The purpose of this study was to examine the reductive antioxidant properties of methanol extracts of wheat grains. Three wheat varieties (GK Garaboly, GK Kalasz and GK Petur) grown in the experimental field of the Cereal Research Non-Profit Company in Szeged in the years 2001, 2002 and 2003 were investigated. Two reagents, iron(III) chloride and 2,2′-dipyridyl dissolved in absolute ethanol, were used to characterize the antioxidant effect of the methanol extract of the defatted whole grains. Fe 3+ was transformed into Fe 2+ by the reductive agents of the extract and a red Fe 2+ complex was formed with 2,2′-dipyridyl. Colour intensity was measured spectrophotometrically and the absorbances found were converted to amounts of L-ascorbic acid (L-AS) in mg after calibration. The “reducing capacity” (RC), was introduced, i.e. the quantity of L-AS (mg) in 1000 g defatted wheat grains determined by this method. The examinations revealed that different quantities of given fertilizers did not influence the RC valu...