Assessment of Nutrient Composition and utilization of some popular wild Edible fruits of Kumaun Himalayan Region as Anti-oxidant agents

Food and Nutrition security is the main problem faced by developing and underdeveloped countries. Proper utilization of wild edible plants for nutrition security is a great choice for reducing the wastage of these powerful foods. The present investigation has been made to understand the nutritional and phytochemical parameter of selected underutilized fruits such as Diospyros kaki, Pyrus pashia, Ficus semicordata, Diploknema butyracea, Pyracantha crenulata , and Rubus niveus . The proximate analyses showed that Diospyros kaki is most promising fruit with 44.86± 0.4 mg/g carbohydrate, 9.29±0.80 mg/g protein, 81.31±0.4, 7% moisture and 1.1±0.11% little amount of ash content. Micronutrient iron was quantify highest in Pyracantha crenulata (3.52±0.24mg/100g) and zinc in Rubus niveus (8.13±0.05 mg/100g). Phytochemical screening was recorded in the ethanolic and aqueous extract, in which Phenolic and flavonoid content were highest in ethanolic extract of Rubus niveus; 64.05±0.13mg GAE/gm, 108.83±2.93mg QE/ g extract respectively and tannin content was highest in case of Diospyros kaki (79.94±0.40mg TAE/100g of extract). The free radical scavenging activity of fruits have been analyzed by DPPH, H 2 O 2 and NO assay; it was observed that the ethanolic extract of Rubus niveus fruit is most promising with an IC 50 value 16.97μg/ml. In contrast, aqueous extract scored IC 50 value 28.86μg/ml. The lowest IC 50 value was found in aqueous extract of Diospyros kaki i.e., 81.9 μg/ml in DPPH assay. The potential usage of these plants will help the people of these regions to combat nutrient deficiency diseases. Further development of research may help us to come out with powerful functional foods using these fruits. Graphical Abstract