Assessment of the phenolic compounds of pearl and finger millets obtained from South Africa and Zimbabwe

Millet grains are rich in phenolic compounds which have health benefits. This study aims to elucidate the phenolic properties of pearl and finger millet grown in South Africa and Zimbabwe. The milled samples were analyzed by Waters Synapt G2 Quadrupole time‐of‐flight (QTOF) mass spectrometer (MS). A total of eight phenolic compounds were detected and quantified in the millet varieties, which included derivatives of benzoic acid such as protocatechuic and p‐hydroxybenzoic acids. Flavonoids such as catechin, epicatechin, procyanidin B1, procyanidin B2, and kaempferol glycoside were also detected. Generally, catechin was the dominant phenolic compound, followed by epicatechin. The mean values for catechin ranged from 2.50 to 12.6 mg/kg for the pearl millet and 610.4 to 675.1 mg/kg for the finger millet. While the epicatechin mean values ranged between 1.2 to 1.8 for pearl millet and 99.1 to 139.5 for finger millet. Procyanidins B1 and B2 were only detected and quantified in the finger millet types, While Kaempferol glycoside was only recorded in the pearl millets with mean values of 196.0 mg/kg for pearl millet South Africa and 213.6 mg/kg for pearl millet Zimbabwe. There was a difference among the varieties for the content of kaempferol glycoside. Protocatechuic and p‐hydroxybenzoic acids were only present in the finger millet types, their mean values were (20.9, 23.7 mg/kg) and (16.8,13.5 mg/kg) respectively. It can be substantiated from the outcome of this study that millet can be used as a source of valuable phenolic compounds and that the variety of millet is the determining factor of the phenolic compound content.