The nutraceutical studies of the berries of Solanum violaceum Ortega, a traditional vegetable

Abstract

Solanum violaceum is widely used as vegetable in of North-east India. This paper presents the taxonomic details, geographical distribution and nutritional aspects of berries of this plant. The plant is widely used as vegetable in states of North-east India where in the antioxidant properties were reported. It is also used as traditional medicine in the treatment of Asthma, it is widely distributed in different other tropical part of India. A study was conducted to study the nutritional aspects of berries by using standard methods practiced. An in-house protocol was developed at Patanjali Research Institute, Haridwar, Uttarakhand to conduct HPLC profiling as well as HPTLC.The presence of flavonoids (0.031%) and phenols (0.134%), indicates its nutritional and medicinal importance. The biochemical compounds like carbohydrates (14.30% w/w), proteins (01.53%), fats (1.12% w/w), total ash (05.53% w/w), water content (77.52%) and energy level (73.40 kcal). The results indicate that berries are of low fat but of high nutritional value and thus can contribute to the fight against nutrient deficiencies. The study was performed with an objective of Nutritional composition analysis, qualitative analysis of secondary metabolite, HPTLC fingerprinting, and UHPLC ((Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography) profiling berries of S. violaecum.