*2.2. Phytochemical Screening and Anti-Radical Activity of Seed Meals*

In Tables 1 and 2, the content of total phenols and flavonoids and anti-radical activity of flaxseed and camelina seed meals are shown. Regarding the phytochemical characteristics of flaxseed meal, ANOVA analysis showed no significant effect of variety and cultivation site on both the TPC (total phenolic content) and TFC (total flavonoids content) (Table 1).

A similar trend was also observed for anti-radical activity (Table 2), even if significant differences have been observed between varieties and sites for EC<sup>50</sup> estimated by the DPPH assay. In particular, lower values, indicating a major anti-radical activity, were registered for meal obtained from Buenos Aires seeds and in general, for flaxseed meals deriving from the seeds produced in Pisa (Table 2). In camelina, the highest value of TPC was found in the defatted meal deriving from the seeds produced in Pisa (Table 1), while no differences between the two cultivation sites were observed for the flavonoid content. According to the phenol content, seed meals deriving from camelina produced in Pisa were characterized by the lowest anti-radical activity. The lower the EC<sup>50</sup> value is, the higher the extract ability to scavenge radicals is, particularly peroxy radicals, which are the propagators of the autoxidation of lipid molecules and thereby break the free radical chain reaction (Table 2).


† Values are the means of four replicates. SD: standard deviation. Significance of variability factors according to *F*-test is reported as follows: n.s., not significant; \*\*, significant at *p* ≤ 0.01 level; \*\*\*, significant at *p* < 0.001 level. Means followed by different letters are statistically different at *p* ≤ 0.05 based on an LSD test or Student's *t*-test.
