UNVEILING ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF NATIVE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES: AN EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH

The present study evaluated the antioxidant potential of selected native fruits,vegetables,and medicinal plant resources through a comprehensive in-vitro experimental approach. Ten plant samples, namely Musa paradisiaca flower and fruit, Solanum torvum, Syzygiumcumini, Pithecellobium dulce, Ficus racemosa, Phyllanthus emblica, Terminalia chebula, Vitis vinifera, and Ziziphus jujuba, were investigated for their free-radical scavenging and reducing capacities. Shade-dried plant materials were extracted and subjected to DPPH radical scavenging, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), hydrogen peroxide scavenging, superoxide radical scavenging, and nitric oxide scavenging assays. Total phenolic content (TPC) was also determined using the Folin-Ciocalteu method. Considerable variation in antioxidant activity was observed among the investigated samples. In the DPPH assay, Ziziphus jujuba exhibited the highest inhibition (79.75%), followed by Ficus racemosa (78.19%), Pithecellobium dulce (75.70%), and Syzygiumcumini (75.08%). Musa paradisiaca flower showed the highest FRAP activity (75.47%), whereas Ficus racemosa demonstrated the strongest superoxide scavenging activity (79.50%). Hydrogen peroxide scavenging was highest in Musa paradisiaca flower (65.06%), while Phyllanthus emblica exhibited the maximum nitric oxide scavenging activity (60.77%).