Introduction

Introduction
In the past decade, researchers have focused on understanding the link between oxygenated metabolites and human diseases. They have found that there is a possibility to prevent, postpone or limit the severity of diseases by increasing the bodys antioxidant defence systems through improved nutrition (Nuttall and others 1999). As a result, consumers are demanding healthier and more diverse fruits and vegetables. Indeed, in addition to traditional nutrients, fruits and vegetables contain many secondary metabolites such as vitamins, carotenoids and polyphenolic compounds with antioxidant properties that provide protection against several physical disorders. Many studies have demonstrated the antioxidant properties of different classes of polyphenols been done and which demonstrate the antioxidant properties of the different classes of polyphenols found in diverse group of plants (Leenen et al., 2002, Rachi et al., 2002). Environmental factors such as crop cultivation mode are known to influence both the physiological and phytochemical composition and hence the antioxidant activity of growing crops. This can be supported by a study undertaken by Wang et al. (2002) who showed a variation in the quality and antioxidant capacity of strawberries obtained from two different culture systems. Therefore, man has devised productive technological strategies in order to optimise the nutritional status of food crops. One such agricultural technological advance is the hydroponics culture system. The term Hydroponics originates from hydros (water that carries the nutrients) and ponas (cultivation of plants). Today, hydroponic cultivation technique has become very widespread worldwide. Hydroponics is the cultivation of plants in an artificial medium fed by a nutrient solution. Presently, man exploits both the soil and the soiless medium (hydroponic or organic cultivation) to grow crops. In hydroponics cultivation, water is mixed with essential plant nutrients and then fed to crops whereas soil cultivation involves the use of clean organic matter such as peat and compost. Hydroponics is gaining more and more importance in commercial food crop production locally and internationally as well and also not much data is available regarding comparisons between hydroponic and non-hydroponic agricultural products. This thus highlights the need for evaluating the phytochemical and nutritive properties of the food products as compared to 1

Introduction homologous counterparts grown in the traditional system. Variability in the presence and concentration of antioxidants in pepper species can be a factor affecting the choice of the mode of cultivation. In the light of this, a comparative investigation has been carried out on a common locally cultivated food crop namely Capsicum annuum L. The choice of this crop was mostly based on its availability locally and also because the genus Capsicum is a rich source of phenolics. The aim of this study thus is to characterise, quantify and compare polyphenolic compounds in local hydroponic and non-hydroponic Capsicum annuum (pepper) cultivars through qualitative and quantitative biochemical tests and hence gauge their respective antioxidant potential.

Broad objectives
To assess and compare concentrations of total phenols, total proanthocyanidins and total flavonoids in selected open-field and hydroponic Mauritian pepper cultivars To correlate polyphenolic contents of open-field and hydroponic Mauritian peppers with their respective antioxidant potential

Specific objective
To evaluate the phytotherapeutical potential of hydroponic and non-hydroponic peppers based on their total phenols, total flavonoids, total proanthocyanidins content and antioxidant capacities.