Evaluation of the antioxidant potential of fruit wine prepared from conkerberry, Carissa spinarum L. (Apocynaceae)

Abstract

The availability of abundant unutilized fruit species could be commercially exploited by developing value-added products out of them. Alcoholic fermentation/winemaking is one such economic approach that could be used to address this issue. However, value addition to underutilized fruits faces several challenges such as short shelf-life, non-availability of proper handling techniques and inadequate knowledge on nutritional aspects. As a result, these fruit species are wasted especially during the fruiting season. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to assess the antioxidant potential of the fruit wine prepared from Carissa spinarum L. Four in-vitro spectrophotometric dependent assays were employed such as total antioxidant activity (TAC), reducing power assay (RPA), 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS). Results revealed that the developed wine was able to scavenge the free radicals in a dose-dependent manner with increasing concentration. However, C. spinarum juice exhibited higher antioxidant potential than that of wine with respect to TAC and DPPH assays. Further, statistical analysis, viz. two-way ANOVA revealed that all the results were statistically significant with p<0.0001. With these results, it can be concluded that the wine produced with C. spinarum fruits has additional benefits of profound antioxidant property.