No abstract

In the present work, optimization of pectinase-assisted and tri-solvent-mediated extraction of lycopene from waste tomato peels was carried out. The optimized parameters for enzymatic pre-treatment were 2% pectinase concentration, pH 5.5, 4-h incubation, 45 °C and 150 rpm. Maximum recovery of lycopene from tomato peels using optimized tri-solvent extraction was achieved at 45 °C, 120-min incubation and 200 rpm. The extracted lycopene was confirmed through functional and characteristic peaks in UV-Vis and FTIR spectra and with retention time in HPLC. The radical scavenging activity was 72.30 ± 2.70 and 43.40 ± 2.01 µg ascorbic acid equivalents (AAE)/ml for 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrzyl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) radicals, respectively. The optimized method resulted in 7.38, 4.65 and 1.59 times enhancement in lycopene extraction and recovery in correlation with single solvent, enzyme-treated and tri-solvent extraction methods, respectively.

Dragon fruit powder (DFP) is a rich source of fiber (15.7%) and phytochemicals (Gallic acid). Commercial dragon fruit use is limited to ready to serve and other fruit products. Because of the large-scale consumption of biscuits on a global level, there is a need for the development of high fiber biscuits enriched with nutraceuticals. In the present study, an attempt was made to develop biscuit from DFP. Four formulations of biscuits were prepared by mixing DFP in the ratio 30%, 40%, 50%, and 60% (w/w) with wheat flour, and they were considered as DFB 30 (Dragon Fruit Biscuit 30%), DFB 40 (Dragon Fruit Biscuit 40%), DFB 50 (Dragon Fruit Biscuits 50%), and DFB 60 (Dragon Fruit Biscuits 60%), respectively. Biscuits were prepared by using the traditional creaming method. Prepared biscuits were compared with sole wheat flour biscuit (B 0 ) as a plain/control sample. As per sensory evaluation, DFB 50 is acceptable formulation of wheat flour to DFP. Biscuit (DFB 50 ) showed increased fiber content by about fivefold (7.81 g %), minerals (0.91 g %), and improved spread ratio (8.76) when compared with wheat flour biscuit (B 0 ). Biscuit also reported being enriched with 0.0092 mg % Gallic acid with no significant change noticed in protein, fat, calcium, and iron content as from wheat biscuit (B 0 ). It may be mentioned that 100 g daily consumption of fortified biscuit may alone fulfill 20% recommended daily intake requirement for dietary fiber.

The utilization of ragi flour for noodles preparation can be ideal due to its higher dietary fiber and essential minerals content. Therefore, the current work was focused to prepare high nutrients noodles by supplementing ragi flour in wheat flour at 10, 20, 30, and 40% levels. The fortified uncooked noodles showed an increase in steady diameter from 1.23+0.03mm to 2.33±0.06mm with a gradual decrease in lightness and whiteness index from 45.46±1.23 to 32.38±1.27 and 43.07±1.06% to 31.09±1.14%, with respective increase of ragi flour. The moisture content of uncooked noodles decreased steadily, while minor changes were observed in fat and ash content. Significant increase in protein (1.06 to 1.25 folds) and crude fiber content (1.64 to 3.62 folds) was noticed in ragi flour noodles in correlation to the control, respectively. The ragi flour fortified noodles not only had a prominent DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activity but also increased phenolics content. The sensory studies depicted that a maximum of 20% ragi flour can be integrated in the noodles to attain desired overall acceptability and that was further verified by t-test at significance level p 0.05.