Vegetos

Abstract

Many wild, unutilized and minor fruits belonging to different families are found in the Western Ghats of Karnataka in India. Flacourtia montana, an underexploited fruit endemic to the Western Ghats is a red globose berry. Standard analytical procedures were employed for proxi-mate and nutritive analysis. The ascorbic acid, total soluble solids, total acidity, total phenols, flavonoids and protein contents of the fruit was found to be 23.3 mg/100g, 21.2°Brix, 0.251%, 1.625%, 0.655% and 5.110% respectively, whereas the pH of the fruit juice was acidic (3.34). Also the whole fruit was assessed for its antioxidant potential by various established in vitro assays such as free radical-, nitric oxide-, superoxide radical scavenging activity and total antioxidant capacity. The methanolic fruit extract exhibited its radical scavenging ability in dose dependent manner and the effect was compara-ble with that of standard antioxidant agents such as BHA and ascorbic acid. Highest antioxi-dant and radical scavenging activity was ob-served at 200 μg/mL concentration. Present study reveals that F. montana fruits are good source of proteins, antioxidants and macro-and micro nutrients. These fruits could be a natural source of food and nutritional supplement to human beings. Moreover, the present study en-dorses the use of these fruits for further investi-gation to determine their potential neutraceuti-cal properties and application in the food indus-try.