Abstract
With increase in awareness about adverse effects of chemical use in food, there is a continuous effort for search of natural alternatives. Several plant extracts and their purified compounds are being explored for their biological efficacy. In the present study, Docynia indica, which grows as a wild tree in North Eastern region of India has been explored for its possible use as a source of natural preservatives. Although some reports about biological activities of D. indica fruit exist in literature, not much is known about its phytochemical profile. Various fruit extracts prepared at different maturity stages of D. indica fruits were analysed for their in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial potential, and phytochemical profile of their methanolic extracts were determined by high performance liquid chromatography. The immature fruit extract showed high concentration of total phenolics (upto 196.15 mg gallic acid equivalent/ g extract) and flavonoids (up to 100.49 mg rutin equivalent/ g extract) depending on the extraction solvent; and also showed higher antioxidant activity in in vitro assays. Although no definite trend was observed for antibacterial activity based on maturity stages, extraction with the mixture of methanol, acetone and water (1:1:1) was found to show least minimum inhibitory concentration for all the maturity stages. Catechin and ferulic acid were the major phenolics present in D. indica fruits. The antioxidant and antibacterial compounds present in various extracts of D. indica indicate its potential for utilization as food preservative.
Highlights
Fruits and vegetables are reported to contain varying amount of biologically active compounds, which give them value beyond their nutritional importance
Diethyl ether and ammonium acetate were purchased from Rankem (New Delhi, India), and Folin ciocalteu (FC) reagent was from Sisco Research Laboratory (Mumbai, India). 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and standards used in high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Bangalore, India)
The total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid contents (TFC) were investigated in fresh mature fruits, powders obtained from immature (IDIFE), mature (MDIFE) and KMS treated fruit (KDIFE), and the results are presented in Tables 1 and 2, respectively
Summary
Fruits and vegetables are reported to contain varying amount of biologically active compounds, which give them value beyond their nutritional importance. Antioxidants present in various plants have the capacity to scavenge free radicals and thereby reduce the risk of certain diseases [1,2]. Many wild fruits are still unknown or inadequately exploited despite their good nutritional and nutraceutical values. Several plant parts showing high phenolic content has been reported to possess good antimicrobial properties. Plants contain certain bioactive compound which hampers the growth of microorganism [4,5], and in developing countries, people still use plants as a medicine to treat infectious bacterial diseases [6]. Extensive studies are going on to establish antimicrobial activity of several plant extract, and there is a possibility to find out encouraging alternative for synthetic medicine [7,8]
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