# Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity of _Asteraceae_ Family Plants
## 3 Results
### Species and Morphological Origin of Raw Material
#### 3.1.2 Total Polyphenols Content and Antioxidant Activity  
The total content of polyphenols and their antioxidant activity (AA) were different between both the tested species and the morphological parts that constituted the raw material (Table 2). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Factor**} & **Dry Matter** & **Crude Protein** & **Crude Fat** & **Crude Fibre** & **Crude Ash** & **Total** \\  & **(g/100 g)** & **(g/100 g DM)** & **(g/100 g DM)** & **(g/100 g DM)** & **(g/100 g DM)** \\ \hline \hline \multirow{4}{*}{\
\begin{tabular}{c} Common \\ Dandelion \\ Tansy \\ European \\ Goldenrod \\ \end{tabular} } & \multirow{4}{*}{92.76 \({}^{\text{c}}\pm\) 0.19} & \multirow{4}{*}{15.25 \({}^{\text{c}}\pm\) 0.96} & Species 1 & & \\  & & & & & \\  & 91.35 \({}^{\text{a}}\pm\) 0.05 & 12.57 \({}^{\text{a}}\pm\) 0.59 & 5.18 \({}^{\text{b}}\pm\) 0.07 & 16.75 \({}^{\text{c}}\pm\) 2.40 & 8.84 \({}^{\text{b}}\pm\) 0.77 & 48.03 \({}^{\text{a}}\pm\) 1.05 \\  & 92.25 \({}^{\text{b}}\pm\) 0.35 & 14.51 \({}^{\text{b}}\pm\) 0.38 & 4.67 \({}^{\text{a}}\pm\) 0.03 & 15.72 \({}^{\text{b}}\pm\) 2.45 & 7.72 \({}^{\text{a}}\pm\) 1.16 & 49.64 \({}^{\text{c}}\pm\) 0.55 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{
\begin{tabular}{c} Leaves \\ Infloresences \\ \end{tabular} } & \multirow{4}{*}{92.24 \({}^{\text{b}}\pm\) 0.27} & \multirow{4}{*}{15.22 \({}^{\text{b}}\pm\) 0.06} & \multirow{4}{*}{4.74 \({}^{\text{a}}\pm\) 0.12} & \multirow{4}{*}{11.77 \({}^{\text{a}}\pm\) 0.26} & \multirow{4}{*}{10.56 \({}^{\text{b}}\pm\) 0.39} & 49.71 \({}^{\text{b}}\pm\) 0.35 \\  & 92.24 \({}^{\text{b}}\pm\) 0.27 & 12.99 \({}^{\text{a}}\pm\) 0.46 & 6.36 \({}^{\text{b}}\pm\) 0.89 & 18.60 \({}^{\text{b}}\pm\) 1.17 & 6.56 \({}^{\text{a}}\pm\) 0.33 & 47.74 \({}^{\text{a}}\pm\) 0.49 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* \({}^{1}\)—the species means denoted by different letters differ statistically at \(p\) = 0.05 (for all columns separately); 2—the part of plant means denoted by different letters differ statistically at \(p\) = 0.05 (for all columns separately); the data are expressed in mean \(\pm\) standard error of mean.  
\end{table} 
Table 1: The proximate composition of _Asteraceae_ family plants. The material from European goldenrod was characterized by the definitely highest total polyphenol content (2000 mg CAE/100 g DM). When assessing the morphological origin of the raw material, it should be stated that the total polyphenol content in the infloresesences was nearly 50% higher than that found in the leaves (1320 mg CAE/100 g DM). This translated into a greater AA of infloresesences determined by three methods used. The observed proportions between AA determined by various radical methods indicate different chemical natures of antioxidants in infloresesences and leaves. This is due to the fact that the DPPH\({}^{+}\) radical dissolves only in organic solvents and does not allow the determination of hydrophilic antioxidants. Obviously, it is also necessary to take into account the fact that the ABTS\({}^{+}\) radical reacting with, for example, flavonoids gives products with stronger antioxidant properties and faster reaction with the radical than the parent compounds. By taking the above into account, however, it may be suggested that among leaf antioxidant compounds, compared to infloreses, a slightly higher proportion of hydrophilic antioxidants was found. As a result, the ability to scavene free radicals determined with the use of the ABTS\({}^{+}\) radical in the material from leaves (RSA = 68.02%) was greater than that determined for infloreses (RSA = 64.44%). The physical and chemical properties of the material of the studied species influenced their AA. The material from European goldenrod, apart from the highest total polyphenol content, was characterized by the highest AA determined by the method using the ABTS\({}^{+}\) radical and the method using TPTZ. On the other hand, the method using the DPPH\({}^{+}\) radical indicated common dandelion as the species whose raw material shows the highest AA.