Research in Plant Metabolites

Research in Plant Metabolites

Investigation of Physicochemical Properties and Bioactive Compounds of Fermented Ganoderma (Ganoderma lucidum)-Based Kombucha Compared to Green Tea and Coffee Kombucha

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 Department of Horticultural Sciences, Zanjan University . Iran
2 Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran
Abstract
Kombucha is a fermented tea beverage produced by the symbiosis of bacterial cultures and yeasts. Kombucha contains organic acids, minerals, and vitamins that mainly originate from the tea used in it. The type of tea has a significant effect on parameters related to antioxidant potential, pH, and also acetic acid, alcohol, or sugar content. Therefore, this experiment was designed and conducted as a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design in the tissue culture laboratory of the Horticulture Department of the University of Zanjan to compare three types of kombucha obtained from Ganoderma, green tea, and coffee. After preparing the three types of kombucha, the polyphenol, antioxidant, alcohol, sucrose, and acidity content indices were measured at time periods of 0, 5, 10, and 15 days. The results showed that fermentation time and tea type had a significant effect on the anti-radical property of kombucha at the 5% level. In terms of tea type, kombucha prepared from green tea had the highest antioxidant potential (94.61%) and phenolic content (320.1 mg/L) and flavonoids (254.1 mg/L), reaching its highest value on the first day of fermentation. Ganoderma ranked second and coffee ranked third. However, the stability of these compounds in Ganoderma was higher than others. The Ganoderma-containing beverage performed better in maintaining antioxidant capacity and increasing total phenols compared to coffee, although it was lower than that of green tea. However, due to the innovation and specific medicinal benefits of Ganoderma, it has great potential for the development of functional beverages.
Keywords

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