Abstract

Antioxidants and dietary fibers are compact sources that are recommended for healthy diets in whole grain foods. The antioxidant activity, total phenolic content (TPC) and lipid peroxidation was measured among 15 cultivars of wheat which are commonly used in Pakistan and the effect of salt stress was also evaluated. The results revealed that different concentrations of wheat (25, 50, 75, 150 and 300 µg/ml) in control and under salt stress (that is, electrical conductivity, 2 EC, 4 EC, 8 EC and 16 EC) showed antioxidant activity. The inhibitory concentration at 50% (IC50) values of different cultivars of wheat ranged from 22.9 to 27.01 µg/ml. On the basis of comparison of scavenging percentage of non-stress and stressed wheat groups at different doses of salt, we have concluded that LU26-CTR, PAS-90, BARS, NARC, WAFAQ, LISANI, SEHAR, MEHRAJ, GA-02 and SHAFAQ are salt tolerant varieties. The change of phenolic content suggests that wheat uses antioxidant properties of phenolics as a mechanism of salt stress. Whereas, the lipid peroxidation data has indicated that LU26-CTR, PAS-90, BARS, NARC, FSD-08, PIRSBAK-09, SEHAR, SH-03 and GA-02 are salt resistant varieties as they showed a less percentage increase in lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde (MDA) content) compared to control at different doses of salt. Key words: Antioxidant activity, phenolic content, salt stress, lipid peroxidation, wheat cultivars.