Antioxidant capacity of pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan L.) sprouts elicited using NaCl with various elicitation time

Abstract

Abstract Previous research showed that pigeon pea has potential as an anti-diabetic functional drink related to its antioxidant capacity. Antioxidant capacity in legumes can be increased by elicitation. Improvement of antioxidant capacity in legumes elicited by NaCl was significantly higher than that of other abiotic elicitation. The objective of this study was to determine the antioxidant capacity of pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan L.) sprouts which were elicited using NaCl (50mM) with various elicitation times (8 hours, 12 hours, 16 hours) and germinated for 48 hours. The results showed that elicitation time did not have a significant effect on the total flavonoids content, but significantly increased antioxidant activity (DPPH radical scavenging, and reducing power) of pigeon pea sprouts along with increasing elicitation time. This study proved that elicitation using NaCl 50mM for 16 hours increases the total flavonoid content (69, 36%), DPPH radical scavenging activity (134, 18%), and reducing power (24, 54%) of pigeon pea sprouts. Elicitation using 50mM NaCl with 16 hours elicitation time and 48 hours germination time can be considered as a technique to enhance antioxidant capacity in legumes sprouts.