Influence of abiotic stress on phenolic composition in Cynara cardunculus (L.) var. sylvestris

Nutraceutical foods are mainly plant-derived products that provide beneficial effects on human health due to the radical scavenger activity of antioxidant compounds such as vitamins, polyphenols and other bioactive molecules. For this reason, many recent studies are investigating new potential varieties as source of bioactive compounds. Cynara cardunculus has been recently demonstrated to have a rich composition in polyphenols with a high redox potential. In particular, this plant exhibits a high heterozigosity in caffeoylquinic acids and flavonoids depending on the analysed genotype. In this study we investigated the bioactive compounds content among five wild cardoon populations (C. cardunculus var. sylvestris) collected at different distances from seacoast and domestic cardoon (C. cardunculus var. altilis) in order to select new genotypes with high nutraceutical value. Our results showed a high variability in polyphenols content and antioxidant activity among genotypes and within populations. In general, wild cardoon exhibited a higher total phenol content than domestic variety. Within wild cardoon populations, it was observed that the polyphenols content increased in plants closer to the seacoast. However, analysis of polyphenols composition showed that wild cardoon is richer in flavonoids than domestic cardoon while the latter has higher caffeoylquinic acids content. Although further investigation is needed to confirm the redox potential through in vivo and in vitro experimentations, wild cardoon represents an important natural source of nutraceutical compounds and it can be used for further breeding programs.