NUTRITIONAL AND PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING OF WILD EDIBLE FRUITS OF WESTERN HIMALAYAS

Around the world, wild edible fruits (WEFs) hold an essential place among plants with significant economic and nutrition value. WEFs appear to be used more frequently and extensively in developing and under-developed nations that experience food insecurity. Due to the diversity of bioactive substances found in WEFs, including antioxidants, many species have a significant function in the treatment of various illnesses. The present study is aimed to analyze the nutritional potential and phytochemical composition of some selected fruits from the western Himalayan region. A total of 8 different fruit species are selected; Berberis lycium, Capsicum frutescens var. cerasiforme, Diospyros kaki, Diospyros lotus, Ficus auriculata, Punica protopunica, Zanthoxylum armatum, Ziziphus jujuba. WEFs are collected from different localities of Western Himalayas and then identified using Flora of Pakistan. Proximate composition including Moisture Content (MC), Ash Content (AC), Crude Fiber (CFr), Crude Fat (CF), Crude Protein (CP), Carbohydrate Content and Total Energy Content were determined using standard methods. Among Phytochemical screening Total Phenolic Content (TPC) and Total Flavonoid Content (TFC) were determined. All the powdered fruit samples were also analyzed under Fourier Transformed Infra-Red (FT-IR) Spectroscopy for further characterization. Among the selected fruits Ficus auriculata (88.11±0.1%) contained the highest moisture content whereas Zanthoxylum armatum (23.5±0.2%) had quite low moisture content. All fruits are rich source of energy with Ziziphus jujuba (425.36±0.32 kcal/100g), Zanthoxylum armatum (411.26±0.75 kcal/100g) and Berberis lycium (401.1±1.15 kcal/100g) having energy value in the range of 400 kcal/100g. Regarding the phytochemical composition, Zanthoxylum armatum had higher values for both phenolics and flavonoids (5.1mg,7.4mg). Specifically, Berberis lycium and Punica protopunica showed the highest value i.e., 5.6 mg GAE/g-dw for total phenolic content. FT-IR analysis of each fruit sample confirmed its richness in biologically active functional groups.