Abstract

Wild bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) is very important natural resource of Montenegro. In our study, bilberries were collected in the summer of 2009, from 11 different localities in mountain region of Montenegro (altitude ranged from 665 to 1700 m a.s.l.). The samples were freezed immediately and stored at -25°C until the analysis were done. The total phenolics were estimated by Folin-Ciocalteu method with slight modifications while the amounts of anthocyanins were analyzed according to the prescription of European Pharmacopoea 6.0. Anthocyanin aglycones were analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) after acid hydrolysis. Total phenolic content was determined in all analyzed samples and it ranged from 3.92 to 5.24 mgGAE/g fw. The amounts of total anthocyanins varied between 0.27 to 0.46%. Among eleven analyzed samples, 10 corresponded to the prescriptions of European Pharmacopoea 6.0. Significant correlation between total phenolics and total anthocyanins was noticed (r = 0.843, P < 0.01). Higher amounts of total phenolics and total anthocyanins were detected in samples harvested from localities more exposed to the sun in comparison with berries grown in shadow. Five cyanidin aglycones (delphinidin, cyanidin, petunidin, peonidin, and malvidin) were quantified after acid hydrolysis, where delphinidin was the most abundant in all samples (0.33 to 0.75 mg/g fw).

Key words: Vaccinium myrtillus L., Montenegro, phenolics, anthocyanins, anthocyanin aglycones.