Celery is one of the major nutraceutical vegetable species due to the high dietary and medicinal properties of all of its plant parts. Yield, growth and produce quality of six celery genotypes belonging to leafy (Elixir and Samurai), stalk (Atlant and Primus) or root (Egor and Dobrynya) types, as well as the distribution of biomass, sugars, mineral elements and antioxidants among the different plant parts, were assessed. Within the celery root type, cultivar Dobrynya resulted in higher yield than Egor, whereas the genotype did not significantly affect the marketable plant part production of leafy and stalk types. Leaf/petiole ratios relevant to biomass, total dissolved solids, sugars, ascorbic acid, flavonoids, antioxidant activity and ash, K, Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu and Se content were significantly affected by the celery type examined. Ash content was highest in the leaves and lowest in the roots. Celery antioxidant system was characterized by highly significant relationships between ascorbic acid, polyphenols, flavonoids, antioxidant activity and Zn. Among the celery types analyzed, the highest values of chlorophyll, Fe and Mn content as well as antioxidant activity were recorded in leaves from root genotypes, which suggests interesting nutraceutical prospects of the aforementioned plant parts for human utilization. Plants 2020, 9, 484 2 of 13 of celery gives the opportunity to prevent and treat several diseases, such as cardiovascular [6], liver and spleen diseases [7], rheumatism [8], inflammation [9], cancer [10] and gastrointestinal disorders [11]. Studies carried out on laboratory animals showed that the ethanolic extract of celery leaves increased spermatogenesis [12] and improved fertility [13,14]. In addition, celery was found to decrease glucose level and improve lipid profile in blood [15], and stabilize blood pressure [16].All parts of celery plants are edible: leaves, petioles, roots and seeds, either fresh or canned, or dry as spices [17]. In this respect, despite the wide utilization of Apium graveolens L., up-to-date research has not paid much attention to the comparative assessment of biochemical characteristics of different celery types, namely, leafy, stalk and root genotypes [2]. The investigation of Sellami et al. [3] demonstrated the peculiarities of essential oil composition of celery leaves, stalks and roots, but did not compare different celery types.Gaining a more in-depth knowledge regarding the aforementioned topics may lead to unveiling the nutrient and antioxidant accumulation potential in celery plants, which is of great importance for targeting functional food production.The present investigation was aimed to assess yield, growth and produce quality of leafy, stalk and root celery types, as well as the distribution of biomass, organic and mineral compounds, and antioxidants among the different plant parts, grown in the Northern Hemisphere. The results were frequently expressed as ratios between the variables assessed, which showed lower variability than the absolute values.as an average o...
