Morphological and biochemical variability of Froriepia

Abstract

Froriepia (Froriepia subpinnata Ledeb. Bail.) is an endangered, indigenous, vegetable, also reported to have medicinal properties. There is insufficient information about yield, nutrient content and other biochemical compounds in this plant. The project was undertaken to develop information on morphological and phytochemical variation. There was variation among 52 accessions gathered from Guilan Province, Iran. There was a significant, positive, correlation between leaf dimension, plant height, and attributes related to biomass. Total phenols were 355.6–941.3 mg GAE∙100 g−1 FW, total flavonoids were 204.33–540.74 mg CAT∙100 g−1 FW, total carotenoids were 1.52 to 3.15 μg∙100 g−1 FW, and antioxidant capacity was 31.36–81.82 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radical scavenging (DPPH%). Chlorogenic acid was the dominant phenolic compound in the plant. Path analysis indicated the maximum direct effect on antioxidant was for total phenols (0.316). The unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean cluster, based on combined morphological and biochemical traits, indicated three distinct groups with high inter- and intra-regional variation. The Froriepia accessions possess valuable biochemical and antioxidant properties for potential medicinal use.