Scientia Horticulturae 115 (2007) 1318 www.elsevier.

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A time-course study of avonoids in the sprouts of tartary (Fagopyrum tataricum Gaertn.) buckwheats
Sun-Ju Kim a,*, I.S.M. Zaidul a, Tomoo Maeda b, Tatsuro Suzuki a, Naoto Hashimoto a, Shigenobu Takigawa a, Takahiro Noda a, Chie Matsuura-Endo a, Hiroaki Yamauchi a
a

National Agricultural Research Center for Hokkaido Region, Memuro, Hokkaido 082-0071, Japan b Plant Ecochemicals Research Center, Meguminokita 3-1-1, Eniwa, Hokkaido 061-1374, Japan Received 25 May 2006; received in revised form 26 July 2007; accepted 31 July 2007

Abstract The evolution, from 1 to 10 days after germination, of avonoid content in sprouts of tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum Gaertn.), grown in a greenhouse under low light conditions (16 mmol m2 s1), was investigated. Chlorogenic acid and avonoids including C-glycosylavones (orientin, isoorientin, vitexin, isovitexin), rutin and quercetin were separated from the sprouts by HPLC and quantied with their commercial standards. Rutin content in the edible portion of the sprouts (mean 20 and 37 mg g1 DW in Hokkai T 8 and Hokkai T 10, respectively) was 3- to 31-fold greater than that in the roots or pericarp. The free radical scavenging activity of seed sprouts was assessed through the 2,2-diphenyl-1picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. From 6 to 10 days after sowing, the free radical scavenging activity in the edible portions rose signicantly from 1.52 to 2.33 mmol Trolox equiv. g1 DW in Hokkai T 8 and from 1.46 to 2.09 mmol Trolox equiv. g1 DW in Hokkai T 10, but differences between Hokkai T 8 and Hokkai T 10 were not signicant. As the results, the sprouts of tartary buckwheat, particularly those of Hokkai T 10 are strongly recommended as new high rutin food. # 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Chlorogenic acid; Free radical scavenging activity; Rutin; Seed sprouts; Tartary buckwheat

1. Introduction Originating in Far East countries such as China, Korea, and Japan, seed sprouts are atypical vegetables given their benecial nutritive value and have recently spread to other parts of the world, including Europe, Australia and the United States (Sharma et al., 2002; Weiss and Hammes, 2003). In Japanese markets, a great variety of sprouts can be found, including those of adzuki bean, alfalfa, broccoli, buckwheat, cress, kale, mung bean, mustard, radish, red cabbage, soybean and so on. In Japan, seed sprouts are classied into three groups: (i) Vertical sproutscultivated under natural light conditions in a plastic or glass greenhouse (i.e., radish and buckwheat); (ii) Curl sproutscultured under uorescent lamps in a rotary drum sprouter (broccoli, mustard, kale and red cabbage); and
* Corresponding author. Present address: Department of Biological and Environmental Chemistry, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Chonnam National University, 333 Yonbong-Ro, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-757, Republic of Korea. Tel.: +82 62 530 2188; fax: +82 62 530 2188. E-mail address: merutinmil@yahoo.co.jp (S.-J. Kim). 0304-4238/$ see front matter # 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.scienta.2007.07.018

(iii) Moyashi sprouts in Japanesegrown in the dark in wooden jars (alfalfa, mung beans and soybeans). Vertical and Curl sprouts are generally eaten raw as single-species or mixed multi-species salads, after simple washing, whereas Moyashi (Namul in Korean and Douya in Chinese) sprouts are normally cooked to remove their grassy odor. Raw seed sprouts are perceived as a healthy and benecial food due to their high nutritional value in terms of protein, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins (Fu et al., 2001). Our group has recently developed a new system for mass production of green buckwheat sprouts, in parallel with vertical sprouts of broccoli, kale, mustard, radish, red cabbage, etc., from a single water. There are two main species of cultivated buckwheat, common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) and tartary buckwheat (F. tataricum Gaertn.). Buckwheat is recognized as a health food by the Japanese because it is rich in rutin, a avonol glycoside known to strengthen blood vessels (Mukoda et al., 2001). On a dry weight basis, 10-day-old sprouts of tartary buckwheat, cultured with potting soil and wood shavings, contain 56% rutin, over twice that in common buckwheat sprouts (Kim et al., 2006). Moreover, Watanabe and

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S.-J. Kim et al. / Scientia Horticulturae 115 (2007) 1318

Fig. 1. Structural formulas of chlorogenic acid and avonoids isolated and identied from the sprouts of tartary buckwheat: (a) chlorogenic acid; (b) orientin; (c) vitexin; (d) isoorientin; (e) isovitexin; (f) rutin; (g) quercetin.

Shimizu (2004) have recently isolated and identied not only rutin but also C-glycosylavones such as orientin (Fig. 1b), isoorientin (d) vitexin (c) and isovitexin (e) in 3-day-old [i.e., 3 days after sowing (DAS)] tartary buckwheat sprouts. They showed that while rutin in these sprouts increased with increasing periods of light exposure, C-glycosylavone levels remained constant. Buckwheat contains a number of components known to act as preservatives; these include ascorbic acid, avonoids and other phenolic compounds (Kim et al., 2004). Dietary avonoids are important in an optimal human diet given their antioxidant and free-radical scavenging activities (Harborne and Williams, 2000). The avonoids are able to act as antioxidants by virtue of the hydrogen-donating capacity of their phenolic groups (Rice-Evans et al., 1995). It has been reported that buckwheat contains several avonoids such as rutin and quercetin, which are all thought to possess antioxidant activity (Watanabe, 1998). Moreover, Rice-Evans et al. (1995) reported that avonoids have greater antioxidant activity than either vitamin C or E. The consumption of buckwheat sprouts has a healthy image as does that of other seed sprouts, but little information exists regarding the avonoids complement and free radical scavenging activity of such sprouts. Recently, our research group has bred two lines of tartary buckwheat, Hokkai T 8, derived from the Russian Rotundatum and Hokkai T 10, obtained through ethyl methane sulfonate mutagenesis of Hokkai T 8.

The present work specically sought to measure the avonoids in the sprouts of Hokkai T 8 and T 10 and to assess their free radical-scavenging abilities through the 2,2diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) quenching assay. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Plant materials Cultivar Hokkai T 8 and breeding line Hokkai T 10 were tested in this study. Tartary buckwheat seeds were soaked in aq. 10% (v/v) sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) for 3 h, rinsed with Milli Q water for 1 h, then allowed to stand for 3 h at room temperature. Other sprouting materials were washed with aq. 2% NaClO. On 2 September 2005, pretreated seeds (8 g) of tartary buckwheat were sown in plastic pots (65 mm 65 mm 150 mm) previously packed with polyurethane (Araikasei, Toyohashi, Japan). Forty pots were prepared representing 10 treatments replicated four times. The seeds were germinated in a growth chamber for 2 days in the dark at 25 8C and roughly 60% humidity. Germinated seeds with pericarps were harvested 1 and 2 days after sowing (DAS), and the remaining seeds/pots were transferred to a greenhouse at the National Agricultural Research Center for the Hokkaido region (Memuro, Hokkaido; longitude, 1438030 E; latitude, 428550 N). The growth benches were shaded with a plastic netting, which allowed roughly 5% of natural light to reach the developing seedlings (mean light

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intensity: under the netting, 16 mmol m2 s1; above the netting, 504 mmol m2 s1). Sprouting seeds, maintained at 27 8C and 87% humidity on average, were automatically sprayed with de-ionized water (mean pH 6.0) for 5 min (2 L min1 from a total of 4 nozzles) every hour. The sprouts, harvested in the morning daily from 6 to 10 DAS, were separated into pericarp (seed coat), the edible portion (shoot and cotyledons) and roots. Plant materials (ungerminated seeds, 1 and 2 DAS germinating seeds and seedlings separated into three portions from 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 DAS) were then lyophilized, ground with IFM-180G Millser (Iwatani International Co., Tokyo, Japan) and individually stored in a plastic bottle with a lid in a desiccator until chemical analysis. 2.2. Solvents and reagents External HPLC standards for chlorogenic acid, the Cglycosylavone avonoids orientin, isoorientin, vitexin, and isovitexin, along with those for rutin and quercetin were ` se (Genay, France). purchased from Extrasynthe 2.3. Determination of avonoids Flavonoids were extracted with 1 mL of MeOH containing 10% phosphoric acid [0.1% (v/v)] per 10 mg dry weight (DW), and the mixture stored for 3 h at 37 8C in an incubator (Model IJ 200, Yamato Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan). After centrifugation at 1000 g for 5 min, the supernatant was passed through a disposable syringe lter (PTFE, 0.5 mm, hydrophobic; Advantec, Tokyo, Japan). The ltrate was then analyzed by HPLC (class-VP chromatography data system; Shimadzu, Kyoto, Japan) in a Capcell PAK ODS column (250 mm 4.6 mm, particle size 5 mm; Shiseido, Tokyo, Japan). Detection was achieved at 350 nm, the ow rate was 1.0 mL min1, and the

column oven temperature was 40 8C. The mobile phase consisted of (A) MeOH:water:acetic acid (v/v/v, 5:92.5:2.5) and (B) MeOH:water:acetic acid (95:2.5:2.5). The initial mobile phase composition was 0% B, followed by a linear gradient to 80% B in 48 min, and isocratic conditions with 0% B for 10 min (Watanabe and Ito, 2002). The quantication was performed using commercial external standards, which were passed through the same extraction process. 2.4. DPPH radical scavenging activity The 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) superoxide scavenging activity of 610 DAS seedlings was evaluated according to the method of Kim et al. (2002), with minor modications. The scavenging activity was expressed as micromoles of Trolox not reduced by superoxide (Calzuola et al., 2004). A dried sample was extracted in 80% EtOH so as to result in a nal concentration of 10 mg DW mL1 concentration. To a 50 mL-sample solution, 50 mL of 20% EtOH, 50 mL of MES-NaOH buffer (pH 5.5, 0.2 M), and 50 mL of 400 mM DPPH-EtOH solution were added. The mixture was shaken for 20 s, and the absorbance of the resulting solution was measured at 492 nm. The solution was then allowed to stand for 30 min in the dark at room temperature, the absorbance was again measured, and the decrease in absorbance was calculated. 2.5. Statistical analysis The data were subjected to statistical analysis by Tukeys multiple range tests using Esumi Statistical Software version 5.0 (Esumi Inc., Tokyo, Japan). The analysis of variance was done at the 5% level of signicance. Correlation of DPPH rutin to parameter was also determined.

Table 1 Chlorogenic acid and avonoid contents (mg g1 DW)a,b of ungerminated seeds, 1 or 2 day-after-seeding (DAS) germinated seeds and 610 DAS seedlings of tartary buckwheat cv. Hokkai T 8 Sprout portions Seed 1 2 Edible part 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 Days after sowing Chlorogenic acid N.D.c N.D. N.D. 0.93 0.10 1.04 0.36 1.17 0.28 1.83 0.80 2.14 0.38 0.41 0.19 0.39 0.14 0.66 0.13 2.04 0.44 N.D. b b b ab a b b b a Orientin N.D. N.D. tr 0.13 0.02 0.11 0.02 0.14 0.02 0.24 0.09 0.22 0.08 N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. ab b ab a ab Isoorientin N.D. N.D. tr 0.14 0.02 0.15 0.04 0.17 0.02 0.32 0.07 0.32 0.03 N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. b b b a a Vitexin 0.09 0.01 b 0.09 0.01 b 0.12 0.02 a 0.44 0.05 0.41 0.08 0.47 0.07 0.85 0.26 0.86 0.09 N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. b b b a a Isovitexin N.D. N.D. 0.26 0.05 a 0.55 0.07 0.53 0.12 0.61 0.08 1.13 0.31 1.21 0.18 N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. b b b a a Quercetin trd tr tr 0.05 0.02 0.03 0.01 0.03 0.03 0.06 0.03 0.32 0.03 N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. ab b b ab a Total n.d.e n.d. n.d. 2.12 0.28 2.28 0.60 2.59 0.46 4.42 1.51 1.21 0.18 n.d. n.d. n.d. n.d. N.D. b b b a a

Root

a b c d e

Within each column, values followed by the same letters are not signicantly different at P  0.05, using Tukeys multiple range test. Mean values S.D., n = 4. N.D., not detected. tr, trace. n.d., not determined.

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S.-J. Kim et al. / Scientia Horticulturae 115 (2007) 1318 Table 3 Rutin content (mg g1 DW)a,b of ungerminated seeds, 1 or 2 day-after-seeding (DAS) germinated seeds, and 610 DAS seedlings of tartary buckwheat cv. Hokkai T 8 and breeding line Hokkai T 10 Sprout portions Seed 1 2 Edible part 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 Days after sowing Hokkai T 8 14.13 0.36 a 12.94 0.77 ab 11.98 1.62 b 16.16 2.10 14.21 2.60 16.32 2.14 29.28 6.12 26.15 3.35 2.99 0.62 2.39 0.33 2.35 0.91 4.17 0.77 2.61 0.77 1.98 0.10 1.14 0.01 0.32 0.01 0.62 0.02 0.88 0.02 b b b a a ab b b a b a b e d c Hokkai T 10 11.68 1.06 b 11.67 0.17 b 13.37 0.56 a 35.61 0.30 33.33 1.89 35.69 2.12 36.96 3.79 42.27 7.09 12.51 1.43 10.24 0.73 11.22 1.50 12.51 2.24 10.40 1.99 2.82 0.03 1.94 0.04 0.42 0.00 0.46 0.01 0.28 0.00 b b b b a a a a a a a b c c d

3. Results 3.1. Flavonoid contents in the germinating seeds sprouts Chlorogenic acid (Fig. 1a), orientin (b), isoorientin (d), vitexin (c), isovitexin (e), rutin (f) and quercetin (g) were isolated and identied in the sprouts of tartary buckwheat. Their identication was conrmed and quantied with commercial standards. In sprouts, C-glycosylavones and quercetin were found in extremely small quantities compared to rutin. Ungerminated seeds, and 1-day-old or 2-day-old germinated seeds of both Hokkai T 8 and Hokkai T 10 contained vitexin, rutin and quercetin, but isovitexin was only found in 2-day-old germinated seeds. Chlorogenic acid, orientin and isoorientin were undetectable in the seeds of both Hokkai T 8 and Hokkai T 10, but were detectable in the edible parts of 610 DAS seedlings, whereas chlorogenic acid and/or rutin were the only avonoids detected in their roots or pericarps (Tables 13). In the germinated and ungerminated seeds of Hokkai T 8, vitexin, isovitexin and quercetin were found at very low levels, and only increased slightly, if signicantly, with germination (Table 1). In the edible portions of 610 DAS Hokkai T 8 seedlings, chlorogenic acid, C-glycosylavones and quercetin increased linearly during plant growth, levels at 9 and 10 DAS generally being signicantly greater than those at 68 DAS. With respect to other avonoids, chlorogenic acid was found to be present at higher concentration (ranged 0.93 2.14 mg g1 DW) compared to those of vitexin and isovitexin (ranged 0.440.86 and 0.551.21 mg g1 DW, respectively). Furthermore, rutin was the major avonoid in all portions of the sprouts (Table 3). In the edible portions, rutin contents was signicantly greater at 9 and 10 DAS (29.3 and 26.2 mg g1 DW, respectively) than at 68 DAS (14.2 16.3 mg g1 DW), whereas a converse trend, while not

Root

Pericarp

a Within each column, values followed by the same letters are not signicantly different at P  0.05, using Tukeys multiple range test. b Mean values S.D., n = 4.

signicant due to high variability, was observed for the pericarps. Unlike in the edible portion, rutin in seeds and roots was not affected by seedling age, except in the case of higher levels in Hokkai T 8 at 9 DAS. The rutin content of edible portions of seedlings was 4- to 7-fold greater than that in roots and pericarps, respectively. The edible portions of these seedlings are thus a very rich dietary source of rutin. In ungerminated and germinated seeds of Hokkai T 10, vitexin, isovitexin and quercetin were present at very low

Table 2 Chlorogenic acid and avonoid contents (mg g1 DW)a,b of ungerminated seeds, 1 or 2 day-after-seeding (DAS) germinated seeds and 610 DAS seedlings of tartary buckwheat breeding line Hokkai T 10 Sprout portions Seed 1 2 Edible part 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 Days after sowing Chlorogenic acid N.D.c N.D. N.D. 2.51 0.05 2.52 0.13 2.82 0.21 2.83 0.34 3.39 1.28 0.44 0.12 0.17 0.03 0.41 0.20 1.47 0.44 N.D. a a a a a b b b a Orientin N.D. N.D. tr 0.14 0.00 0.14 0.01 0.15 0.01 0.16 0.02 0.16 0.02 N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. a a a a a Isoorientin N.D. N.D. tr 0.12 0.00 0.12 0.01 0.13 0.01 0.14 0.02 0.14 0.03 N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. a a a a a Vitexin 0.08 0.03 b 0.10 0.01 b 0.16 0.02 a 0.55 0.01 0.53 0.04 0.58 0.05 0.60 0.07 0.60 0.08 N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. a a a a a Isovitexin N.D. N.D. 0.02 0.01 a 0.14 0.00 0.49 0.03 0.56 0.03 0.59 0.09 0.60 0.09 N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. a a a a a Quercetin trd tr tr 0.55 0.01 0.12 0.01 0.12 0.06 0.60 0.07 0.12 0.05 N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. N.D. a a a a a Total n.d.e n.d. n.d. 3.95 0.10 3.10 0.23 4.36 0.36 4.45 0.54 5.03 1.40 n.d. n.d. n.d. n.d. N.D. a a a a a

Root

a b c d e

Within each column, values followed by the same letters are not signicantly different at P  0.05, using Tukeys multiple range test. Mean values S.D., n = 4. N.D., not detected. tr, trace. n.d., not determined.

S.-J. Kim et al. / Scientia Horticulturae 115 (2007) 1318 Table 4 Radical scavenging activity on the sprouts of tartary buckwheat by DPPH (mmol Trolox equiv. g1 DW)a,b Days after sowing DPPH Hokkai T 8 6 7 8 9 10 Correlation (t-test) DPPH rutin
a

17

Hokkai T 10 1.46 0.13 1.70 0.25 1.73 0.29 1.94 0.20 2.09 0.20
*

1.52 0.39 1.77 0.20 1.96 0.60 2.14 0.29 2.33 0.24 NS c

b ab ab ab a

b ab ab ab a

Within each column, values followed by the same letters are not signicantly different at P  0.05, using Tukeys multiple range test. b Mean values S.D., n = 4. c NS, non-signicant. * Signicant at P  0.05.

concentrations, similar to those found in Hokkai T 8; and vitexin and quercetin increased signicantly with seed germination (Table 2). In the edible parts of Hokkai T 10, chlorogenic acid, C-glycosylavones and quercetin were not signicantly affected by seeding age (610 DAS). Chlorogenic acid was 1.5-fold greater and isoorientin and isovitexin 30% lower in Hokkai T 10 than Hokkai T 8. As with Hokkai T 8, rutin was the primary avonoid in all portions of Hokkai T 10 sprouts (Table 3). In the edible portions of Hokkai T 10 seedlings, rutin contents was signicantly greater at 10 DAS than at any earlier date, while, conversely, its content in the pericarp was signicantly greater at 6 DAS than any day thereafter. Rutin was present in the roots of Hokkai T 10 at levels (ranged 10.2412.51 mg g1 DW), at least 3-fold those in Hokkai T 8 roots (ranged 2.354.17 mg g1 DW), and on par with those of ungerminated and germinated seeds of Hokkai T 10, but did not vary signicantly with seedling age. Given that rutin contents in edible portions and roots of Hokkai T 10 seedlings were, on average, 1.8- and 3.9-fold greater, respectively, than in Hokkai T 8, this suggest that Hokkai T 10 seedlings are an even better dietary source of rutin than is Hokkai T 8. 3.2. DPPH radical scavenging activity Edible portions of the sprouts showed approximately twice the antioxidant potential of Trolox (Table 4). Not withstanding the wide difference in rutin contents of the two sprouts (Table 3), extracts of the edible portion of both sprouts showed similar radical scavenging activities (1.462.33 mmol Trolox equiv. g1 DW). The radical scavenging activities during plant growth at 69 DAS increased signicantly in the both sprouts. In addition, the rutin content and DPPH-assayed antioxidant potential showed a strong correlation in Hokkai T 10. 4. Discussion Phenolic compounds determined in the edible portions of Hokkai T 8 seedlings increased linearly during plant growth at

610 DAS (Table 1). This concurred with the reports of Watanabe and Ito (2002) and Kim et al. (2004). The trends of phenolic contents in the seed and roots of Hokkai T 10 were similar to those found in Hokkai T 8, whereas no signicant differences were observed in the edible parts during plant growth at 610 DAS (Table 2). The levels of C-glycosylavones measured for either Hokkai T 8 or Hokkai T 10 in this study were substantially lower than those measured in 15 DAS sprouts of common buckwheat (416 mg g1 DW), cultivated in either light or darkness (Watanabe and Ito, 2002); however, the quantity of chlorogenic acid found in the present study was similar to that found in common buckwheat sprouts cultivated in darkness (Kim et al., 2004). Moreover, Watanabe and Ito (2002) could not detect cotyledonary-specic C-glycosylavones at 18 DAS common buckwheat seedlings. Rutin contents in the edible portions of both sprouts were signicantly greater at 9 and 10 DAS than at 68 DAS, whereas a converse trend was observed for the pericarps (Table 3). This result was in good agreement with the previous report (Suzuki et al., 2007). These rutin levels in Hokkai T 8 were at least twice those reported in 5 DAS tartary buckwheat sprouts (8 mg g1 DW) by Watanabe and Shimizu (2004). Moreover, they in Hokkai T 10 were 1.5-fold greater than that in common buckwheat sprouts cultured in darkness (Kim et al., 2004), and 4fold greater than that in the 3-day-old light-grown tartary buckwheat sprouts (Watanabe and Shimizu, 2004). The edible portions of these seedlings are a very rich dietary source of rutin. Moreover, the rutin content of Hokkai T 8 cultured under 5% of natural light was less than half that of Hokkai T 8 cultivated in full sunlight (Kim et al., 2006), possibly also due to the different cultivation practices involved (i.e. soil-grown, irrigation rate and season of cultivation). Given that C-glycosylavones and rutin increased signicantly and at similar rates in the edible portion of seedlings as they aged, it appears that these compounds followed a similar pattern of accumulation during sprout growth, as was previously noted in similar experiments by Margna et al. (1990). However, at least in common buckwheat seedlings cotyledons, C-glycosylavones had completely disappeared by 19 DAS (Watanabe and Ito, 2002). The free radical scavenging activity by the DPPH assay might be not directly related to the phenolic contents measured in the present study (Table 4). However, as the seedlings aged from 6 to 10 DAS, the rise in radical scavenging activity rose signicantly and in parallel with that of rutin content, i.e. seedlings with high avonoid contents had a high antioxidant activity (Wang and Zheng, 2001). In conclusion, phenolic compounds including chlorogenic acid, C-glycosylavones (orientin, isoorientin, vitexin and isovitexin), rutin and quercetin were isolated and identied in the seed sprouts of tartary buckwheat. Their contents were investigated during plant growth, and they were individually determined in seeds, edible portions and roots. C-glycosylavones and quercetin were found in extremely small quantities compared to rutin. Moreover, chlorogenic acid, orientin and isoorientin were undetectable in the seeds, and chlorogenic acid or/and rutin were only the avonoids detected in the roots or pericarps.

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In the edible portions of Hokkai T 8 sprouts, phenolic compounds increased linearly during plant growth at 610 DAS, but no signicant differences were found in the Hokkai T 10. Rutin was the major avonoid in all portions of the both sprouts. Furthermore, rutin contents in the seeds, edible parts and roots of both sprouts increased signicantly with plant growth, whereas a converse trend was observed for the pericarps. The edible portions are very rich dietary source of rutin in both sprouts, and Hokkai T 10 seedlings are an even better dietary source of rutin than is Hokkai T 8. The radical scavenging activities during plant growth at 69 DAS increased signicantly in the both sprouts. In addition, the rutin content and DPPH-assayed antioxidant potential showed a strong correlation in Hokkai T 10. As these results, the edible parts of 610 DAS subdued-light-grown tartary buckwheat seedlings are a very good dietary source of rutin, and which would also represent a relative high antioxidative capacity. Acknowledgments We thank Mr. A. Morizumi for technical assistance. This study was supported by Northern Advancement Center for Science and Technology (NOASTEC) and Cooperation of Innovative Technology and Advanced Research in Evolutional Area (CITY AREA). References
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