Assessment of antioxidant activity and physical characteristics of PJTSAU released sesame seed varieties

Abstract

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is one of the oldest annual herbs from the Pedaliaceae family. It is considered an essential crop, due to its nutritional properties of edible oil and economic viability. The oil from this seed crop has a high nutritional value such as protein and mineral content as well as an excellent source of antioxidant activity which helps in preventing chronic diseases. Due to increased health awareness, the worldwide sesame market demand is growing across the world. The physical properties of seeds can be useful for storage and processing. This knowledge plays a vital role in the preparation of the processing chain from seed to food. Due to this reason, the present study aimed to investigate the IC50 antioxidant activity as well as physical properties such as 1000 seed weight, seed size, geometric diameter, arithmetic diameter, bulk density, tapped density and porosity of among three selected sesame seed varieties (JCS 1020, Hima and Swetha) released from PJTSAU. Results concluded that the highest IC50 antioxidant activity (5.27 µg/ml) was found in JCS 1020 and Swetha sesame seed varieties. However, there was no significant difference in antioxidant activity, length, width, thickness, tapped density and arithmetic diameter of the selected PJTSAU sesame seed varieties. Among the sesame seed varieties, 1000-seed weight, bulk density and porosity showed significant differences at p<0.05 whereas geometric diameter had a significant difference at p<0.01.