Physico-chemical properties of some seasonal vegetables

Consumption of vegetables is associated with numerous health benefits as they enrich the diet with vital minerals and vitamins, besides providing other nutritionally important components including fibre. Prevalence of the fast foods and eating-outs have somehow affected the pattern of vegetable consumption. Realizing the importance of vegetables in the diet and for pushing forward the case of its increased consumption the United Nation General Assembly has declared 2021 as the “International Year of Fruits and Vegetables”. Among the seasonal vegetables cucurbitaceous crops viz bitter gourd spine gourd, and sweet potato have high medicinal and nutritional value. The summary of measured and calculated geometrical characteristics of bitter gourd, spine gourd and sweet potato in Table1. The average values of major, median and minor diameters of bitter gourd, spine gourd and sweet potato were 16.54, 3.35, 2.83cm, 3.34, 2.18, 1.87 cm, 8.42, 3.02 and 2.77 cm respectively (Table1). The average Geometric mean, Sphericity and Surface area of bitter gourd, spine gourd and sweet potato were 5.383 mm, 165.58, 90.87 cm2 2.410 mm, 270.43, 14.34 cm2 4.121 mm, 212.09 and 53.31 cm2 respectively (Table1). The shape of bitter gourd spine gourd and sweet potato compared with the standard chart (Mohsenin, 1986) [20] and can be consider as spindle-shaped, oval and circular. The average weight, length, diameter and volume were determined. The required fruits were taken randomly for examination of physical parameters (Kusat et al., 2021) [18]. Biochemical properties of bitter gourd, spine gourd and sweet potato were determined. The biochemical properties are proximate and chemical analysis of bitter gourd, spine gourd and sweet potato. In a study of bitter gourd the average nutritional value per 100g edible vegetable was found to contain 90.2 per cent moisture, 4.2g carbohydrate, 1.46g protein, 0.26g fat, 2.34g fibre and 1.36g total sugars (Table 2). In spine gourd the average nutritional value per 100g edible vegetable was found to contain 86.5 per cent moisture, 4.4g carbohydrate, 2.1g protein, 0.3g fat, 2.8g fiber and 0.89g total sugars (Table 2). In sweet potato the average nutritional value per 100g edible vegetable was found to contain 67.2 per cent moisture, 20.4g carbohydrate, 1.47g protein, 0.11g fat, 1.67g fiber and 1.12g total sugars (Table 2).