ASSESSMENT OF GLUCOSINOLATES IN BROCCOLI BY 3 DIFFERENT METHODOLOGIES

Three different methodologies were used to assess the glucosinolate co ntent in four broccoli cultivars. The assessment was performed by the thymol, enzyme immobilization and gas liquid chromatography (GLC) tech niques. The cultivars used were Green Valiant, Green Duke, Marathon an d Samurai. The three techniques demonstrated that Samurai and Green Va liant were the cultivars with the highest content of glucosinolates. i t was also evident that, compared to stem and leaves, the floret of th e four cultivars exhibited in general the highest amount of this compo nent. Of the tested methodologies, the GLC technique showed the lowest data variability, although this technique was unable to estimate all the glucosinolates present in the broccoli samples because of its poor performance for the quantitation of indole and sulfinyl glucosinolate s. In conclusion, the thymol technique appeared the most adequate proc edure for the assessment of glucosinolates in broccoli samples.