Abstract
Minor fruits are a potential source of antinutrients, but there is no complete primary data source in the Bangladeshi context. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to acquire documentation for a database of the composition of selected minor fruits. The total phenolic (TPH), vitamin C, total carotene, and ß-carotene contents and antioxidant activity of selected minor fruits were determined by 1,1-diphenyl-2picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging and reducing power assays (RPA). Phenolic compounds were assessed using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a photodiode array detector and autosampler. Results revealed that minor fruits contain different phytochemicals, particularly TPH, ascorbic acid, total flavonoid (TF), ß-carotene, total carotenoid (TC), and total anthocyanin content (TAC); values ranged, respectively, 0.23-176.50 mg GAE/g, 16.67-664.92 mg/100 g, 2.26-150.02 mg QE/100 g, 1.41-6897.57 µg/100 g, 1.26-98.24 mg/100 g and 1.15-47.46 mg/100 g. In the parameters antioxidant activity, total antioxidant capacity, DPPH, reducing power capacity (RPC), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), metal chelating capacity (MCC), nitric oxide (NO), and free radical scavenging activity, IC50 ranged 0.01-278.24 µg of ascorbic acid/mg of extract, 39.70-250.00%, 3.21-634.00%, 0.02-1817.88 µM Fe2SO4/100g, 22.29-210.43%, 0.02-70.50%, and 4.98-856.70 µg/g, respectively. Among the identified and quantified phenolic acids, leading examples were gallic acid (279.06 mg/100 g), vanilic acid (43.77 mg/100 g), Þ-courmaric acid (178.96 mg/100 g), ferulic acid (20.44 mg/100 g), and lutein (91.13 µg/100 g) in aonla, day fruit, elephant apple, and bilimbi. Moreover, all selected minor fruits are rich sources of bioactive, biochemical, and antioxidant compounds with potential for use in therapeutic applications.