Abstract:
Recently, more attention has been paid towards promotion of nutraceuticals to ensure wellbeing of humankind. Vigna unguiculata (cowpea) is a legume crop cultivated in rural areas of Sri Lanka, and the objective of the current study was to compare the antioxidant potency of different cowpea varieties grown in Sri Lanka. Seed samples of four local varieties, i.e. Waruni, Dahawala, MICP 01 and Bomaby were collected from Field Crops Research and Development Institute of Sri Lanka and aqueous extracts were prepared by maceration. The antioxidant potency of seed samples were evaluated by DPPH radical scavenging assay (DPPH), ferric reducing antioxidant power assay (FRAP) and the nitric oxide scavenging assay (NO) using standard methods.
