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The changes in chemical composition, antioxidant activity and fatty acid composition of lentil flour after dehulling, germination and cooking of seeds were investigated. Dehulling showed no significant effect on protein content, however, protein content decreased in most of the varieties after germination and cooking. Total soluble sugars (TSS) content increased significantly after dehulling (2.0-41.64 %) and cooking (2.08-31.07 %) whereas, germination had no significant effect on TSS content. Total lipids increased significantly after dehulling (21.56-42.86 %) whereas, it decreased significantly after germination (2.97-26.52 %) and cooking (23.05-58.63 %). Cooking was more effective than other methods in reducing trypsin inhibitors (80.51-85.41 %). Dehulling was most effective in reducing tannins (89.46-92.99 %) and phytic acid (52.63-60.00 %) content over raw seed. Myristic, palmitic, stearic, oleic and linoleic acid content decreased while linolenic acid content increased after dehulling. Dehulling, germination and cooking decreased the content of antioxidant metabolite (gallic acid, catechin and quercetin) and also antioxidant activities. Raw samples followed by germinated samples showed the highest concentrations of phytochemicals responsible for antioxidant activity and also the antioxidant capacities. Present study showed germination and cooking would be useful in formulation and development of lentil based functional foods for human health benefits. more...

Eight pulses comprising of five common pulses viz., rajma (kidney beans), cowpea (white), cowpea (black), lentil, chickpea and three lesser-known pulses viz., rice bean, horse gram, soybean (black) from Northwestern Himalaya were analyzed for nutritional factors viz. protein, lipid, sugars, tryptophan, starch, antinutritional factors viz., phytic acid, tannins, trypsin inhibitors), antioxidant metabolites and activities viz., Gallic acid, DPPH, ABTS, TAA, FRAP and fatty acid composition. Results showed that horse gram and lentil had higher free radical scavenging and antioxidant activities. Studied pulse oil contained higher concentration of unsaturated fatty acids. PCA revealed that oleic acid, DPPH, ABTS, O/L ratio, antioxidant activities, gallic acid and tannins have positive correlation. Results of the present study showed that, studied lesser-known pulses were at par in nutritional quality with commonly grown pulses and these pulses may acts as a potential source of edible as well as good source of nutrition for livestock and human. more...

Malnutrition, heart, respiratory and pulmonary diseases are becoming most critical in Mid Himalaya. Vegetables rich in micronutrients, antioxidants and bioactive compounds can help to solve the issue. Sweet pepper is one of the best choices but as it is a warm and humid loving crop and bioactive compounds are highly varied with attitude and temperature condition, the study was conducted to identify promising antioxidant rich sweet pepper lines adapted to hill condition. Thirty eight advanced breeding lines (ABLs) of sweet pepper were evaluated for variations in total polyphenol, total carotenoids, ascorbic acid and antioxidant activity in mid Himalayan region. Antioxidant activity was measured using two in vitro assays viz. 2, 2-diphenyl-1-icrylhydrazyl (DPPH) 2, 2′-Azino-bis(3-Ethylbenzothiazoline-6-Sulfonic Acid) (ABTS). Additionally colour parameter capsanthin, pungency compound capsaicin and fruit firmness were evaluated. Among ABLs, significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) were obtained with respect to antioxidant composition and antioxidant activity. Ascorbic acid and total phenol varied from 39.42–85.12 mg/100 g and 13.01–71.24 mg GAE/100g fresh weight (fw) respectively, while ABTS % Inhibition and DPPH % Inhibition varies from 10.95–80.05 and 11.19–49.18 respectively. Chemometric tools like principal component analysis (PCA) and agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC) were applied to understand possible classification sweet pepper ABLs based on bioactive antioxidant compounds, antioxidant potentiality and fruit firmness. PCA revealed that the first two components represented 67.78% of the total variability in the total variation. AHC classified cultivars into four main groups on the basis of the measured parameters. Results suggested that VLCP-16-1, VLSM-3 and Mukteshwar for Vitamin C; VLCP-16-57, VLCP-16-54, Mukteshwar and VLCP-16-52 for polyphenols, VLCP-16-54, VLCP-16-57, VLCP-2016-52 and showed highest antioxidant activity. The result will help in advance breeding of sweet pepper for development of nutritionally rich varieties. more...

The changes in chemical composition, antioxidant activity and minerals content of horse gram seed after dehulling and germination of 12 advance lines were investigated. Dehulled samples had a higher protein content compared with the raw and germinated. Total soluble sugars (TSS) content increased significantly (p ≤ 0.05) after dehulling (29.31 %) and germination (98.73 %) whereas, the total lipids increased (10.98 %) significantly (p ≤ 0.05) after dehulling and decreased (36.41 %) significantly (p ≤ 0.05) after germination. Dehulling and germination significantly decreased the amount of phytic acid (PA), tannin (TN) and oxalic acid (OA). Trypsin inhibitor units decreased (26.79 %) significantly (p ≤ 0.05) after germination. The minerals (Ca, Fe and Cu) composition of the germinated horsegram flour samples was significantly higher than the raw and dehulled flour. The functional properties of flours were studied and found that the bulk density (11.85 %) and oil absorption capacity (18.92 %) significantly increased after germination. Raw samples followed by germinated samples showed the highest concentrations of phytochemicals responsible for the antioxidant activity and also the antioxidant capacities. principal component analysis revealed that in case of dehulled samples; TN, polyphenols, DPPH and ABTS radical inhibition, TSS, total antioxidant, OA, protein, FRAP value, Ca and Zn had positive correlation among themselves while in case of germinated samples, protein, oil absorption capacity, FRAP value, OA, total flavonoids, DPPH radical inhibition, Ca and Cu had positive correlation among themselves. Present study suggest that germination combined with dehulling process improved quality of horsegram by enhancing the nutritive value and reducing the antinutrients. more...

The present study was carried out to find the effect of fruit harvesting stage (October, November and December) on the physicochemical and antioxidant properties in five kiwi cultivars (Abbot, Bruno, Allison, Hayward, Monty). Results showed that soluble solid content (SSC) and pH increased while ascorbic acid (Vit C), titrated acidity (TAD) and SSC/TAD decreased in all the cultivars with delay in harvesting. Total polyphenols (TP) were decreased while total flavonoids (TF) increased in all tested cultivars with delay in harvesting. The highest concentration of TP (2.02 mg gallic acid equivalent/g fresh weight) and TF (51.12 mg catechin equivalent/100g FW) were found in cultivar 'Allison' in the month of October and December, respectively. Antioxidant activities (AA) were genotype depended and no trend was observed with month of harvesting. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed strong correlation between Vit C, TP and antioxidant activities. Two major clusters were computed using agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC). All the studied important traits may be used in the breeding programmes to increase the variability for different physiochemical and antioxidative characteristics and to make suitable selections that could be acceptable to consumers. more...

In this study, we evaluated total phenolics, condensed tannins, ascorbic acid, lycopene, β-carotene, total antioxidant activity, reducing power, ferric-reducing antioxidant power, and radical scavenging activity (RSA) on ABTS and DPPH as well as metal chelating activity of methanolic and aqueous extract from caps and stipes of Calocybe indica and Pleurotus sajor-caju mushrooms. Per gram of extract, the different mushroom extracts contained 18.09-27.47 mg gallic acid equivalent of phenolics, 5.06-8.89 mg catechins of tannins, and 0.15-0.21 mg ascorbic acid. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that methanolic extract from caps of C. indica and P. sajor-caju contained higher ascorbic acid, total antioxidant activity, β-carotene and radical scavenging activity (RSA) on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) than did the stipes. The aqueous extract from cap and stipe of P. sajor-caju had higher total phenolics and RSA on 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) as well as higher metal-chelating activity and ferric-reducing antioxidant power. The antioxidant potential is higher in the caps of P. sajor-caju and C. indica than in the stipes; the cap contributes most to antioxidant activity. more...

In the present study a set of 45 F1s developed through crossing in a half diallel fashion involving ten parents were evaluated for yield and its component traits. Significantly higher heterosis was observed in most of the hybrids for days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, kernel length, grain yield and grain number. In general, the estimated values of heterosis were low for plant height and days to maturity as compared to grain yield and other traits. The magnitude of heterosis for all yield traits was not expressed in a single hybrid combination and varied from cross to cross due to diverse genetic background of the parents. Crosses VL 8116 x Sukradhan 1, VL 30560 x Sukradhan1, VL 30560 x VL 8116, VL 30560 x Sukradhan1, VL 7620 x Sukradhan1 manifested significant heterosis for grain yield as well as kernel length in the desirable range. Whereas, parents VL 30560, VL 30240, VL 8116, VL 7620 and Sukradhan1 were the best parent for both grain quality and yield. more...

Fresh shoots (two leaves and a bud) of Kangra tea collected at seven day intervals throughout the plucking seasons (April to Octo-ber) during three consecutive years. In fresh tea shoots the variations in the levels of total poly-phenols in the range: 124.800 to 207.600gkg-1 (2006), 192.421 to 304.144gkg-1 (2007), 131.842 to 231.750gkg-1 (2008); and total catechins in the range: 60.070 to 163. 900gkg-1 (2006), 65.557 to 146.808gkg-1 (2007), 59.710 to 80.122gkg-1 (2008); were significant throughout the plucking seasons. Correlations among total polyphenols, total catechins and six weather pa-rameters were worked out. The catechins con-tent of tea powders obtained by lyophilizing aqueous extracts of fresh tea shoots always var-ied in the order (−)-epigallocatechin gallate > (−)-epigallocatechin > (−)-epicatechin > (+)-catechin. Tea powders of summer season had higher levels of total catechins, (+)-catechin, (−)-epicatechin and (−)-epigallocatechin compared to rest of the plucking seasons. more...

Total phenolics, condensed tannins, ascorbic acid, total antioxidant activity, reducing power, ferric reducing antioxidant power, radical scavenging activity (RSA) on DPPH & ABTS and metal chelating activity of methanolic and aqueous extract from cap and stipe of Lentinula edodes have been evaluated. Different extracts contained 2.40-5.60 mg gallic acid equivalent of phenolics, 1.23-3.26 mg catechins equivalent of condensed tannins, and 2.31–11.96 mg ascorbic acid per gram of extract. Aqueous extract from cap contained higher phenolics, condensed tannins, ascorbic acid, RSA on DPPH and ABTS, reducing power, and metal chelating activity. We found that this mushroom species present antioxidant potential especially higher for cap indicating that the cap is the material that most contributes to the antioxidant activity. more...