Exogenous application of natural extracts of persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thunb.) can help in maintaining nutritional and mineral composition of dried persimmon

Abstract

Persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thunb.) fruit is delicious as well as rich in nutritive and medicinal values. The fruit is not available throughout the year and also could not be grown across the world but is liked in many countries. Many people have access only to the dried fruits. Therefore, the demand of quality dry fruit is very high. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of persimmon-peel extracts in maintaining the quality characteristics of dried persimmon. Different treatments applied to the dried fruit were assessed on the basis of physicochemical and organoleptic properties. The findings reveal that dried persimmon sprayed with 10% persimmon-peel extract exhibited the highest overall acceptance value with considerable nutritional and mineral composition as compared to other treatments. The results suggest that application of persimmon-peel extracts could rather be effective to enhance the overall acceptance of dried persimmon fruit together with maintaining its nutritional quality as compared to the commercially available synthetic preservatives.

Keywords: Exogenous application, natural extract, nutritional composition, mineral composition, dried persimmon

African Journal of Biotechnology, Vol 13(22) 2231-2239