Antioxidants in wild and cultivated potato species

Wild potatoes are a valuable gene pool that is of increasing interest in potato breeding. In this study, 17 accessions of cultivated Solanum tuberosum subsp. andigena and three wild potato species (S. bulbocastanum, S. chacoense, S. pinnatisectum) were examined for their contents of soluble phenols including chlorogenic acid in tuber tissue and their antioxidant capacity. Among them, S. pinnatisectum accessions exhibited on average the highest quantities of phenols in their tuber tissue, coincident with an enhanced antioxidant activity. S. tuberosum subsp. antigena, S. chaconese and S. bulbocastanum accessions all expressed lower levels concerning these quality traits.