Аннотация:Relevance. Allium cepa L. is considered to be one of the most important agricultural cropsin most countries of the world. High nutritional value is especially pronounced in saladonion which vegetation needs high temperature and significant insulation.Material and methods. The first biochemical characteristics are given for 9 Crimean saladonion genotypes and varieties (red onions Festivalny, Yaltinsky plus, Yaltinsky foros,Yaltinsky rybin, Yaltinsky 6А, Yaltinsky 7А, Yaltinsky 8А and yellow cultivars Kendy andBean promine) with the comparison with the appropriate data for popular Italian sweetonion cultivar Tropea and semi-pungent varieties grown in Moscow region, Italy andStavropol region (Zolotnichok, Cherny prince).Results. Warm climate is shown to increase the amount of antioxidants, monosaccharidesand organic acids in onion bulbs. Compared to the Italian Tropea variety Crimean genotypes were characterized by higher levels of ascorbic acid (12.8±1.4 mg/100 g freshweight) and organic acids (1.58±0.03 mg malic acid per g of dry weight), relatively similar levels of polyphenols (21.0±2.3 mg-eq Gallic acid per g of dry weight), and quercetine. (3.09±0.42 mg-eq Gallic acid per g of dry weight) and antocyanines (2.78±1.03mg/g fresh weight). New genotypes Yaltinsky 6A, Yaltinsky 7A, Yaltinsky 8A were shownto accumulate higher levels of antioxidants. A direct correlation between the peel/innerlayers ratio of antioxidant activities with the appropriate ratio for polyphenols wasdemonstrated (r=+0.93). A direct correlation between flavonoids content in peel andinner layers was also revealed (r=+0.83). Polyphenols and flavonoids ratios betweenpeel and inner layers were shown to be higher for the Crimean genotypes compared tosemi-pungent Moscow region varieties which indicates the prospects of utilization of theCrimean onion peel in production of functional food products with elevated levels ofantioxidants.