Characterization of Argentine garlic cultivars for their allicin content

CAMARGO, ALEJANDRA; MASUELLI, RICARDO; BURBA, JOSÉ LUIS

ACTA HORTICULTURAE

International Society for Horticultural Science

Año: 2005 vol. 688 p. 309 - 312

0567-7572

Garlic (Allium sativum) is widely used as a spice and for medicinal purposes because its antithrombotic, lipid-lowering, cardiovascular and anticancer effects. In the last decade, Argentina has become one of the major exporters of garlic worldwide. The aim of this work was to characterize Argentine garlic cultivars for their allicin content. Red, white and purple-type garlic cultivars were chosen from the Argentine garlic collection INTA La Consulta, Mendoza. The selected materials included ten Allium sativum var. sativum and one A. sativum var. ophioscordoron cultivars. From each cultivar samples were taken when garlic cultivars had broken dormancy, garlic powder was prepared and sampled for HPLC analysis. Calibration was done by the addition to the garlic extract of known amounts of alliin. Bulb allicin content varied between garlic cultivars, mean values ranged from 8.16 to 17.4 mg/g by dry weight. Five statistically different groups were observed. Garlic cultivars ‛Sureño INTA’, ‛Union’ and ‛Nieve INTA’ showed the highest bulb allicin concentration, while ‛Fuego INTA’ and ‛Morado INTA’ had the lowest.