ABSTRACT

Gamma irradiation is an environmental friendly technology that can be used as an effective contaminants reducer in herbal products. The aims of this study were to evaluate the effect of irradiation on the antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, and total flavonoid content of Peperomia pellucida. In this study, the radiation processing of sample was carried out at dose 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 kGy. Samples were extracted by reflux method using 80% ethanol within 30 minutes. DPPH method was carried out to evaluate the antioxidant activity. Total phenolic content was estimated using Folin Ciocalteu’s reagent and total flavonoid content by AlCl3 . The result shows significant increased of antioxidant activity and the amount of phenolic by increasing the irradiation dose. There was a significantly decreased the flavonoid content after irradiation treatment. This study showed there were significant correlation between antioxidant activity with total phenolic content (r= -0,903; p<0,01) while antioxidant activity with total flavonoid content were not significantly correlated (r= 0,687; p=0,05).

Keywords: antioxidant, gamma ray irradiation, Peperomia pellucida, total flavonoid, total phenolic.