Bioactive Compounds Concentrations and Stability in Ilex paraguariensis Genotypes

An especially important species in southern Brazil, yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) is traditionally consumed as tea, chimarrão and tererê. Yerba mate consumption has been stimulated by scientific discoveries that have identified high concentrations of bioactive compounds and their health benefits. There are no studies or scientific evidence to certify or guarantee stability of these compounds’ concentrations during different years in the same plants. We were interested in quantifying caffeine, theobromine, total phenolic compounds and proteins concentrations in leaves of yerba mate genotypes and their stability in the same plants over four consecutive years. Mature leaves from yerba mate genotypes selected on a provenance and progenies trial were collected in August of 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Methylxanthines (caffeine and theobromine), total phenolic compounds and total protein contents were quantified. Our results indicate large variations between genotypes regarding caffeine (0.035 to 2.385 g 100 g-1), theobromine (0.0004 to 1.772 g 100 g-1), total phenolic compounds (7.028 to 9.424 g 100 g-1) and proteins (10.39 to 16.58 g 100 g-1) contents, and also high stability of those compounds over the four evaluated years. A great variation of the studied bioactive compounds in different Ilex paraguariensis genotypes was found and its stability over four consecutive years was showed.