Varietal differences of antioxidant activity in Tartary buckwheat flour as evaluated by chemiluminescence

Photon emission from a mixture of Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum Gaertn.) Hour, H202 and acetaldehyde was measured as an index of the antioxidant activity of the flour. The photon emission was detected as an image with a CCD-photo camera equipped with a photomultiplier for 10 minutes to determine the intensity of chemiluminescence (CL) from the mixture, and the varietal differences of CL, which represents the antioxidant activity of the flour, were examined using 25 landraces and a standard line that were grown in the same field and at the same time. The relative CL (RCL), the ratio of the CL from 1 g Hour to that from 10-6 M gallic acid, ranged from 0.311 to 0.950, with the mean and standard deviation of 0.569 and 0.209, respectively. These results suggested that there was a significant genetic difference in the antioxidant activity of the Hour among Tartary buckwheat landraces. The landraces collected at a higher altitude in Asia did not show a higher RCL, and the diversity of RCL among the landraces tended to be larger in those collected at a lower altitude than those at a higher altitude