Antioxidant and Nutritional Components of Egg plant (Solanum melongena L) Fruit Grown in Saurastra Region

A B S T R A C T Eggplant or brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) fruit is known for vegetables of diet food because of high moisture content and low caloritic value. However, it is a good source of antioxidants as well as some phytonutrients. So the experiment was conducted to study the nutritional quality along with various parameters contributing antioxidant activity from brinjal fruits of local varieties. The findings revealed from all the variety studied, shows 25.17-40.35% radical scavenging activity (DPPH), comparable amount of flavanoids (7.42-13.25 mg.100g -1 ) and anthocyanine content along with total phenol (32.89-39.12 mg.100g -1 ), ascorbic acid ( 9.43-16.75 mg.100g -1 ), protein (0.92-1.39 %) and titrable acidity (0.20-0.32 %) in a pulp of brinjal fruits. The activity value for polyphenol oxidase (PPO), the enzyme responsible for the browning reaction was ranges from 0.66 to 1.39 OD. min -1 . g -1 in a fresh pulp of brinjal. These results reveal that variety nutritionally found better due to its higher antioxidant property, proteins and sugar content. K e y w o r d s