Nutritional Evaluation of Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) Rind Petha for Its Sensory, Shelf-life and Consumer Acceptability

Background: Petha is a translucent soft candy historically and geographically originated from Agra that is usually rectangular or cylindrical made from the ash gourd. With growing demand and innovation, more varieties of the original preparation are available in the market. Watermelon is most relished fruit and people just eat reddish pulpy portion and discard the rind. But watermelon rind is by product with good amounts of protein, fat, carbohydrates, crude fiber and ash. Methods: The present study was carried out to develop petha from watermelon rind by osmotic dehydration with varied concentrations of Sugar viz., 50° Brix(T1), 60° Brix(T2) and 70° Brix(T3) and the sensory evaluation was carried out from initial to 45 days of storage at both room as well as refrigerated temperature and further evaluated microbial load, texture analysis and consumer acceptability of petha. Result: Among the three variations T2 was more acceptable than T1 and T3 after 45 days of sensory evaluation. The nutrient composition for the best accepted watermelon rind petha indicated low fat with adequate amount of crude fibre (0.6 g), carbohydrate (52.49 g), calcium (18.68 mg) and phosphorous (9.28 mg). Hence, it can be concluded that watermelon rinds can be better option for byproduct utilization for development of petha with good nutritional profile that is economical too.

Inhibitory Activities of Polyphenolic Extracts of Bangladeshi Vegetables against α-Amylase, α-Glucosidase, Pancreatic Lipase, Renin, and Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme

The aim of the study was to determine the in vitro enzyme inhibition activities of aqueous polyphenolic extracts of nine popular Bangladeshi vegetables, namely ash gourd, bitter gourd, brinjal, Indian spinach, kangkong, okra, ridge gourd, snake gourd, and stem amaranth. Polyphenolic glycosides were the major compounds present in the extracts. Inhibition of α-amylase (up to 100% at 1 mg/mL) was stronger than α-glucosidase inhibition (up to 70.78% at 10 mg/mL). The Indian spinach extract was the strongest inhibitor of pancreatic lipase activity (IC50 = 276.77 µg/mL), which was significantly better than that of orlistat (381.16 µg/mL), a drug. Ash gourd (76.51%), brinjal (72.48%), and snake gourd (66.82%) extracts were the most effective inhibitors of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), an enzyme whose excessive activities have been associated with hypertension. Brinjal also had a significantly higher renin-inhibitory activity than the other vegetable extracts. We conclude that the vegetable extracts may have the ability to reduce enzyme activities that have been associated with hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension.

Relative abundance and foraging activity of hymenopteran pollinators in cucurbitaceous vegetables

A study was conducted to investigate the diurnal activity patterns of hymenopteran pollinators in culinary melon and the dynamics of hymenopteran pollinators of five selected cucurbitaceous vegetables viz.,culinary melon, bitter gourd, pumpkin and ridge gourd in 34 locations of Kerala from 06:00 h to 18:00 h with a cone type hand net. The study revealed that Apis cerana indica was dominant in culinary melon, pumpkin and ridgegourd and Tetragonula travancorica was dominant in bitter gourd and ash gourd, A. cerana indica, T. travancorica and Halictus sp. recorded highest foraging speed during 10:00 h to 11:00 h; Ceratina hieroglyphica and Lasioglossum sp. recorded highest foraging speed during 09:00-10:00 h; T. travancorica, C. hieroglyphica and Lasioglossum sp. recorded maximum foraging rate during 10:00 h to 11:00 h; A. cerana indica and Halictus sp. recorded highest foraging rate during 11:00-12:00 h and 09:00-10:00 h.

RELAY INTERCROPPING OF DIFFERENT GOURDS WITH BRINJAL IN CHARLAND AREA

A field experiment was conducted to find out the suitable combination of relay intercropping of different gourds with brinjal for higher productivity and economic return at the Regional Agricultural Research Station, Jamalpur during rabi and kharif 2017-2018 and 2018-2019. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications and seven treatments. The treatments were T1= Sole brinjal, T2= Brinjal + relay sweet gourd, T3= Brinjal + relay ridge gourd, T4= Brinjal + relay bitter gourd, T5= Brinjal+ relay sponge gourd, T6= Brinjal + relay snake gourd, T7= Brinjal + relay ash gourd. Highest brinjal yield was observed in relaying snake gourd and sweet gourd combination (Y1 and Y2) which was statistically similar to sole brinjal and brinjal + relay ash gourd combination.