Chemical evaluation of different custard apple (Annona squamosa L.) genotypes in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh, India

Introduction

Custard apple (Annona aquamosa L.) also known as Sharifais, sweet sop and Sitaphal as importance fruit crop of tropical and sub-tropical fruit crop are grow in India as well as over all tropical and sub-tropical world. Custard apple belonging to Annonaceae family. The pulp is delicious, beautifully scented and golden with white undertones. The thick, creamy-white flesh that surrounds the concolorous, relatively juicy segments is slightly gritty and custard-like in texture. Each carpel has a single, square, smooth, 1.3-1.6 cm long, firm, smooth, glossy, dark-brown or black seed (Nath et al. 2008) [16] , 55 to 60 actual seed counts have been discovered. Custard apple fruits are used to make ice cream because they have a central core that is pointed, fibrous and linked to a stout stem more than halfway through the fruit (Maurya and Singh, 2006) [13] . It provides different vitamins and minerals. There has been a lot of awareness about the intake of custard apples around the world since the above nutritional and therapeutic features of dietary importance were identified. Eating custard apple is helpful in curing many diseases and disorders. It is full of vitamin-A and C anti-oxidants, which helps to combat many diseases and also enhances the immune system. Custard apple contains about 28-55% of edible portion consisting of 73.30% moisture, TSS of 16 to 25° Brix, pH of 5.6 and 0.5% tannins, 1.60% protein, 0.30% fat, 0.70% mineral matter, 23.90% carbohydrates, 0.20% calcium, 0.40% phosphorous, 1.0% iron, 12.4-18.15% sugar, 0.26-0.65% acidity and with a calorific value of 105 Kcal/100g. Custard apple is one of the delicious fruits relished by many for table purposes due to its pleasant flavor, mild aroma and sweet taste (Pilania et al. 2010) [17] . The main sugars have been reported as glucose and fructose (80-90%) (Kumar et al. 2015) [9,10]

Materials and Methods

Chemical analysis of fruits was done in the Quality Laboratory, K.D. College of Horticulture & Research Station, Dharmapura-02, Jagdalpur (Bastar), (C.G.).

The acidity of the 10 g pulp sample was measured by titrating with 0.1 N NaOH while using phenolphthalein as an indicator after diluting an aliquot of the sample with distilled water. The final point has a light pink colour (Ranganna, 1986) [19] . Titre X Normality of NaOH X volume made up X Eq. Wt. of acid X 100 Titrable Acidity (%) = Volume of aliquot taken for estimation X Wt. / Volume of sample taken X 1000

Total Soluble Solids (⁰Brix) All genotypes of custard apple pulp's Total Soluble Solids (TSS), which is measured in ⁰Brix and based on the total refraction principle, were measured using a hand Refractometer at 20 °C.

The total sugar content was estimated using Hage and Hoffreiter's (1962) [6] .

The reducing sugar was estimated using by dinitrosalicylic method (Miller, 1959) [14] .

The value of reducing sugar was eliminated from total sugar to determine the value of non-reducing sugar. A percentage was used to indicate the non-reducing sugar. Non-reducing sugar (%) = Total sugar (%) -Reducing sugar (%).

Ascorbic acid (mg/100 g) A 2-6 dichlorophenol-indophenol (dye) visual titration method, somewhat modified from that described by Ranganna (1986) [19] , was used to assess the ascorbic acid concentration in fruit pulp.

mg Titre value X dye factor X volume made up X 100 Ascorbic acid ( ) 100 gm ml of aliquot taken for estimation X wt. / vol. of sample taken for estimation

Pulp texture

It was observed as granular, smooth, cloudy soft and granular.

The data for the titratable acidity have been recorded different custard apple genotypes and are shown in table 1.

The range of minimum and maximum acidity percentage was 0.21 to 0.38%. The highest Titrable acidity% BCA-10 (0.38%) at par BCA-4 (0.35%), BCA-7 and BCA-8 are show similar result had the lowest percentage of Titrable acidity, though (0.21%) at par BCA-6 (0.22%) and BCA-13 and Madhur (check) are showed similar result (0.24%), respectively. Different kinds of organic acids and the extent of their concentration play an important role in the flavoring of a fruit. The acidity of the fruits may also be impacted by other climatic variables like temperature, humidity and sun exposure during fruit growth. In the case of custard apple pulp, similar findings were also made by Mathakar (2005) [12] , Bhatnagar et al. (2012) [2] , Hashmi and Pawar (2012) [5] and Poyam et al. (2022) [18] , respectively. [4] , Hashmi and Pawar (2012) [5] , Nag (2017) [15] , Bhatnagar and Singh (2018) [1] and Poyam et al. (2022) [18] in custard apple.

The significant differences in the total sugar (%) were also noted amongst the custard apple genotypes (Table 1). The percentage of total sugar (%) varied from 19.43 to 25.37%. The highest percentage of total sugars (%) was recorded in BCA-3 (25.37%) was at par with BCA-4 (25.28%), BCA-3 (24.72%) and BCA-2 (23.05%) while it was found significantly lowest in BCA-8 (19.43%), respectively. The variation observed in total sugar (%) might be as a consequence of existing variability in genotypes, inheritance and influence of agro climatic conditions. These results are in agreement with the reports of Mathakar (2005) [12] , Nag (2017) [15] and Chandel (2017) [3] in custard apple.

The data regarding reducing sugar are presented in Table 1 [4] , Nag (2017) [15] , and Poyam et al.

(2022) [18] in custard apple.

The data on ascorbic acid (mg/100 g pulp) in the different genotypes of custard apple (Table 1.) showed that the genotype BCA-5 (25.28 mg/100 g pulp) had the highest percentage of ascorbic acid, followed by BCA-4 and BCA-8 (22.78 mg/100 g pulp) are show similar result, while minimum ascorbic acid was recorded in BCA-2 (16.39 mg/100 g pulp) which were at par BCA-1, BCA-12 and BCA-4 (17.22, 17.50 and 18.33 mg/100 g pulp), respectively. Variation in ascorbic acid in different custard apple genotypes is greatly influenced by genetic makeup of different genotypes. The increase in ascorbic acid content in custard apple genotypes might be due to rapid increase in total sugar as the fruit synthesizes ascorbic acid from hexose sugar precursor in custard apple, Similar results were also reported by Hashmi and Pawar (2012) [5] , Kumar (2015) [9,10] , Kad et al. (2016) [7] , Nag (2017) [15] and Poyam et al.

(2022) [18] in custard apple.

Pulp texture

The grittiness of pulp was recorded as soft and granular and presented under Table 1 Out of 16 custard apple genotypes 8 custard apple genotypes viz., BCA-1, BCA-2, BCA-3, BCA-BCA-7, BCA-11, BCA-14 and BCA-15 had granular texture and 8 genotypes viz., BCA-5, BCA-6, BCA-8, BCA-9, BCA-10, BCA-12, BCA-13 and Madhur (check) had soft texture. Genetic makeup and climatic factors are the primary factors of the fruit's pulp texture. Similar findings were also obtained by Mathakar (2005) [12] , Nag (2017) [15] and Chandel (2017) [3] in custard apple.

Conclusion

The current study's observations, which include those related to acidity, T.S.S. and sugars, indicate diversity in biochemical characteristics. The different custard apple genotypes are available in different type of chemical characters of fruits. On the basis of chemicall evaluation, custard apple genotypes BCA-4, BCA-5 and BCA-8 can be developed as custard apple varieties in future and can be used for commercial cultivation. Essentially, this work serves as a foundation for the biochemical characterisation of genotypes of custard apples and the assessment of genetic variation within them. BCA-10, BCA-7, BCA-3, and BCA-5 recorded highest desirable characters. While TSS, acidity and reducing sugars are desired biochemical characteristics found in all four genotypes BCA-10, BCA-7, BCA-3 and BCA-5, there is a large variation in the genotypes of custard apples under investigation for biochemical properties.

References

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