Abstract
Aims: The present study is aimed to develop watermelon seed nutribars (WMSNB) and to determine proximate content, antioxidant activity, free fatty composition and also sensory evaluation in order to create awareness of its potential nutritional values and increase its consumption in the form of nutraceuticals, functional foods and pharmaceuticals.
 Study Design: Proximate analysis, total phenolic, antioxidant activity and free fatty acid profile was carried by using well established in-vitro assay.
 Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, Sri Devaraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research. Kolar, between June 2021 and November 2021
 Methodology: The developed nutribars samples were evaluated for proximate analysis (moisture, crude protein, ash, total fat, crude fibre, and total carbohydrate), total phenolic, antioxidant activity by using DPPH assay, free fatty composition by using GC-MS, and sensory characteristics based on hedonic scale point. The ingredients used for preparation of WMSNB were Watermelon seeds (100gm), jaggery (50gm), coconut flakes (15gm), sesame seeds (10gm) and ghee (5gm). Peanut nutribars (PNB) were also developed by replacing Watermelon seeds (WMS) with peanuts which was used for comparison purpose.
 Results: The proximate screening indicated that protein (15.72%) and carbohydrate content (52.49%) was high in WMSNB compared to PNB. The prepared WMSNB showed rich in phenolics and also possessed good antioxidant activity against DPPH. The free fatty acid composition showed that linolenic acid, stearic acid and lauric acid of oil extracted from WMSNB were 51.15%, 10.65% and 6.49% respectively, while oleic and palmitic acid extracted from PNB were 38.11% and 14.62% respectively. The overall sensory evaluation showed that there was no significant difference (P<0.05) between WMSNB and PNB.
 Conclusion: The antioxidant capacity of the WMSNB constituent underlines the potential source of natural antioxidants and bioactive compounds for the therapeutic purposes.
Highlights
There has been a greater emphasis on recovering useful components from neglected food portions and recycling them within the food chain in an economic and ecological manner [1]
The formulation used for the preparation of WMNSB and Peanut nutribars (PNB) nutribars is depicted in the Table 1
Watermelon fruit is widely consumed around the world; it contains a large number of seeds that are discarded
Summary
There has been a greater emphasis on recovering useful components from neglected food portions and recycling them within the food chain in an economic and ecological manner [1]. Watermelon (Citrullus lantus) is widely consumed around the world, and its seeds and rind are often discarded and used as animal feed [2] These by-products contain phytochemical substances that have both nutritional and functional value. Existing data implies that WMS proteins have good in-vitro digestibility with few anti-nutritional factors, the seeds contain a reasonable amount of micronutrients, which have good biological function in human body Due to their amino acid composition (high arginine content) they have therapeutic properties. There is limited literature on the nutritional, phytochemical and antioxidant properties of the WMS With this background, the present study was to make high protein nutribars enriched with WMS for the sake of health benefits under low cost. The WMS is used as a novel ingredient to provide high protein along with jaggery, dry coconut, sesame seeds and ghee which contribute to the dietary content and flavour profile of the desired product
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