Objective  To study the accumulation characteristics of bioactive components such as total phenolics, flavonoids and polysaccharides in vegetable jute leaves at different growth stages, and to provide a reference for the rational harvesting, development and utilization of vegetable jute.

  Method  Guimacai 1 and Guimacai 2 were used as experimental materials, and okra, Chinese yam and lettuce were used as control. The contents of total phenolics, flavonoids and polysaccharides in leaves of vegetable jutes were measured and analyzed at seedling stage, topping stage, flowering stage and capsule stage. The differences between vegetable jutes and control varieties were compared, and the correlation between growth stage and total phenolics, flavonoids, polysaccharides were analyzed.

  Result  There were differences in the contents of total phenolics, flavonoids and polysaccharides in the same variety at different growth stages . With the extension of growth stage, the total phenolics content of the two vegetable jutes showed a trend of decreased first and then increased, and the total phenolics content in capsule stage was significantly higher than that in other growth stages, reaching 4.064 mg·g⁻¹ and 3.852 mg·g⁻¹, respectively. The total phenolics content of Guimacai 1 was higher than Guimacai 2 at seedling stage and capsule stage. With the extension of growth stage, the total flavonoids content of Guimacai 1 showed a trend of increased first and then decreased, and the highest content reached 2.755mg·g⁻¹ at flowering stage. With the extension of growth stage, the total flavonoids content of Guimacai 2 showed an showed an increasing trend and the highest content in capsule stage was 4.755 mg·g⁻¹, which was significantly higher than that in other growth stages.The total flavonoids content of Guimacai 2 was significantly higher than that of Guimacai 1 at the same growth stage.With the extension of growth stage, the polysaccharide content of Guimacai 1 showed showed a trend of fluctuated upward, the polysaccharide content of Guimacai 2 showed a trend of first decrease and then increase. The polysaccharide content of two vegetable jute varieties in the capsule stage was significantly higher than that in other growth stages, up to 3.175% and 1.240%, respectively. At the same growth stage, the polysaccharide content of Gammacai 2 was higher than that of Gammacai 1 only at the seedling stage. The contents of total phenolics and flavonoids of the two vegetable jute varieties were significantly higher than those of the control varieties at each growth stage, but the polysaccharide content was significantly lower than that of okra and Chinese yam, and the polysaccharide content was significantly higher than that of lettuce at capsule stage. Only the total flavonoid content of Guimacai2 was significantly positively correlated with the growth stage, while the others were not significantly correlated.

  Conclusion  The vegetable jute leaves harvested at capsule stage were more conducive to the accumulation of total phenolics, total flavonoids and polysaccharides.