Albena Parzhanova1, Yulian Tumbarski2, Ivan Ivanov3, Ivelina Vasileva3, Velichka Yanakieva2, Dimitar Dimitrov4, Mina Todorova5 and Aneliya Georgieva1
1 Agricultural Academy, Department of Food Technologies, Institute of Food Preservation and Quality – Plovdiv, Bulgaria
2 Department of Microbiology, University of Food Technologies, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
3 Department of Organic Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry, University of Food Technologies, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
4 Agricultural Academy, Department of Vine Selection, Enology and Chemistry, Institute of Viticulture and Enology – Pleven, Bulgaria
5 Department of Organic Chemistry, Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Parzhanova, A., Tumbarski, Y., Ivanov, I., Vasileva, I., Yanakieva, V., Dimitrov, D., Todorova, M. & Georgieva, A. (2026). Biological potential and physicochemical characteristics of three plants from the Rhodopes, Bulgaria. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 32(1), 150–158
This study aims to investigate the biological potential and physicochemical characteristics of three plants from the Rhodope region, Bulgaria: blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) and aronia (Aronia melanocarpa) berries, and mint leaves (Mentha arvensis), which are known as aromatic and medicinal plants. The following physicochemical parameters were determined: moisture, ash, and dry matter. The berries contained a comparable amount of vitamin C (1551 mg/kg), which was about twice as high as the mint leaves (846 mg/kg). Aronia berries had the highest total carbohydrate content (18.26%), which was about twice as high as blackberry and mint leaves. The blackberry had the highest protein content (10.20%), followed by mint leaves (8.95%), and the aronia berries had the lowest content (6.46%). The content of total phenolics (TPC) and flavonoids (TFC) of methanolic extracts of mint leaves and both berries was measured. The highest TPC and TFC values were found in the mint leaf extract, 6.86 mg GAE/g dw and 2.17 mg GAE/g dw, respectively. High anthocyanin content was found in aronia and blackberry extracts with values of 180.52 mg cyd-3-glu/g dw and 190.45 mg cyd-3-glu/g dw, respectively. The antioxidant activity was also measured by two methods – radical-scavenging ability (DPPH) and ferric-reducing antioxidant power assay (FRAP). The results showed a high correlation between the DPPH and FRAP assays with TPC, with r² = 0.7793 and r² = 0.9894, respectively. Consequently, the TPC contributed to the antioxidant properties of the tested samples. The antimicrobial activity of the investigated methanolic extracts was determined. The results revealed the potential of the studied plant species for their application in pharmaceutical and functional food products.