ETHNOBOTANICAL ASSESSMENT AND NUTRITIVE POTENTIAL OF WILD FOOD PLANTS - A. A. Shad; H. U. Shah; J. Bakht (Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences, 2013)
Wild flora is an integral component of rural livelihoods and their exploitation has advocated for achieving the optimal dietary requirements. In this context, the current study presents systemic practice on traditional usage of wild dietary and medicinal plants in the recent scenarios of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Ethnobotanical survey recorded 17 plants belonging to 14 families that are separately used as food and medicine by the indigenous population. The present study investigates their proximate composition, mineral profile, vitamin C, -carotene, and anti-nutritional factors. Analysis of the data revealed that the selected species contained significant amount of protein, crude fat, crude fiber and NFE. The crude protein and crude fat contents were ranged from 3.08 to 13.78% and 0.89 to 4.13%, respectively. Vitamin C content was highest in Oxalis stricta (52.48±5.57 mg 100-1g) and least amount was found in Zanthoxylum alatum (1.650.87 mg 100-1g) on fresh weight basis. -Carotene was found maximum in Nasturtium officinale (209.60 mg 100-1g) followed by Sisymbrium officinale and Rumex hastatus while minimum concentration was determined in Zanthoxylum alatum. Analysis of the mineral profile showed that potassium was present in highest quantity followed by calcium, phosphorus, sodium and iron. Similarly, anti-nutritional factors were noted in different ranges i.e. total oxalates (14.34-362.66), phytic acid (5.97-33.09), tannins (7.27-108.49) mg 100-1 g on fresh weight. It can be concluded from the present study that the investigated plant species are poor source of anti-nutritional factors and key source of nutracuticles which advocates the subject plants as wild edible species for human consumptions.
Keywords: journal article; Wild food; nutraceuticals; biodiversity; proximate; minerals