Anmicrobial Activity and Composition of Different Cultivars of Honeysuckle Berry Lonicera caerulea L.

The edible blue honeysuckle berries comes from Russia and in recent years has been considerably planted in some European countries, Lithuania is among them. Honeysuckle berries do not require special care during cultivation: they have high resistance to cold, different soil acidities, pests and various diseases. The berries are rich in ascorbic acid and phenolic contents, which have nutritional and health promoting properties for humans. Using spectrophotometric methods we compare the content of total phenolic compounds (TPC) and anthocyanis, chromatic characteristics of eleven Lonicera caerulea L. cultivars. Berries were grown in collection of Vytautas Magnus University Botanical Garden and collected at maturation stage. Also content of ascorbic acid and saccharides were evaluated by HPLC using diode ray detector. Antimicrobial activity of ethanol and water extracts of honeysuckle berry was evaluated by the agar well diffusion method. Bacterial tests have identified antimicrobial properties of ethanol extract of honeysuckle berries, being particularly efficient against Bacillus subtilis and Listeria monocytogenes but without affecting Salmonella typhimurium. Water extracts showed inhibition effect on Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Bacillus subtilis, Salmonella typhimurium and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, but without affecting Candida and Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeasts. The cultivar 'Morena' had the highest anthocyanins (781 mg/100 g) and total phenolic compounds (799 mg/100 g), the lowest anthocyanins (282 mg/100 g) and TPC (300 mg/100 g) content was detected in 'Vostorg' cultivar. Cultivars 'Pavlovskaja' and 'Pereselenka' had high content of ascorbic acid. The maximum glucose and fructose content was detected in 'Leningradskaja' cultivar.