CHEMICAL COMPOSITION FOR RIND, FLESH AND SEEDS OF PUMPKIN (Cucurbita pepo L.) AND THEIR ANTIVIRAL ACTIVITIES

Abstract

Rind Extract, flesh extract, seeds oil and defatted seeds meal are four special natural products of Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.). In unique study on the rind; it's chemical analysis outcomes were; fiber 29.62%, protein 23.95% of non polar amino acids 07.46% as well as β- carotene (751.99µg/100g). While, flesh was contained fiber 11.25%, protein 15.50% of acidic amino acids 04.35%, carbohydrates 48.40% and β- carotene (3934.02µg/100g). In the same words, defatted seeds meal was composed of 07.12% fiber and 70.15% protein of 21.07% non polar amino acids. In addition, the studied three products of Pumpkin were rich in minerals (Calcium, Iron, Zinc, Copper and Selenium). On the other hand, the four dominant fatty acids of Pumpkin seeds oil profile are oleic, linoleic, palmitic and stearic acids with relative distribution of about 43.8, 33.1, 13.4 and 07.8% respectively. Which make up 98 ± 0.1% of the total amount of fatty acids as well as; it's ώ- 6/ώ- 3 ratio, was 311. In vitro antiviral activities recorded the obviously highly positive effects of rind extract, flesh extract and defatted seeds meal of Pumpkin toward Live NewCastle Disease Virus (NDV) vaccine strains, Komarov & La Sota; & Live infectious Bursitis Viruses (IBDV) vaccine strain D78 while they did not gave any positive effects with the oil of Pumpkin seeds. Furthermore studies must be doing on the four natural products of Pumpkin to evaluate their nutritional and pharmacological values by using in vivo tests, and to demonstrate the applicable values of these compounds for the prophylactic treatment of NDV and IBDV – infection and other viral studies.