.