The 2012 ASHS Annual Conference

Since Rapid climate change over the world is progressing by global warming, many subtropical vegetables in Korea are tried to introduce as the countermeasure for global warming. In this study, we cultivated three subtropical vegetables, okra, indian spinach, and molokhia in field or green house. They were evaluated their physical properties and physiological functions for practical applications. Physiochemical properties of okra fruits, indian spinach leaves, and molokhia leaves were analyzed with respect to hardness, water content, sugar content, and inorganic compounds. Okra fruits had 91.3% of water content and 227 mg/g of reducing sugar, and 267–382 ppm of calcium. Indian spinach leaves had 93% to 95% of water content, 35–42 mg/g of reducing sugar and 73–110 ppm of calcium. Molokhia leaves had 70% to 77% of water content and 95–101 mg/g of reducing sugar and 255–288 ppm of calcium. Overall, field three vegetables had the tendency to possess higher physical hardness, more water and reducing sugar contents but lower amount of inorganic compounds, compared to those of green house vegetables. As results of functional analysis, molokhia leaves showed the higher total phenolic contents with 23mg/g than okra fruit (4.2 mg/g) or Indian spinach leaf (5.3 mg/g). Molokhia leaves had a 2–5 times higher beta carotene content than okra fruit or indian spinach leaves. Molokhia leaves showed the highest functional properties like antioxidant activity with 9.2 Vit.C.eq. µg and nitric oxide scavenging activity with 19.9% among vegetables. Compared to green house vegetables, field vegetables showed higher beta carotene content and nitric oxide scavenging activity and no difference in antioxidant activity. Those results could be useful for the scientific basis and criteria of practical application in future. This study was financially supported by Rural Development Administration (Project No. PJ 907042)