Amlok Diospyrus lotus Linn.

Introduction

Diospyros lotus. L belongs to family Ebenaceae and it is originated from Balkans, Caucasia to China and
Japan. It is commonly known as “Amlok” or “Kala Amlok” in Pakistan. Ripened fruits of D. lotus are
blackish blue globes having 1.5-2 cm diameter. Maturity of fruit is easily determined by the color
development that varies from green to yellow1. The consumption of un-ripened fruits is not suitable due
to having sharp smell. However, after ripening of fruits different changes take place in phyto-chemistry
that enhance taste and the quality of fruit2. Color become brown after ripening and contains 2 or 6
seeds per fruit3.

According to information collected from available literature D. Lotus possess anti-diabetic, anti-septic
and anti-tumor activities due to availability of various phyto-nutrients. Different research worker
reported that D. Lotus contained significant amounts of flavonoids, phenols, tannins, spanins,
triterpenoids and alkaloids. Furthermore triterpenoids found in this fruit have anti-oxidant, anti-allergic
and anti-cancer activities. Tannins present in persimmon (Amlok) are considered more efficient than
tocopherol4. It was observed that tannins improved life style of hypertensive and strokes level was
reduced by tannins in experimental animals. These persimmon tannins are 20 times more effective than
other antioxidants like, vitamin E as reported5. It is reported that D. lotus contained sedatives,
astringents, laxatives, nutritive, febrifuges, antitussives, antiseptics, antidiabetics and antitumors
activities6. The fruits of D. lotus commonly use by local inhabitants for diarrhea, dry coughs and
hypertension7. Therefore keeping in view the importance of this fruit present research work was carried
out with following aims and objectives. 1) Qualitative and quantitative analysis of secondary metabolites
for D. lotus fruit 2) Determination of antimicrobial activities of various fruit extracts. 3) Assessment of
antioxidant activities of D. Lotus fruit extracts

Persimmon is fleshy fibrous tropical, deciduous fruit belonging to Ebenaceae family. It is commonly
cultivated in warm regions of the world including China, Korea, Japan, Brazil, Turkey, and Italy (Itamura
et al., 2005; Yokozawa et al., 2007). In 2007, the global production of persimmon reached over 3.3
million tons, with 70.0 % from China, 10.0 % from Korea and 7.0 % from Japan. The persimmon is not so
popular in European communities but its demand is increasing owing to consumer’s awareness
regarding its hidden health promoting potential. Mediterranean region is also suitable for persimmon
production that has reached up to 110,000 tons (Jung et al., 2005; Luo, 2007; Bubba et al., 2009).
Generally, over 400 species of persimmon are planted globally. Among these, Diospyros kaki, Diospyros
virginiana, Diospyros oleifera, and Diospyros lotus (Bibi et al., 2007) are of significant importance. It is
interesting for the readers that D. kaki (Japanese persimmon) is the most promising specie (Rahman et
al., 2002; Zheng et al., 2006). The popular varieties grown in Japan and their respective characteristics
are discussed in Table 1. In some Asian cultures, consumers are aware about the health claims related to
persimmon and its functional ingredients. The rich phytochemistry of persimmon opened new avenues
of research in diet based regimen to cure various ailments. The health promoting potential of
persimmon includes its effectiveness against free-radical production, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes
mellitus, cancer, dermal disorders, hypertension, etc. This review is an attempt to elucidate the
phytochemistry of persimmon and importance of its bioactive molecules in curing various health
disparities.
Functional food development and consumption is gaining momentum worldwide. Currently, there is an
awaken awareness on preventive rather than curative health care. And it has been discovered that
consumption of functional foods will serve as vital instrument for preventive health care; globally, the
consumption of functional foods is being encouraged. In fact, in bakery products developments, there is
a new trend of research into the development of flours with health benefits by incorporating fruit
pomaces, fibres and legumes to cereals [1, 2]. It has been discovered that fruits contained bioactive
compounds which have enormous health benefits

Jam is semi-solid mass, which attained from the cooking fruit pulp and sugar followed by acid, pectin,
flavors and coloring substances. Jams contain about 68.5% total soluble substances and 45% at least
fruit pulp, while the (7) revealed that jam should contain more than 65% total soluble solids in finished
product (5). Jam, jellies and marmalade is one simple fruit product prepared from fruit individually or
combination of different fruit (15). Jams are thick; sweet spreads made by cooking crushed or chopped
fruits with sugar. They tend to hold their shape, but are generally less firm than jellies [12]. Availability
of fruits is seasonal and therefore, jam production from fruits helps the availability of fruits at off-
seasons. Jam enjoys substantial shelf life and thus can be made available round the year. Jam production
requires right proportion of the right ingredients to get the desired result, which are; fruits, acid, pectin
and sugar.

Materials and Methods

The current study was conducted in the Food and Nutrition Scientific Laboratory of Department
of Food Science and Technology, GCWUF. Mung bean flour with other ingredients was used to
formulate snack crackers. The resultant product was probed for sensory analysis, physical
analysis, chemical analysis and antioxidant activity.

Procurement of raw materials

All the required ingredients including black persimmons, sugar and pectin were collected from
local market of Faisalabad.

Preparation of jam
The persimmons were cleaned to remove dust and dirt. Then, these were pitted to remove seeds.
Then these were blended to obtain fruit pulp. The fruit pulp along with sugar and pectin were
cooked in boiling water to attain desired viscosity. After cooling, this was packed in airtight
container and stored at room temperature for further use.

Sensory analysis
Nine-point hedonic scale system (1=dislike extremely, 9=like extremely) was adopted to assess
the sensory quality of the resultant product using varied sensory descriptors; color, odour, taste,
crispiness and overall acceptability (Meilgaard et al., 2007).

Chemical analysis
The chemical composition of the value added product was determined by AOAC method (2012)
to estimate total moisture, total ash, crude protein, crude fat, carbohydrate, vitamin C, vitamin A,
potassium and calcium content. Further, calorific value of the resultant jam was calculated using
Atwater factor (Bear et al., 2016).

TPC

TFC

TA

Carotenoids

Tannins

Antioxidant activity
DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) free radical scavenging assay
The antioxidant efficacy of the final product was assessed using DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-1-
picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging process based on the method described by Dimitrova et al.
(2015). 1ml of the prepared extracts was added to 1 mL 0.3 mM DPPH (1.1829 mg in 10 mL
methanol) and 1mL methanol and a blank was prepared by just adding DDPH, distilled water
and methanol 1 mL each. All the solutions were kept in the dark for 10 mins and absorbance was
measured at 517 nm.

% inhibition was calculated by the following formulae:

% inhibition = [(B-A)/B] x100

Where B= Absorbance of blank solution

A= Absorbance of sample

ABTS assay
The antioxidant activity of the resultant crackers was assessed using ABTS assay following the
protocols of Gundogdu et al. (2018). Trolox, a water soluble analogue of vitamin E, was used as
a reference standard. A standard curve was plotted based on measuring the reduction in
absorbance of the ABTS solution against a concentration range between 100 mM and 600 mM of
trolox. ABTS?+ scavenging capacity of sample was expressed as trolox equivalent antioxidant
capacity, which represents that the concentration of trolox solution had the same antioxidant
capacity as the sample.

FRAP ferric–Trotripyridyltriazine reducing antioxidant power

FRAP stands for ferric reducing antioxidant power. FRAP comprises of 3 reagents A, B, C
prepared. Reagent A comprises of 3.1 gm sodium acetate added to 16 ml glacial acetic acid and
volume made up to 100 ml followed by freezing for 4-5 hrs. Reagent B is a TPTZ solution in
HCl, 40 mM HCl was prepared followed by the addition of 0.0781 gm TPTZ in 25 ml HCl. Heat
the solution at 50 °C. Reagent C is light sensitive, i.e. 20 mM FeCl3.6H2O. FRAP is made by
adding reagent A, B, C in the ratio 1:1:10. 200 µl sample added to 1800 µl FRAP incubated for 4
mins at RT and absorbance measured at 593 nm.

Statistical analysis

The obtained data from varied experiments was analysed using Statistix 8.1 software
(Montgomery et al., 2013).