Pumpkin (Cucurbita spp.): A Crop to Mitigate Food and Nutritional Challenges

Abstract

The world’s food and agricultural programs have gradually declined into an unsustainable situation due to challenges such as increase in world population, varied agro-climatic regions, increase temperature, extreme sole-culture growing techniques, and water shortage. A considerable emphasis has been put on few staple food crops coupled with repeated dieting, food scarcity, and essential mineral deficits, frequently inducing dietary disorders. Because relying on staple crops may lead to serious food shortages in the future, we must adjust our dietary habits to include a diverse range of non-staple foods and maximize their use in order to achieve food security and reduce the nutritional gap. To assure healthy meals around the world, an authentic and reasonable strategy is presented to draw additional awareness towards variations in agricultural production techniques and dietary preferences. The EAT-Lancet declaration highlighted the importance of increasing agri-based foods to achieve sustainable health. Expanding overlooked crops with abundant genetic stocks and possibly beneficial characteristics is an approach that might meet food and nutritional security challenges. Although undervalued, pumpkin is a valuable vegetable herbaceous plant that contributes to global food and nutritional security. This crop has already been identified as a revolutionary age crop, balanced food, and more adapted to low soil and atmospheric circumstances than other major crops. This review paper focuses on the potential uses of pumpkin as an underutilized crop; diversification and development of hybrids, particularly hybridization breeding through diallel mating design; and how implementation of this “modern” technology would contribute to the breeding of the neglected pumpkin vegetable and stimulate productivity and nourish the world’s largest malnourished, deprived, and starved populations.

Medicinal and Biological Importance of Pumpkin Seeds and Its Impact on Weight

“…In a growing and interdependent world, the eradication of poverty and malnutrition is a moral obligation and a necessary antecedent to international peace and security [19]. In current years, seeds and nuts have received mounting attention due to the high dietary and remedial significance of their biologically active ingredients [20].…”

A review on biochemical constituents of pumpkin and their role as pharma foods; a key strategy to improve health in post COVID 19 period

“…Pumpkins are excellent source of an important mineral Zn, which plays a vital mediating role in activation of enzymes and in this current situation of pandemic consumption of pumpkin can promote antioxidation in the living body thus restricting the attack of viral diseases (Hussain et al, 2021 ). Powders and pastes made from pumpkin rich in micro minerals especially Zn can be used as a food to mitigate food and nutritional challenges in current post COVID 19 pandemic situations (Hosen et al, 2021 ). Steiner-Asiedu et al ( 2014 ) made research on nutrient composition and protein quality of four different species of pumpkins and his results for proximate composition were: moisture, crude protein, fat and ash 5.44–6.66, 30–36, 44–58 and 3.18–4.90% respectively.…”

Pumpkin seed oil: a comprehensive review of extraction methods, nutritional constituents, and health benefits

“…Pumpkin is a vegetable belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family, consumed for a long time due to its nutritional value 1,2 . Cucurbita pepo , Cucurbita maxima , Cucurbita mixta , Cucurbita moschata , and Cucurbita ficifolia are the most common commercially species 3 .…”