Nutritional status of some selected indigenous leafy vegetables of Assam, india

Abstract

The study aimed to assess the nutritional status of 14 types of indigenous leafy vegetables, namely Houttuynia cordata, Paederia foetida, Alternanthera sessilis, Amaranthus viridis, Eryngium foetidum, Bacopa monnieri, Polygonum chinense, Hydrocotyl rotundifolia, Talinum triangularae, Tetrastigma leucostaphylum, Pogostemon heyneanus, Celosia argentea, Glebionis coronaria and Peperomia pellucia. All the indigenous leafy vegetables contained high amount of moisture, which ranged from 79.38 to 92.80%. The vitamin C content range from 41.86 to 537.24 mg/100g, vitamin A from 35.87 to 8685 IU and protein content was found in between 1.25 to 8.63 g/100g. Among the species total phenol content ranged from 32.30 to 259.10 mg/100g, total flavonoid from 138.20 to 288.90 mg/100g, IC₅₀ value for scavenging DPPH radicals from 24.06 to 214.56 µg/ml and alkaloid content 0.16 to 3.18%. Leafy vegetable also possess good amount of minerals which range from 173.17 to 2109 mg/100g of calcium, 27.48 to 396.17 mg/100g of iron, 141.62 to 4037.00 mg/100g  of magnesium and total chlorophyll from 1.02 to 2.49 mg/100g FW. The result of the study revealed that the indigenous leafy vegetables such as Amaranthus viridis, Paederia foetida, Tetrastigma leucostaphylum and Alternanthera sessilis were found to be superior in terms of nutritional attributes with good antioxidant properties.

Bangladesh J. Bot. 53(4): 865-870, 2024 (December)