Carbohydrate composition of some cucurbit seeds

✍ Scribed by Shantanu K. Samant; Dinanath V. Rege

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 504 KB
• Volume: 2
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0889-1575
• DOI: 10.1016/0889-1575(89)90075-6

✦ Synopsis

Cucurbit seed kernels of musk melon, water melon, and pumpkin were analyzed in detail for their carbohydrate composition. Carbohydrates of cucurbit kernels are 4.0-5.3% simple sugars, 1.2-1.4% starch, and 6.0-7.0% unavailable carbohydrates. Cellulose is the major unavailable carbohydrate, present at 1.7-2.5%, while concentrations of cold water-and hot water-soluble polysaccharides, pectin, and hemicelluloses are 0.30-0.57%, 0.40-0.45%, 0.75-l .3%, and 0.22-0.34%, respectively. Lignin concentration varies in the range of 2.0-2.9%. The method used measured alcohol-soluble sugars and starch which were left unaccounted by previous researchers. Every carbohydrate fraction contained proteins. Almost 8.0% of total proteins were left unhydrolyzed even after prolonged trypsin treatment. This raises the question about the bioavailability of these seed proteins. o 1989 Academic press, hc.