Dahot, MU; Mangrio, SM; Khaskhely, MH; Dewani, VK
The approximate composition of premature chibber fruit (Cucumis melo var. Agrestis) was analyzed. This fruit contained 9.31% carbohydrate, 0.48% protein, 0.29% lipid, 0.93% ash, and 88.99% moisture. Sufficient amounts of sodium (307.61 mg), potassium (218.88 mg), cobalt (1.025 mg), and iron (0.279 mg) were present in the total ash of the chibber fruit. Water soluble vitamins were (mg per 100 g of fruit) ascorbic acid (60), niacin (16.33), thiamine (12.60), and folic acid (10). Mannose, galactose, maltose, glucose, alanine, aspartic acid, phosphoserine, serine, glutamic acid, threonine, glycine, valine, leucine, histidine, lysine, cystine, isoleucine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, glutamine, and asparagine were found to be present in the aqueous extract of premature chibber fruit. These results suggest that chibber fruit contains sufficient amounts of all essential nutrients which could become a good source of human food. The object of this study was to determine the nutrient values of premature chibber fruit which is commonly used as fruit and vegetable in rural areas because such work has not been carried out earlier.