UNCORRECTED PROOF 1 2 Polyphenol content and antiradical activity of Cichorium intybus L. from 3 biodynamic and conventional farming 4 Daniela Heimler a, * , Laura Isolani a , Pamela Vignolini b , Annalisa Romani b 5 a Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, University of Florence, P.le delle Cascine 18, 50144 Florence, Italy 6 b Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Florence, U. Schiff 6, 50019, Sesto F.no, Florence, Italy 7 9 article info 10 Article history: 11 Received 10 June 2008 12 Received in revised form 14 August 2008 13 Accepted 7 October 2008 14 Available online xxxx 15 Keywords: 16 Cichorium intybus 17 Polyphenols 18 Antiradical activity 19 Biodynamic agriculture 20 21 abstract 22 Conventionally- and biodynamically-grown chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) was compared for its polyphe- 23 nol content and antiradical activity. Two growing periods were analysed: in the first, the plants were sub- 24 jected to severe water stress; in the second the stress was absent. The polyphenol content (Folin– 25 Ciocalteu test) was higher in samples from the former than in the latter (about 650 and 420mg of gallic 26 acid/100g fresh sample, respectively), and in any case did not differ between the two growing systems; 27 antiradical activity for the second sampling was higher in the case of the biodynamic system. HPLC/DAD/ 28 MS analysis identified five hydroxycinnamic acids and eight flavonoids (quercetin, kaempferol, luteolin 29 and apigenin glycosides) and indicated changes in hydroxycinnamic content in the four samplings which 30 were greatest in the case of conventional farming. Biodynamic farming, like organic farming, allows the 31 achievement of good results, with particular attention to environmental conditions. 32 Ó 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd. 33 34 35 1. Introduction 36 Biodynamic farming is similar in many ways to better-known or- 37 ganic agriculture; both use composting and cover cropping instead of 38 mineral fertilising and ban pesticides, herbicides, hormones and 39 other chemicals. The difference from organic agriculture, apart from 40 philosophical and historical aspects, lies in the use of biodynamic 41 preparations which contain specific herbs or minerals, treated or fer- 42 mented with animal organs, water and/or soil. These preparations 43 are applied in finely-diluted form (homoeopathically), generally as 44 field sprays after dynamisation, i.e., agitated in a specific way for long 45 periods. The different types and aims of biodynamic preparations 46 have been described (Carpenter-Boggs, Kennedy, & Reganold, 2000; 47 Reeve et al., 2005). The aim of biodynamic preparations is supposed 48 to lie in the improvement of soil and crop quality (Reganold, 1995), 49 even if not all results support such an assumption. Generally, biody- 50 namic farming is regarded as a holistic method which involves a 51 spiritual world-view known as anthroposophy. In biodynamic man- 52 agement, and overall in biodynamic preparations, a scientific ap- 53 proach is lacking, with few exceptions (Carpenter-Boggs et al., 54 2000 Q1 ; Carpenter-Boggs, Reganold, & Kennedy, 2000; Reeve et al., 55 2005; Reganold, 1995). However, biodynamic farming is widespread 56 and is increasing worldwide; in Italy in 2007 more than 300 farms 57 commercialised biodynamically-grown crops, a 2–3% increase com- 58 pared to 2006 (DEMETER data). 59 It seems that biodynamic farming supports many benefits with 60 regard to sustainability and soil quality (Mäder et al., 2002; Rega- 61 nold, Palmer, Lockhart, & Macgregor, 1993), but differences be- 62 tween organic and biodynamic practices have not been 63 discovered (Carpenter-Boggs et al., 2000; Reeve et al., 2005), even 64 if greater soil biological and microbial activity have been reported 65 (Mäder et al., 2002). In terms of crop quality, the comparison is 66 more difficult. Some studies concern grape quality: however, one 67 study on wine grape quality showed no differences in leaf and 68 grape analysis, and only in one year (the study lasted four years) 69 was a higher content of polyphenols and anthocyanins found in 70 biodynamically-cultivated grape with respect to organically-culti- 71 vated plants (Reeve et al., 2005). When comparing conventional 72 and organic farming, a higher level of total phenols was found in 73 organically-grown Marion berry, strawberry and corn (Asami, 74 Hong, Barrett, & Mitchell, 2003), and a higher antioxidant potential 75 in apple from biodynamic farming (Carbonaro, Mattera, Vicoli, & 76 Cappelloni, 2000) was found. In the case of wheat grains from or- 77 ganic and conventional agriculture, no consistent differences in 78 the metabolic profile (amino acids, stress markers, sugars and su- 79 gar alcohols, nucleotides, urea and vitamin B5) were found (Zörb, 80 Langenkämper, Betsche, Niehaus, & Barsch, 2006), and no other dif- 81 ferences were detected when grains from organic, biodynamic and 82 conventional growing systems were compared (Langenkämper 83 et al., 2006). In a recent study on lettuce, no significantly higher 84 levels of phenolics were recorded in the organically-grown vegeta- 85 ble (Young et al., 2005). 86 The present study concerns biodynamic and conventionally- 87 grown chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) with the aim of ascertaining 0308-8146/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2008.10.010 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 055 3288201; fax: +39 055 333273. E-mail address: daniela.heimler@unifi.it (D. Heimler). Food Chemistry xxx (2008) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Food Chemistry journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodchem FOCH 7889 No. of Pages 6, Model 5G 29 October 2008 Disk Used ARTICLE IN PRESS Please cite this article in press as: Heimler, D., et al. Polyphenol content and antiradical activity of Cichorium intybus L. from ... Food Chem- istry (2008), doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2008.10.010