• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.921-927
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• 2010

The objective of this study was to improve the breeding efficiency and consumption of red onion by analysis of chemical components. The red cultivar S&P5294 ($52.9mg{\cdot}g^{-1}$ F.W.) resulted in the highest sugar content, and sweetness whereas 'Redprime' had the lowest. For the pyruvic acid content the cultivar 'Redsun' showed the highest value, followed by 'Sunpower' (yellow onion) and S&P7270. Breeding lines had higher sugar content and sweetness than 'Redprime' and 'Sunpower', while they had less pyruvic acid value than 'Redsun' and 'Sunpower'. The the same trend was verified for the total phenol and total flavonoid, of which breeding lines were found to have more content than 'Redprime' or 'Sunpower'. Three major flavonoids, rutin (quercetin glycoside), myricetin, and quercetin, were identified and quantified whereas kaempferol was not detected in all cultivars. Rutin was the major flavonoid present in all cultivars (136.9 to $169.9{\mu}g{\cdot}g^{-1}$ F.W.), followed by quercetin (62.5 to $135.7{\mu}g{\cdot}g^{-1}$ F.W.). Relatively smaller amount of myricetin (11.2 to $16.1{\mu}g{\cdot}g^{-1}$ F.W.) was also detected. Among nine cultivars, 'Redsun' exhibited significantly ($p$ < 0.05) higher content of quercetin and rutin (135.7 and $169.9{\mu}g{\cdot}g^{-1}$ F.W., respectively), and S&P5296 had the highest content of myricetin($16.1{\mu}g{\cdot}g^{-1}$ F.W.). Breeding lines had more quercetin, rutin and myricetin contents than the cultivars 'Redprime' and 'Sunpower'. Hampyeong had the highest content for total phenol and total flavonoid, followed by Andong and Changyeong whereas Changyeong had the highest value for rutin, myricetin and quercetin followed by Hampyeong and Andong. Among red onion cultivars, 'Redsun' showed the highest value for anthocyanin, followed by S&P5295 and S&P5296, which the cultivar 'Redprime' had significantly (p<0.05) lower content(35.5 mg%).