Cultivating crops from more natural habitats, such as wild types, can help maintaining biodiversity and sustainable agriculture. Identifying and characterizing wild relatives of melons, and providing genetic materials for crop breeding, play a vital role in agriculture. The current study was focused on characterization of a diverse set of wild relatives of melon (Cucumis melo L.) to understand the possible nutrition and explore the health benefits. Four wild types namely Putti kaayi (acidulous), Budamekaayi (kachri), Small melon (callosus), and an unknown botanical type collected from different parts Karnataka state of Southern India. All the four types were used in the study to identify major human health properties. The total sugar content in these ranged from 25-54 mg/ 100 g fresh weight and the range of reducing sugar was 0.67-1.47 mg/ 100 g fresh weight indicating these are non-sweet. The Total soluble solid content was 4.02-3.29 °B and titrable acidity was 0.22- 0.24 %. All four samples showed ascorbic content of 34.5 ± 2.0 mg/ 100 g fresh weight and total polyphenols content was 18 mg/ 100 g fresh weight in case of kachri and callosus. The average total carotenoid content among four group of samples was 5.0 ± 1.2 µg/ g fresh weight. Both kachri and callosus exhibited 80 ± 2 % radical scavenging activity at 100 ppm concentration as measured by DPPH assay. The nitric oxide (NO) scavenging activity was 63.59 (acidulous), 87.16 (unknown botanical type), 71.69 (kachri) and 82.34% (callosus), respectively at 200 ppm concentration. Additionally, all the four samples exhibited more than 50% ACE inhibition activity at 100 ppm indicating they can serve as potential source of bioactive principles and can be a part of healthy diet. Details of these results will be discussed in comparison with some of the reference bioactive molecules in the presentation.

Shivapriya Manchali

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