about the fruit
Salvadora persica is a medicinally important halophytic plant of family Salvadoraceae with great ethnobotanical importance. It is widely used for oral hygiene and other medicinal properties. The antioxidant and nutraceutical importance of the leaf extracts of S. persica have been reported in our previous study (Kumari and Parida, 2016). Fruits of S. persica are edible having an aromatic, sweet and peppery taste and are eaten raw, dried or cooked. Fruits are drupes with persistent calyx and corolla. They are fleshy, globose, single seeded, smooth, 5–10 mm in diameter and spherical in shape (Figure 1). The fruits are pink to scarlet in color when mature (Sher et al., 2010). A fermented beverage having stomachic, de-obstruent, lithontriptic, and carminative properties is made from the fruits. The fruits are also used in rheumatism and biliousness and believed to have good effect on snake bite. Besides this they are also considered as diuretic, purgative and liver tonic (Akhtar et al., 2011). Very less research information are available on this highly valuable fruit. It is, therefore, the objective of this study is to determine the nutrient, bioactive compositions and antioxidant properties of this underexploited fruit of S. persica. The present work will provide useful information on the prospective of S. persica fruit as natural source for antioxidants, essential amino acids, mineral nutrients, proteins, and other metabolites. The outcomes emerging from the current study will evaluate the potential use of S. persica fruit in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical formulations as dietary supplements for human. Development of biologically beneficial products from the underutilized S. persica fruit will have dual benefits by way of health products and their commercial cultivation in salt affected coastal lands. Besides this, its farming in coastal habitats will result in carbon-budgeting and carbon sequestration helping to resolve environmental problems like climate change.
The carbohydrate content of the S. persica fruit (73.66 ± 2.17 g 100 g-1 DW) was in comparison to the high carbohydrate containing durian variety Durio zibethinus and was found to higher than that reported for leguminous plants Bracystegia eurycoma and Pipper guineense (Bolanle et al., 2014) and Cola parchycarpa (Ene-Obong et al., 2016). The carbohydrate content was also in comparison with some conventional carbohydrate sources like cereals (72-90 g 100 g-1 DW) (Adewusi et al., 1995), and thus S. persica fruit can serve as a potential source of carbohydrate. The lipid and dietary fiber content of the fruit was also higher than the Durio zibethinus, Bracystegia eurycoma, Pipper guineense, and Cola parchycarpa signifying that the fruit is rich in essential nutrients and can be utilized for supplementing the human diet for better health. The relatively high energy content of the fruit 141.35 kcal 100 g-1 DW could fulfill the daily calorie intake of the people. The results presented here demonstrate that the fruit of S. persica could be an important source of essential nutrients and energy that could be utilized for supplementing and enhancing the diet and health of humans.
Topic: Salvadora persica, Arak Berry (Read 1402 times)