Abstract
Keeping in mind the growing need for alternative bionutrition resources, some mangrove fruits are popularized for their edible and medicinal properties. Nutritional and antioxidant point of view, there is no concrete report on mangrove fruits. Therefore, the present study was attempted to assess nutritional parameters viz. moisture, protein, total sugar, reducing sugar, non-reducing sugar, carotenoid, fiber, ash and ascorbic acid in mangrove fruits of Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, Rhizophora apiculata and Kandelia candel and elemental and antioxidant analysis of the same. Fruit of K. candel exhibited highest level of three nutritional parameters i.e protein, total sugar and non-reducing sugar content (15.61.11 mg/g fwt, 396.674.16 mg/g fwt, 383.933.57 mg/g fwt. respectively) whereas lowest amount was observed in B. gymnorrhiza (4.40 mg/g fwt for protein and 1086.9 mg/g fwt. for total sugar and 103.866.81 mg/g fwt. for non-reducing sugar). The reducing sugar and fiber content were ranged from 4.130.23 mg/g fwt. to 27.001.0 mg/g fwt and 0.75810.006 g/g dry wt. to 0.80610.001 g/g dry wt. respectively. Furthermore, the moisture and ash content was highest in B. gymnorrhiza and lowest in R. apiculata. It was found that the fruit with highest antioxidant activity was seen in B. gymnorrhiza and lowest recorded in K. candel. Likewise carotenoid content was highest in R. apiculata (3.530.28 mg/g fwt.) and lowest in K. candel (1.731.37 mg/g fwt.). Highest ascorbic acid content was recorded in B. gymnorrhiza (0.530.02 mg/g fwt.) and lowest in R. apiculata (0.350.03 mg/g fwt.). Fruit of R. apiculata was found rich in micronutrient among all the studied species. Nutrient analysis of these mangrove fruits can help us determining health benefits achieved from their use as an emergency as well as famine food and may play major role in bio-prospecting of mangroves.
Highlights
The mangrove fruit species play a significant role in the food and nutrient security of the rural poor in general and coastal people community
Results revealed that Kandelia candel exhibited highest level of protein content (15.6±1.11 mg/gm fwt.) followed by Rhizophora apiculata (14.4±0.70 mg/gm fwt.) and it is much higher than an amount compared to Bruguiera gymnorrhiza (4.4±0 mg/gm fwt.)
Total protein content of the fruits was higher than those values obtained in B. gymnorrhiza (2.24%) fruits as reported by [2]
Summary
The mangrove fruit species play a significant role in the food and nutrient security of the rural poor in general and coastal people community. They are nutritionally rich and provide supplement nutritional requirements for the forest dwellers and many of the marginalized rural communities since the common cultivar fruits are less familiar and not reachable for them. Information available on the edible as well as therapeutic properties of the mangrove fruits is isolated and data on their nutrition aspect are scarcity or insufficient. There has been a growing interest to evaluate various mangrove fruits for their nutritional value [1,2,3,4,5]. There are several studies have already been carried out on the nutritive values and presence of potent micronutrient in the fruits of different plant species [6,7,8,9,10,11] but less studies have been documented with fruits of mangrove plants [10]
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