Abstract
Salinization is gradually increasing over cropping soils and is challenging Governments in many countries, including Australia. There has been a high demand for utilizing arid and semi-arid land for sustainable food production. Currently, the main crops and forage plants are salt sensitive, while halophytes can tolerate a wide range of salinities. Samphire is an Australian indigenous edible halophyte and belongs to the genus Tecticornia. It is an underutilized, succulent plant growing on arid or semi-arid land. Most samphire species have a long history of use as food, but also as non-food (fodder and medicine), among indigenous communities in Australia, while scientific information is limited on their nutritional composition and potential bioactivity. The present study reports, for the first time, the nutritional composition, bioactive compounds (phytochemicals) and antioxidant capacity of six Australian grown samphire from different locations. The results showed that celosianin II and isocelosianin II could be identified as the predominant betalains (phytochemicals) in pigmented samphire species. Proximates and fiber varied significantly (p < 0.05) between the samphire species with a highest value of fiber of 46.8 g/100 g dry weight (DW). Furthermore, samphire could be identified as a valuable source of essential minerals and trace elements, such as iron (41.5 mg/100 g DW), magnesium (1.2 g/100 g DW) and sodium (16.7 g/100 g DW). The fatty acid profile, mainly palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic and α-linolenic acid, was similar among the studied species. Total phenolic content and DPPH-radical scavenging capacity were different (p < 0.05) between the six samphire samples. These initial results are very promising and indicate that Australian grown samphire may have the potential to be utilized as a functional food ingredient.
Highlights
Throughout history, humans have attempted to utilize various natural produce for food solely to satisfy hunger at first; later they had choices to select in times of surplus, and they learnt how to produce food in terms of cooking and/or preservation through evolution [1, 2]
Besides the ecological importance of Tecticornia sp., investigations regarding its potential as functional food or functional ingredient are very limited. To bridge this gap, the present study provides the first comprehensive analysis of the nutritional composition, bioactive compounds and antioxidant capacity of six Australian grown samphire collected from different sublocations in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia
Moisture The moisture content of the samples from sub-location 6 (28.9 g/100 g) was found to be lowest among the samples tested while the samples from sub-location 4 had the highest value (28.9 vs. 78.1 g/100 g, p < 0.05)
Summary
Throughout history, humans have attempted to utilize various natural produce for food solely to satisfy hunger (an essential need) at first; later they had choices to select in times of surplus, and they learnt how to produce food in terms of cooking and/or preservation through evolution [1, 2]. Humans were identified as hunter-gatherers during the paleolithic era. They mostly had a vast knowledge about native edible plants, varieties and variety of applications in the modernized civilization. This knowledge has gradually declined over time after a few generations of acculturation in Indigenous or Aboriginal Communities in various parts of the world [3]. Most native edible plants are underutilized even though they have immense nutritional value for the community, while they may be still consumed in other parts of the world
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