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Bioactivity and traditional uses of 26 underutilized ethno-medicinal fruit species of North-East Himalaya, India

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Abstract

North-Eastern hill (NEH) region of India is considered as an agro-biodiversity hotspot, which has rich diversity of less-known, underutilized and ethno-medicinally important fruit crops. Since these fruits are ethno-medicinally and nutritionally important, we attempted to quantify the bioactive and antioxidant compounds of these underutilized fruit crops. The antioxidant properties were assayed by scavenging abilities using diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), azinobisethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS), assay of ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), and determining total phenolics (TP) and total flavonoids (TF) contents. Soapberry (Sapindus mukorossi Gaertn.), Bengal quince (Aegle marmelos (Correa) Linn.), Elephant apple (Dillenia indica L.), Burmese grape (Baccaurea ramiflora Lour.), Amla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) and Chapalish (Artocarpus chama Buch.-Ham.) were high source of TP content; Elephant apple (D. indica L.) and Amla (E. officinalis Gaertn.) were found to be high source of TF. Highest DPPH, ABTS and FRAP activity of underutilized fruit crops were discussed. Significant positive correlation was detected among TF–FRAP, TF–ABTS, ABTS–FRAP, DPPH–FRAP and DPPH–ABTS assays. Principal component analysis was found an effective technique in grouping the local underutilized fruits based on their antioxidant contents. Results signify that, these underutilised fruits must be promoted for cultivation, pharmaceutical and processing use in large scale.

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Acknowledgements

Authors sincerely thank the officers of Agriculture and Horticulture Department, Government of Mizoram, India for guiding and formulating the survey plan. The research work was a part of experiment of Horticulture Mission for North East and Himalayan States (HMNEH, MM-I); the funds provided are duly acknowledged. Authors acknowledge the constructive reviews and suggestion of the anonymous reviewers.

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Correspondence to Sudip Kumar Dutta.

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Dutta, S.K., Vanlalhmangaiha, Akoijam, R.S. et al. Bioactivity and traditional uses of 26 underutilized ethno-medicinal fruit species of North-East Himalaya, India. Food Measure 12, 2503–2514 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11694-018-9867-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11694-018-9867-4

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