Colourful radishes for healthier salad

Colourful radishes for healthier salad

BK Singh*, TK Koley, Bijendra Singh, and PM Singh

ICAR-Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Shahanshahpur-221305, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

*E-mail: bksinghkushinagar@yahoo.co.in

Radish is an important salad-vegetable grown and consumed throughout the world for its fleshy roots.  Anthocyanins’ (the most versatile polyphenols and a class of pigments) presence is responsible for the pink, red, purple and violet coloured radishes. Among anthocyanins, pelargonidine and cyanidine are responsible for pink/red and purple/violet colour, respectively. Coloured radishes in the salads and as colorants are gaining popularity because of their antioxidant properties and other potential health benefits. Anthocyanins, in general, are known to lower the possibility of cardiovascular disease, prevent obesity, inhibit the formation and progression of atherosclerosis, and reduce the risk of diabetes, certain types of cancers, oxidative stresses and age-related diseases.

The six genotypes developed have better yield potential, superior root quality (uniform shape, smoother root and a fewer secondary roots), more phyto-nutrients, and are are found to have potential in four categories of root pigmentation— red exterior (VRRAD-143 and VRRAD-131-2); red exterior and red xylem (VRRAD-130); purple exterior (VRRAD-131 and VRRAD-135); and purple exterior and purple xylem (VRRAD-151). They possess 80-250% higher amounts of nutrients, namely ascorbic acid (18.5–26.5.0 mg/100 g FW), total phenolics (32.5–65.0 mg/100 g FW), anthocyanins content (90–175 µg/g FW), antioxidant-FRAP value (3.15–5.90 µmol/g FW) and antioxidant-CUPRAC value (5.25–11.50 µmol/g FW) as compared to white-coloured commercial cultivars. Therefore, dressing salads with these radishes would make salad more nutritious and healthy.