Nutraceutical and antioxidant evaluation of Abelmoschus taxa

ABSTRACT

The wild species of Abelmoschus are not explored for their nutraceutical properties. The study was undertaken to evaluate total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), antioxidant activities, proximate composition and mineral profile of wild Abelmoschus taxa A. manihot (L.) Medik, and A. ficulneus (L.) Wight & Arn., and the cultivated taxa A. esculentus, and A. esculentus cv. Phule Utkarsha. The highest TPC [5.86 ± 0.10 gallic acid equivalent (GAE) mg∙g⁻¹ DW] and TFC [13.93 ± 0.19 rutin equivalent (RE) mg∙g⁻¹ DW] were observed in A. esculentus cv. Phule Utkarsha. Abelmoschus ficulneus had higher 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity (10.65 ± 0.06%) and ferric reducing antioxidant property (FRAP) activity [33.91 ± 0.73 ascorbic acid equivalent (AAE) mg∙g⁻¹ DW]. Taxa affected extraction performance of solvents for phenolics, flavonoids and antioxidant molecules. The Pearson correlation analysis indicated a positive correlation between phenolics, flavonoids and antioxidant activity. Proximate composition was higher for wild Abelmoschus over cultivated taxa with higher fat, fiber, protein, carbohydrates content and energy value. The A. esculentus cv. Phule Utkarsha had the highest boron, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium, sodium and zinc, compositions. Thus, the nutraceutical properties of wild Abelmoschus taxa reported may benefit human health and explore the importance of these wild species and their commercial cultivation.

KEYWORDS:

• Abelmoschus spp
• flavonoids
• minerals
• phenolics
• proximate composition

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Head, Department of Botany, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, (MS) India for providing laboratory facilities. The first author thanks Drs. Mansingraj Nimbalkar and Parthraj Kshirsagar and Somnath Pawar for their help with statistical analysis.