Nutritional consideration of three important emergency food plants studied among Karbi Tribe of North East India

Abstract

Emergency food plants are wild food plants that substitute staple food and are often referred as famine foods. These are nutritionally very rich and substitute conventionally eaten foods and are capable of fulfilling nutritional demand in many cases. Wild plants constitute major components of food basket of the Karbis. The importance of indigenous food plants from nutritional point of view in Karbi Anglong is often overlooked. This study was to assess nutritional contents in three prominent famine food plant species–Premna latifolia Roxb. (Verbenaceae), Dioscorea puber Blume (Dioscoreaceae), Lassia spinosa (L.) Thaw. (Araceae) that contributes to household food security. Plants specimens are collected processed and analysed their nutritional content as per standard protocol (MCW, DNS, Lowry’s and Ninhydrin). The proximate nutritional composition (powder character), ash, moisture, carbohydrate, protein, reducing sugar, amino acid were determined. Nutritional analysis reveals the present of essential nutrient with appropriate quantity. Rhizome of L. spinosa, bark of P. latifolia and tuber of D. puber contain carbohydrate (2.32 ± 0.34 g/100g, 2.39 ± 0.12 g/100g and 2.91 ± 0.56 g/100g), protein (1.85 ± 0.04 g/100g, 2.12 ± 0.04 g/100g and 1.09 ± 0.09 g/100g), reducing sugar (0.0343 ± 0.23 g /1g, 0.033 ± 0.34 g /1g and 0.036 ± 0.36 g/1g) and amino acid (8.29 ± 0.04 mg/g, 7.95 ± 0.04 mg/g and 8.02 ± 1.24 mg/g) respectively. The study shows that the plants are nutritionally very rich and with increase in moisture contents of each samples, pH level also increases and as a result ash contents decreases. Investigation on antinutrient factor would further help in evaluating the permissible toxicity of the antinutrient present in the species.