Antioxidant Activity of Indian Medicinal Rice (Oryza Sativa L.) cv. Njavara

A study was conducted to find out the antioxidant activity of medicinal rice (Oryza sativa L.) cv. Njavara. Two eco types of Njavara rice Njavara black (NB) and Njavara yellow (NY) were procured from RRS, Moncompu and one eco type of Hraswa was obtained from ARS, Mannuthy. Hraswa was treated as the control. Diphenyl picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, hydroxyl radical scavenging activity, superoxide anion radical scavenging activity, reducing power assay, total antioxidant activity, total phenols, zinc and selenium (Se) were estimated. The results of the antioxidant properties revealed that for DPPH scavenging activity and hydroxyl radical activity NY had highest antioxidant activity. For superoxide radical scavenging activity, NB had the highest activity. Present investigation showed that as the concentration increased, the reducing power of all the rice varieties increased and the highest reducing power was shown by NB. NY had shown the highest total antioxidant activity. Present study revealed that among the three rice varieties NB had the highest total phenol content. Zn content was slightly higher in NY than NB. The present study revealed that control variety Hraswa had the highest Se content.