Physical and chemical characteristics of different cultivars of Indian gooseberry (Emblica officinalis).

Abstract

Indian gooseberry (Emblica officinalis) commonly known as amla is one of the important fruit of Ayurveda. Nutritional and medicinal properties of amla make it a well known fruit. It is an excellent source of vitamin C, phytochemicals and minerals. Several cultivars of amla are grown throughout different parts of India. Physical characteristics are imperative for designing the equipments for processing, handling and storage. Processing of fruit into value added products is governed by chemical composition of fruit. The current work was aimed to examine the various physical and chemical characteristics of fruits of six cultivars viz. NA-7, NA-9, NA-10, Chakaiya, Balwant and Hathijhool. Characteristics namely height, diameter, geometric mean diameter, sphericity, surface area, aspect ratio, volume, density, rolling resistance, color, textural characteristics, proximate composition, ascorbic acid and polyphenol content was studied. Results showed that the highest fruit size was obtained in NA-7 and the lowest in Hathijhool cultivars while the highest density in Hathijhool and lowest in NA-10 cultivar. The fruit volume of different cultivars varied from 15.00 to 44.93cm3. Moisture content was highest in Chakaiya followed by NA-7 cultivar. No significant difference was observed in surface hardness and moisture content of the fruit of different cultivars. The highest ascorbic acid and polyphenols content were found in Chakaiya cultivar. In the different cultivars, ash content ranged between 2.08 and 2.97% and NA-10 cultivar had the highest value followed by Chakaiya cultivar.