TITLE:
Nutritional Composition of Staple Food Bananas of Three Cultivars in India
AUTHORS:
Santhosh Kumar Kookal, Appachanda Thimmaiah
KEYWORDS:
Plantain Crops, Biochemical Composition, Banana Flour, Proximate Analysis
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.9 No.12,
November
26,
2018
ABSTRACT: Banana (Musa spp.)
is an important ingredient of several dishes and its nutritional and other
biochemical composition at different stages is yet to be scientifically
studied. In the present study the most popularly cultivated species of Nendran,
Nijali poovan and Robusta banana in Southern India are selected. Variations in
the nutritional and biochemical compositions associated with ripened and
unripened stages of banana fruits were studied. Proximate composition, mineral
and phytochemical compositions of ripened and unripened banana flours were
analyzed and the total soluble sugars in unripened banana range from 1.70 to 2.15 mg/100g
of the samples and that of ripened banana range from 37.5 to 43.8 mg/100g of the samples.
Mineral compositions show that they are rich sources of calcium, phosphorus and
iron. In addition to this they are rich sources of antioxidant potential
phytochemicals such as polyphenols, flavanoids, vitamin C and lesser in
quantity of anti nutritional factors such as phytates and oxalates. The current
study revealed the variations of biochemical compositions of three varieties in
unripened and ripened stages. This will be useful for the exploitation of these
crops to obtain and formulate the value added products.