Zeitschrift für ernährungswissenschaftliche Forschung

Abstrakt

Wild Jack Tree: An Underutilized Endemic Fruit Tree of Southern Western Ghats for Evaluation of Nutritional Security in Developing World

Gangaprasad A, Abin P Mathew and Muthukrishnan S

Artocarpus hirsutus (wild jack tree) is an important endemic tree species of the Southern Western Ghats of peninsular India belongs to moraceae family. It is well known for food commodity which has had enormous attention as the ‘natural nutrition of the people of Kerala state from time immemorial. It is popularized for its medicinal uses due to high nutraceutical and pharmaceutical properties for curing diseases or disorders in Ayurvedic since ancient times. Currently it is a cultivated crop in most parts of the Kerala with major focus on the isolation of its important secondary metabolites rather than its use as edible plant. Considering the fact that there is no literature regarding the nutritional analysis of fruits and seeds of the Artocarpus hirsutus. The aim of the present work was to analyses the physical, nutritional, anti-nutritional parameters, antioxidant activity and GCMS analysis of A. hirsutus. The nutritional value like total carbohydrate, protein, lipid, reducing sugar, vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, ascorbic acid and carotene) of the fruit parts were determined. The result showed the significance of this wild jack fruit as important source of nutrients. The low levels of anti-nutrients were analyzed. Analysis of DPPH radical scavenging assay showed IC₅₀ values of methanolic extract of fruit pulp, seed and seed coat were 580 ± 0.83 μg/ml, 336 ± 0.74 μg/ml, 158 ± 0.72 μg/ml respectively. In the light of these outputs, wild jack fruits should be considered for promoting the conventional utilization, and also as sources of bio active compounds for the addition to other food supplements, so that all the nutrients present are fully used, instead of being discarded.