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-The objective of this study was to determine the effect of antioxidant enzyme activity and radical scavenging activities of thirteen kinds of natural plant pigments. The analytic method of antioxidant activities were measured by estimating DPPH free radical scavenging and nitrite scavenging ability activity. The free radical scavenging activity by method using stable free radical DPPH was the highest in the red cabbaged pigment. Addition of ethanol extract 1㎎/㎖ from onion peel pigment displayed remarkable effect on nitrite scavenging ability about 91.9%. Antioxidative enzyme activity was evaluated in terms of superoxide dismutase(SOD), catalase(CAT), and ascorbate peroxidase(APX) activity. The bitter melon pigment had the highest SOD activity of 87.3%. The activities of CAT and APX were higher in the mulberry leave pigment compared with other natural plant pigments. In contrast, CAT activity of plant pigment samples were unaffected. These results suggest that natural plant pigment had the potent biological activities such as antioxidant enzyme activities, and that their activities exhibited differently depending on each kind of pigments.

Laboratory bioassay and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis were conducted to determine the allelopathic potentials of aqueous or methanol extracts from three different coloured sweet potato [Ipomoea batatas L. (Lam)] cultivars by plant part. The aqueous extracts applied on filter paper significantly inhibited root growth of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). Aqueous leaf leachates at 40 g dry tissue l )1 (g l )1 ) from white sweet potato cultivar ÔSinyulmiÕ showed the highest inhibition against alfalfa, followed by yellow ÔSinhwangmiÕ and purple ÔJamiÕ. Alfalfa root growth was significantly inhibited by methanol extracts of the same plants as the concentration increased. Aqueous and methanol extracts from leaves showed the most inhibitory effect on alfalfa root growth followed by stems and roots. By means of HPLC analysis, leaf samples of sweet potato had the highest amount of phenolic compounds followed by stems and roots. Total content of these compounds was highest for leaf extracts (37.7 mg 100 g )1 ), detected in EtOAc fraction, especially trans-cinnamic acid (20.9 mg 100 g )1 ). These results suggest that sweet potato plants are allelopathic and that their activities differ depending on plant part as well as root periderm colour.