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ThesisItem Open Access Potential utilization of wild melon (Cucumis melo spp.) for antioxidant rich products.(Punjab Agricultural University, 2022) Prabhdeep Kaur; Harpreet KaurThe nutritional composition of physiological mature, but unripe wild melon was analysed and it was found that moisture, crude protein, crude fat, crude fibre, ash and available carbohydrates was 87.75% 1.67%, 1.49%, 1.85%, 0.48%, 4.12% respectively. The calcium, iron, zinc and phosphorus were found to be 44.01, 1.72, 0.52, 26.81 mg/100g respectively. Wild melons are considered to possess significant antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and analgesic value. The antioxidant activity of wild melon was 9.85 and 9.58% by DPPH and ABTS, respectively. The total phenolic, flavonoid, alkaloid and ascorbic acid content of fresh wild melon was found to be 67.16 mg GAE/100g, 33.27 mg QE/100g, 7.67 mg/100g, 32.46 mg/100 g, respectively. In wild melon fruit, the total dietary fibre (TDF), soluble dietary fibre (SDF), and insoluble fibre (IDF) content was 2.69, 2.24, and 0.45 g/100g, respectively. The antioxidant activity of oven and shade dried wild melon fruit chunks was 64.27 and 66.19%, respectively (DPPH method). Shade dried chunks had higher antioxidant activity than oven dried chunks. The antioxidant activity by ABTS method showed a similar trend, with percentages of 62.19 and 64.40, respectively. Total phenols, flavonoids, alkaloid and ascorbic acid content in freshly prepared wild melon oven dried and shade dried were 432.29 and 451.34 mg GAE/100g, 189.52 and 223.61 mg QE/100g, 49.09 and 51.53 mg/100g, 77.75 and 64.79 mg/100g, respectively. Seven products namely jam I (with seeds unblanched), jam II (with seeds blanched), jam III (seedless unblanched), chutney I (with seeds), chutney II (without seeds), chutney III (fresh chutney powder) and pickle were prepared from wild melon. All the prepared products were evaluated for sensory properties, proximate composition, antioxidant potential, ascorbic acid, bioactive compounds, sugar and dietary fibre content. The developed products were also studied for the sensory parameters, antioxidants and bioactive compounds at one month interval during storage period of three months. The percent retention of antioxidants during storage of three months in jam I, jam II and jam III ranged between 94.47-43.65%, 83.03-36.23% and 88.73-59.50%, respectively, while in case of chutney I, chutney II and chutney III, it ranged between 92.38-49.45%, 82.06-47.63% and 88.73- 59.50%, respectively. Furthermore, in pickle, the percent retention ranged between 96.27- 60.10 %. The study concluded that wild melon products with high antioxidant content can be marketed to health-conscious consumers, expanding the use range of wild melon fruit in the form of health products.ThesisItem Embargo Efficacy of Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS) programme in management of anaemia among adolescent girls(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Davinder Kaur; Grover, KiranA total of 500 adolescent girls in the age group of 10-18 years were randomly selected from six Government schools (4 rural and 2 urban) of Ludhiana district. Further, a sub sample of 90 adolescent girls, with 30 each in three age groups as 10-12, 13-15 and 16-18 years, consuming iron and folic acid tablets weekly for the period of last three months was selected for the detailed study. To obtain the information on food and nutrient intake, a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and 24-hours recall method for three consecutive days were used. The findings revealed good compliance with much higher benefits of weekly iron and folic acid supplementation programme. The level of knowledge regarding anaemia among the girls was found to increase with age and majority of the adolescent girls were having middle level of knowledge. The morbidity profile of adolescent girls reported high prevalence of fever, cough and cold and tire dness for the last six months. The inadequate intake of all food groups except milk and milk products resulted in low intake of nutrients. Higher percentage of girls in the age group of 13-15 years was found to be underweight whereas the prevalence of anaemia was higher among the girls of 10-12 years. The anaemia status was not found to be associated with body mass index. A less proportion (24%) of adolescent girls was found to be anaemic as compared to reported national and state surveys, indicating that a weekly iron and folic acid supplementation programme is an effective strategy to manage anaemia. Hence the findings recommend focusing on multiple approaches to prevent anaemia with participation of families and communities.ThesisItem Embargo Fatty acid profiling of bakery products available in market(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Prabhjot Kaur; Choudhary, MonikaFifty bakery products were evaluated for their fatty acid profile and oxidative stability. The products were selected on the basis of the survey conducted on which was conducted on a total 200 subjects. The selected subjects were further divided in to two groups namely Youth (Age between 15-34 years) and Older Adults (Age between 35-60 years) having 100 subjects in each and their behavior in context with purchase and consumption of the bakery products was assessed. Further, complacency of nutrients was evaluated by selecting 15 packaged baked foods with nutrition claim and analogous food without any claim. The findings of the study revealed that the average consumption of white bread was 36.60±0.71 g on a weekly basis by the majority of the subjects (61%). The majority of the respondents (50%) consumed 21.51±0.23 g of biscuits once a day. Cookies were consumed by 60 percent of the respondents on weekly basis with an average intake of 27.71±1.22 g. Price and deliciousness were the major influential factors for purchasing most of the bakery products and were kept on first and second rank. Fatty acid profiling of the bakery products revealed that decanoic acid, palmitic acid and myristic acid were the major saturated fatty acids (SFA) observed in breads. Palmitic acid was the major SFA found in all the biscuits. The range of palmitic acid in all the sweet biscuits lied between 42.95±0.81 to 58.13±1.68 percent. Caprylic acid was the major SFA among all the cakes and pastries from different bakeries. The range of caprylic acid lied between 27.17±0.39 to 57.29±0.46 percent. The results revealed that free fatty acids and peroxide value of all the products were found in permissible limits during storage period. In terms of complacency, all the selected products were found compliant with respect to nutrition claim but, the values of the nutrients obtained through laboratory analysis did not meet the claimed values on nutrition label.ThesisItem Embargo Vitamin D profile and bone health of people engaged in office jobs as affected by dietary and lifestyle factors.(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2023) Mahajan, Charvi; Singla, NeerjaThe present study was conducted to evaluate the relationship of dietary and lifestyle factors with the vitamin D status and bone health of adult men and women who were engaged in office jobs and stay mostly indoors. One hundred (100) subjects in the age group of 30-50 years comprising of 50 males and 50 females, who were working in the offices from 9am5pm, were selected. All the selected subjects were found deficit in vitamin D with serum vitamin D values in the range <20ng/ml. Majority of the subjects (81%) had dark skin color (Type V) which could be one of the reasons for lower vitamin D status. Subjects spent most of their time indoors (7hours) by virtue of their work profile, due to which their sun exposure index (SEI) was quite low i.e., 3.3% hour/day as compared to cut-off value of 17.7% hour/day which might be one of the reasons for vitamin D deficiency (VDD). More than fifty percent of subjects (55%) consumed vegetarian diets while none of them were consuming foods fortified with vitamin D due to due to lack of knowledge and inaccessibility of fortified foods. Higher proportion of vegetarian diets and inaccessibility of fortified foods could precipitate VDD. Percent adequacy of milk and milk products was quite high (175% among males and 131% among females) due to higher consumption of tea during winters. Sedentary lifestyle pattern among the selected subjects results in higher Body Mass Index (BMI) which could negatively affect vitamin D status. Atmospheric factors such as UV index (<3) and latitude (<35ºN) during winters could not be sufficient enough for vitamin D absorption. Moreover, UV-B rays get attenuated due to ‗Asian Brown Cloud‘ during months of November- April making sun exposure inadequate for synthesizing vitamin D inspite of the fact that subjects were exposing themselves to sunlight for optimum time (10-30 minutes).ThesisItem Embargo Vitamin D profile and bone health of field workers as affected by dietary and lifestyle factors(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2023) Kaushal, Swati; Singla, NeerjaThe present study was undertaken to investigate vitamin D profile and bone health of field workers as affected by dietary and lifestyle factors. A total of hundred field workers in age group of 30-50 years (including 50 males and 50 females) were selected for the study. About 96% participants had Vitamin D Deficiency (VDD) while 4% were vitamin D insufficient with mean serum vitamin D concentration of 17.02 ng/mL. Higher prevalence of VDD was observed among males (98%) as compared to females (94%). Despite of adequate serum calcium levels, majority was found to be osteoporotic (53%). The prolonged daily sun exposure of about 4.9 hours resulted in higher mean Sun Exposure Index (SEI) of 41.5% BSA hour per day but mean Body Surface Area (BSA%) exposed was limited to 8.4% due to winter clothing and use of sun protective measures among the subjects. Although having high Physical Activity Level (PAL) of 1.97, the majority (86%) had dark skin (type V), which might have resulted in a stronger blocking impact of melanin on vitamin D production. About 42% of the subjects were vegetarians and share of everyday consumers of vitamin D rich sources was lower. None of the subjects consumed vitamin D fortified foods. Higher dietary phytates coupled with lower dietary calcium resulted in higher mean phytate calcium ratio (2.05). Atmospheric factors during study period such as UV index (<3), latitude (30.9°N), Asian brown cloud might have resulted in lowering of availability of sunlight for optimal vitamin D synthesis. The subjects had a low Knowledge Attitude Practice (KAP) score due to their lower education level. Hence, educational awareness programmes, effective food fortification strategies and sensible sun exposure guidelines are necessary for improving vitamin D status.ThesisItem Embargo Evaluation of prebiotic potential of selected fruit peels(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Prabhjot Kaur; Choudhary, MonikaEight fruit peels namely apple, kinnow (with or without albedo), lemon, orange (with or without albedo), papaya, pomegranate, banana (ripe with or without albedo, raw), mango (raw or ripe) were selected to accomplish the objectives of the study. The selected fruit peels were subjected to two treatments i.e., blanching and autoclaving. Three types of fruit peel powders from the selected fruits were prepared such as fruit peel powder (FPP) (without any treatment), blanched FPP and autoclaved FPP. After that, FPP were evaluated for proximate composition, antioxidant capacity, prebiotic oligosaccharides and prebiotic potential. The findings of study revealed that moisture, crude protein, crude fiber, total fat, total ash of FPPs ranged between 2.22-12.25, 1.25-9.54, 1.80-7.69, 1.90-8.02, 1.25-12.55 g/100g, respectively. The highest amount of total dietary fiber content was found in raw banana peel powder with an average value of 77.41 percent. In terms of antioxidant capacity, the maximum total phenolic content was recorded in pomegranate peel powder i.e., 69.23 mg GAE/g. Raw mango peel powder contained the highest amount of total flavonoid i.e., 15.20 mg QE/g. Pomegranate peel powders exhibited the highest antioxidant activity i.e., 84.46 percent DPPH radical scavenging activity and 34.94 mg FeSO4 Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power activity. The antioxidant potential of all fruit peels decreased after autoclaving but there was no significant difference (p<0.05) between values of total antioxidants and antioxidant activity. FTIR characterization showed that presence of prebiotic oligosaccharides such as inulin, fructooligosaccharides, galactooligosaccharides and β glucan in fruit peel powders. In terms of prebiotic potential, powder of kinnow peel without albedo showed the highest value for probiotic viability i.e., 7.61 CFU/ml (at 0 day) and 7.20 CFU/ml (at 28th day). The pH of modified media decreased in all the samples after 28 days of monitoring period with maximum sustainability in peel powder (5.94-5.07). The titratable acidity was increased significantly (p<0.05) in all the samples at the beginning (0 day) to the 28th day of monitoring period. In terms of antimicrobial activity against E.coli, the highest zone of inhibition was observed in ripe mango peel i.e., 24 mm. The study has recommended that fruit peels with highest prebiotic potential may be used to develop prebiotic rich products.ThesisItem Embargo Nutritional evaluation and health implication of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) based food products(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Sewak, Aditi; Singla, NeerjaDue to immense focus on the virtues of nutri-cereals nowadays, in the present study an attempt was made to study the effect of various processing techniques namely soaking, blanching germination, roasting, puffing, decortication and milling on nutritional composition of pearl millet (FBC 16 and PCB 165) and sorghum (PSC 4) along with their health implications. Germination and puffing resulted in a significantly increase (p ≤ 0.05) in the protein, dietary fiber, in vitro digestibility of starch and protein along with higher amount of bioactive compounds (phenols by 49% and flavonoids by 12.1%) and retention of antioxidant activity. However, mineral content (Iron, Calcium and Zinc) of the selected grains was found to be significantly (p ≤ 0.05) reduced with processing techniques, while germination significantly (p ≤ 0.05) enhanced their bioavailability. Amongst both varieties of pearl millet, variety FBC 16 was found to me more acceptable for preparation of health foods. Organoleptically, untreated pearl millet was most suitable for the preparation of salty biscuits (30%), pinni and chapatti (100%). Germinated pearl millet was found to be more suitable for high-fiber dalia (50%), gluten-free dalia (80%) and salad (100%), puffed sorghum was found to be best suitable for bun (15%) and gluten free mix (100%) preparation. The most acceptable combinations of high-fiber dalia, salad and bun were found to be in the category of low glycemic index (23.64-34.96) and medium glycemic load (11.82-17.48). Suitability of pearl millet FBC 16 and sorghum PSC 4 using appropriate processing techniques such as germination and puffing is recommended for use in the preparation of indigenous food products especially for diabetics and celiac disease patients.ThesisItem Open Access Optimization of nutritional & biochemical composition and development of health foods - A study of microgreens(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2021) Bhatt, Pooja; Sharma, SonikaMicrogreens (seedling of vegetable and herbs) are gaining popularity as a new culinary ingredient due to their high nutrient content. The present study optimizes the best combination of cultivation and harvesting to attain nutrient quality in four culinary microgreens belonging to different families. Results revealed that the best technique for optimization of nutrient composition was soaking the seeds overnight, outdoor cultivation and harvesting at an early stage (10th day). Based on NQS 7.1 broccoli microgreens were most nutrient dense microgreen followed by spinach microgreens. Microgreens contain significantly (p<0.05) higher nutrients and bioactive compounds as compared to their sprouts and mature counterparts. Just 100g of microgreens fulfilled more than 100% of Estimated Average Requirements (EAR) of minerals among Indian adults. Drying methods influenced the nutritional composition of the broccoli microgreen powder. β-carotene content (400.54ug/100g), total phenolic content (2645.88 mg GAE/100g) and flavonoids (673.82 mg QE/100g) of shade dried microgreens was significantly higher. A significant higher content of ascorbic acid (16.80 mg/100g), chlorophyll (3.63g/100g), antioxidant activity (67.55%) and all the minerals was reported in microwave dried microgreens. Further fresh microgreens,microgreen juice and powdered microgreens were incorporated in commonly consumed health foods in order to enhance their taste and nutritional composition. All the health products i.e. missi roti, cooked vegetable and dal, salads, juice blend, flavoured milk and food sprinkler supplemented with broccoli microgreens were organoleptic highly acceptable. In term of fresh broccoli microgreens supplementation, 25% in missi roti, 5 and 7.5% in cooked vegetable and dal, 30 and 40% in russian and tofu salad was highly accepted. Incorporation of fresh broccoli microgreen juice at 30% in juice blend and flavoured milk was highly acceptable. Powdered broccoli microgreens supplemented at 40 % of in regular spice mix was highly accepted. Overall nutritional composition in broccoli microgreens supplemented health foods had significantly (p<0.05) high content of vitamins C, β-carotene content and minerals namely calcium, zinc, iron, potassium and magnesium when compared to the control product.ThesisItem Embargo Nutritional assesment and shelf life of broccoli microgreens (Brassica olerecea) under different storage conditions(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2023) Patil, Manisha; Sharma, SonikaMicrogreens are categorized in the class of ‘super foods’ due to their high content of phytochemical and bioactive compounds. Rapid senescence and short life span are the restrictive parameters for the industrial production and marketing of these immature greens. So, there is a need to improve the production and storage conditions of microgreens to magnify postharvest quality, life span, and safety of microgreens, thereby boasting budding markets. Broccoli seeds (Brassica oleracea L. var. Palam Samriddhi) were procured from the Department of Vegetable Science PAU, Ludhiana. Microgreens were grown by soaking overnight, outdoor cultivation and harvested at 10th day. In order to prolong their shelf life, different postharvest treatments (MAP- Modified Atmospheric Packaging, GRAS chemical treatments and storage temperature) were optimized without damaging their nutritional, functional, and sensory parameters. The storage temperature maintained at 5℃ resulted in significantly (p<0.05) better nutritional quality in terms of vitamins and bioactive compounds, also with better physiological quality in terms of better firmness, low tissue electrolyte leakage and microbial load as compared to 1℃ . Among the organic chemical treatments , ascorbic acid + citric acid treated samples maintain significantly (p<0.05) higher nutrients like β- carotene, total phenols, flavonoids, chlorophyll and physiological quality in terms of instrumental colour & microbial enumeration. The samples stored under MAP (15% CO2, and 5% O2) showed higher bioactive compounds as compared to control, with the least physiological weight loss and tissue electrolyte leakage. The best variant out of all the postharvest treatments (combination of ascorbic acid + citric acid stored under MAP at 5℃ ) maintained significantly (p<0.05) higher nutritional value in terms of vitamins, bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity. Also, the physiological quality in terms of instrumental colour, firmness, microbial enumeration, overall acceptability and marketability was significantly (p<0.05) better as compared to the control. Thus, with post-harvest treatment, the shelf life of microgreen can be enhanced (up to 16 days) while maintaining the nutritional quality, so as to provide avenues for better marketability and commercial gains.
