Abstract:
The present experiment was conducted at the Fruit Research and Development Institute Horana, Sri Lanka, from
2020 to 2021 to evaluate the proximate composition, antioxidant activity, ascorbic acid and total phenolic content
of five underutilized fruits, namely Namnam, Lovi, Roseapple, Pumello and Sapota using Association of Official
Agricultural Chemists (AOAC) methods. The parameters determined were moisture, crude fiber, crude fat, sugar,
antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, titratable acidity, pH, total soluble solids and ascorbic acid. Rose apple
and Namnam fruits recorded the highest (91.47%) and the lowest (68.87%) moisture content, respectively. The
Pumello fruit exhibited the lowest fat, crude fiber, total sugar, non–reducing sugar and reducing sugar contents
with the values of 0.01%, 1.33%, 005%, 0.03%, and 0.02%, respectively. Sapota reported the highest fat, total
soluble solids and pH values of 1.33%, 16%, and 4.74%, respectively. Roseapple recorded the highest crude fiber
(5.59%) and the total sugar content (0.81%), while Lovi showed the lowest pH (2.29) and highest titratable acid
content (2.01%) Pumello had the highest ascorbic acid concentration, whereas Lovi had the lowest value. Pumello
and Namnam demonstrated the lowest IC50 value (0.03). Sapota and Roseapple had the highest (20.49) and lowest
(2.16) total phenolic content. The study emphasizes the diverse nutritional elements in these underutilized fruits,
highlighting their potential as valuable sources of supplementary nutrients.
