Nutritional Profiling of Some Underutilized Fruits and Vegetables of Assam

Abstract

There exists a vast array of species, that have great potential but are often neglected and are termed as underutilized species. Underutilized fruits and vegetables are one such potential bio-asset, that could become a major tool in addressing global malnutrition, poverty and economic prosperity of millions of people. The present study covered assessment of nutritional and anti-nutritional constituents of 42 numbers of underutilized vegetables and fruits (28 vegetables and 14 fruits). The selected vegetables also showed significant variations in their biochemical constituents like moisture content (72.82 - 92.84 g 100g-1), ash content (3.82 - 15.37 g 100g-1), crude fat content (1.51 - 8.33 g 100g-1), crude fibre content (1.62 - 24.67 g 100g-1), crude protein content (1.80 - 9.79 g 100g-1%), potassium content (19.30 - 624.30 mg 100g-1), sodium content (2.34 - 234.11 mg 100g-1), calcium content (69.04 - 858.28 mg 100g-1), phosphorus content (25.94 - 579.15 mg 100g-1), iron content (31.34 - 401.34 mg 100g-1), zinc content (0.03 - 8.02 mg 100g-1), manganese content (25.36 - 264.59 mg 100g-1), Vitamin C (as Ascorbic acid content) (25.64 - 366.98 mg 100g-1), total phenol content (0.63 - 6.54 mg 100g-1) and free radical scavenging activity (72.31 - 95.09 %). The selected samples also contained anti-nutritional properties like saponin (0.13 - 1.08 mg 100g-1), tannin (0.23 - 2.79 mg 100g-1), phytic acid (0.16-0.61 mg 100g-1), oxalate (0.14 - 7.23 mg 100g-1). Similar to the vegetables, the selected fruits also showed significant variations in their biochemical constituents such as moisture content (68.96- 92.46 g 100g-1), ash content (1.39-5.38 g 100g-1), crude fat content (0.41-0.56 g 100g-1), crude fibre content (0.61 5.11 g 100g-1), crude protein content (0.51-8.99 g 100g-1),Potassium content (10.00- 982 mg 100 g-1), Sodium content (0.14 -70.99 mg 100 g-1), Calcium content (1.12-463.83 mg 100 g-1), Phosphorus content (4.57 -306.24 mg 100 g-1), Iron content (0.73 -163.30 mg 100 g-1), Copper content...