Study the Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity of ‎Tamarind (Tamarindus indica L.) Pulp and Seed

Shamaail A. Saewan*(1) Rawdhah M. Ali(1) Saher S. George(1) and Lina S. Mohammed(1)  

(1).Department of Food science, College of Agriculture, University of Basrah, Iraq.

(*Corresponding author: Dr.  Shamaail A. Saewan. E-Mail: shamaail@yahoo.com).

Received: 12/01/2020                               Accepted: 12/03/2020

Abstract

The current study was conducted from November, 2017 to May, 2018. Tamarindus indica L. was purchased from commercial markets in Basrah city, southern Iraq. The pulp and seeds were isolated and dried separately at 40° C for 72 hours. The chemical composition was estimated. High significant differences (P<0.05) were observed for moisture, ash and carbohydrate contents between pulp and seeds. No significant differences (P<0.05) were observed for protein and lipids. 50% of ethanol solution extracts of pulp and seeds were prepared with different concentrations of (5, 25, 50, 75 and 100) mg/ml. Antioxidant activity, reducing power and FRAP (Ferric reducing/antioxidant power) were measured. Significant differences (P<0.05) were found between the concentrations mentioned above and tamarind extracts (pulp and seed). High significant differences (P<0.05) were found for the concentration of 100 mg/ml of pulp extracts, while low significant differences for the concentration of 5 mg/ml of seed extract for all the mentioned tests in comparison with the standard compounds.

Key words: Tamarindus indica, Antioxidant activity, Chemical composition, Reducing power.

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The Chemical Composition of Pollen Date Palm Phoenix dactylifera L. var. Samisemi Males Trees

Ibtihaj H. Al Temimi

(1). Department of Horticulture and Land Scap, College of Agriculture, University of Basra, Iraq.

(*Corresponding author: Ibtihaj H. Al Temimi. E-Mail: jehanhandil@yahoo.com).

Received: 27/11/2019                                Accepted: 20/01/2020

Abstract

The study was conducted during the agricultural seasons 2016 and 2017 at three agricultural locations in the province of ThiQar, Basra and Babylon in order to estimate the most important chemical components in the date palm pollens and the study of the inhibitory effect of the ethanol pollen by Randomized complete Blok Design (RCBD). Thirty-six palm trees were selected randomly. The biological experiment studied the effect of ethanolic pollen extraction concentrations (0, 50, 100 and 200) mg/l on inhibition of human bacteria E. coli and Staph. The results showed that the carbohydrates in ThiQar location was the highest (20.09%) compared to Babylon and Basra locations (19.02 and 18.32%) respectively, and the lowest protein and phenolic content  was (6.58 and 17.54%) respectively with significant differences compared to the protein and phenolic content of pollen in Basra governorate which was (12.43 and 20.78%) respectively. The results showed also the superiority of antioxidant activity of pollen in Basra compared to antioxidant activity of pollen in ThiQar and Babylon. The results showed that there were no significant differences between the study sites in the content rate of essential oil, specific weight of aromatic oil and the degree of aromatic oil reaction. While the pollen in ThiQar governorate showed the superiority in the refractive index, density, and saponification number of essential oil. The suppressive activity of different concentrations of pollen extracted in ThiQar was tested on two types of human pathogen bacteria E. coli and Staph aureus. The result indicated that E. coli was more effected by ethanolic extracted than Staph aureus. The largest suppressive diameter was (18 mm) of E. coli bacteria growth with a concentration of 200 mg/L and inhibition percentage of 81.82% compared to antibiotic Erythromycin 15. While, Staph aureus bacteria showed resistance for all ethanolic extracted of pollen. 

Keywords: Chemical composition, Bacteria, Date palm, Pollens, Iraq.

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A Study of the Chemical Composition and Relationship Characteristics of Some Ceratonia siliqua L. |Genotypes Spread in Latakia Governorate

Samer Nasser*(1) Tala Amin(1) and Hafez Mahfoud(2)

(1). Forestry and Environment Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Tishreen University, Latakia, Syria.(2). Biotechnology Department, General Commission for Scientific and Agricultural Research GCSAR, Damascus, Syria.

(*Corresponding author: Eng. Samer Nasser. E-Mail: nasersamer156@gmail.com).

Received: 27/03/2018                                Accepted: 05/09/2018

Abstract

The study was conducted between 2015 and 2017 on 26 species of Ceratonia siliqua L. at four locations viz. AL Dakaka, Wadi Qandil, Um Al-Toyoor and Al-Baseet, in the north-western region of Latakia governorate, Syria in order to study some chemical properties in the pods and seeds of these species. For total sugars (%), the highest percentage was found in T8 pods (57.7%) followed by the D3 (56.9%). The percentage of protein in the pods ranged between (5- 8.2%) and seeds (25-33%) where T8 recorded the highest values. The highest fat value was found in T8 (1.83%) and D3 (3.75%). The percentage of dry matter in the pods ranged from 12.15% in K3 and 8.16% in T1. These genotypes differed genetically more than because of environmental conditions because the locations of the study were geographically close. The genotypes were distributed within the relationship tree in three groups, the first included 3 genotypes and the third contains 9 genotypes from all the study locations. In contrast, the second group included 4 genotypes from the locations of Um Al-Toyoor, Wadi Qandil and Al-Dakaka.

Key words: Carob (Ceratonia siliqua L.), Chemical composition, Sugars, Protein, Fat, Dry matter, genotypes.

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Biological Effect of Tiger Nut (Cyperus esculentus L.) Oil on Healthy and Hypercholesterolemia Rats

 Eid El-Naggar*(1)

(1). Food Science and Technology Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University. Assiut, Egypt.

(*Corresponding author: Dr. Eid Al Naggar E-Mail: eidelnaggar72@gmail.com).

Received: 08/05/2017                       Accepted: 08/08/2017

Abstract

The present work aimed to study the effect of tiger nut oil on healthy and hypercholesterolemia rats, including feeding, growth parameters and biological analysis. Forty-eight male albino rats weighting 150 ±5 g were divided into eight homogenous groups, four groups (T1, T3, T5 and T7) were healthy. One of these groups was chosen as a negative control group (T1). The rats in negative control group fed on basal while the three remaining groups of rats, fed on basal diet with different levels of tiger nut oil (5, 10 and 15%) for 4 weeks. While the other four groups (T2, T4, T6 and T8) considered as hypercholesterolemia. One of these groups was chosen as a positive control group (T2), where T2 group fed on basal diet enriched with 1% cholesterol and 0.5% colic acid. The three remaining groups of rats fed on basal diet enriched cholesterol with different levels of tiger nut oil (5, 10 and 15%) for 4 weeks. The results revealed that all hypercholesterolemia groups which feed on 5%, 10%, and 15% of tiger nut oil resulted a varied increase in body weight gain, good intake and growth rate. Results declared that there was a significant difference (P≤0.05) between the positive control group and cholesterol emic group treated with 10% and 15% tiger nut oil in internal organ weights. Whereas, data showed that there was no significant difference (P≥0.05) between the negative control group, and healthy rat groups. The results declared a significant decrease in GOT, GPT enzymes activity, creatinine, blood urea and uric acid for treated groups as compared with healthy rat groups or hypercholesterolemia rats group. Results indicated that hypercholesterolemia rat groups, which treated with 10 or 15% tiger nut oil resulted in a significant decrease (P≤0.05) in the values of serum total lipids, total cholesterol, T.G, LDL-cholesterol, vLDL. LDL-cholesterol and atherogenic index (AI), but showed a significant increase (P≤0.05) in the values of serum HDL-cholesterol. Fatty acid composition of tiger nut oil made it ideally suited as a nutritional defense against lipid oxidation. Hence, the study recommended using tiger nut oil meal-based diets to overcome the problem of hypercholesterolemia beside improving the liver and kidney functions.

Key words: Biological properties, Chemical composition, Cyperus esulentus oil, Hypercholesterolemia.

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