LAUSR

The effect of sprouting of onions on total phenolic content, antioxidant activity, and anthocyanin profile of freeze dried powders produced from Indian onion cultivars was examined. Sprouting was carried out at an average light intensity of 64 Lumen, average relative humidity of 80.2%, and average temperature of 15.22 °C for three weeks. Two way analyses of data revealed significant (P<0.05) effect of sprouting and cultivar on functional composition of freeze dried powders. In all sprouted powder samples, there were significant (P<0.05) enhancements in total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, vitamin C content, antioxidant activity, and colour due to increase in anthocyanin contents. The anthocyanin profile depicted an increase in total anthocyanin concentration in powders developed from all four cultivars with the highest increase in powder from PRO-6 (23.87–27.15 mg kg−1), followed by Punjab Naroya (9.97–12.92 mg kg−1), commercial (7.15–8.43 mg kg−1), and Punjab White cultivar (3.45–4.09 mg kg−1).