Nutritional, antinutritional and antioxidant assessment of immature Abelmoschus pods: Implications for crop improvement from cultivated and wild varieties

• Published in: South African journal of botany Vol. 174; pp. 485 - 494
• Main Authors: Kaur, Amandeep, Sangha, Manjeet Kaur, Devi, Veena, Pathak, Mamta, Singla, Diksha
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01-11-2024
• Subjects: Anti-nutritional factors; Edible wild plant; Phytonutrients; Radical scavengers; Vitamins; Radical scavengers; Edible wild plant; Anti-nutritional factors; Phytonutrients; Vitamins
• ISSN: 0254-6299
• DOI: 10.1016/j.sajb.2024.09.022

Crop wild relatives hold significant potential for enhancing diversity, nutrition, and stress resilience in improvement programs. As such thorough, the biochemical assessment of these wild counterparts becomes indispensable. Okra, a vital vegetable crop renowned for its vibrant green pods, faces various productivity challenges due to diverse stresses, and its nutritional and stress tolerance aspects have been somewhat overlooked. In this current research, an extensive evaluation was conducted on both wild and cultivated okra species to decipher their nutritional, anti-nutritional, and antioxidant profiles. The results of the proximate analysis showed that wild okra exhibited higher nutritional value and antioxidant potential compared to cultivated species. Remarkably among the wild species A. moschatus accessions IC 470737 and IC 140986 stood out for their elevated content of carbohydrates (93.10 % and 69.38 %), soluble sugars (84.36 % and 41.83 %), reducing sugars (19.41 % and 38.11 %), and vitamin E (37.23 % and 51.24 %); whereas A. Manihot and A. tetraphyllus had higher antioxidant potential. Significantly, these wild entries also showcased the reduced anti-nutrient content suggesting high mineral bioavailability compared to cultivated ones. So, these wild genotypes having a good combination of many biochemical characteristics can be used for the introgression of traits in cultivated okra for further end product diversification.
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•Wild okra species contain higher nutritional, antinutritional, and antioxidant properties than cultivated okra.•A. moschatus IC 470737 exhibited higher total carbohydrates, soluble sugars, reducing sugars, and non-reducing sugar whereas accession IC 140986 registered as a good source of vitamin E, and crude protein, total soluble protein was high in A. manihot.•A. manihot also harbored high content of chlorophyll a, total chlorophyll, carotenoids, and ascorbic acid were high in A. manihot and chlorophyll b, flavonols, DPPH activity in A. manihot accession IC 90339.•Phenols, o-dihydroxy phenols, and FRAP activity were higher in A. tetraphyllus. Anti-nutrients phytate and oxalate were low in A. tetraphyllus, tannins in A. manihot, and saponins in A. tuberculatus and A.manihot.•A. manihot, A. manihot 90339, and A. tetraphyllus may be used as sources for the introgression of desirable characters to develop varieties with stress resilience and nutritive attributes for enhanced marketability.