Phytochemicals, nutritional, antioxidant activity, and sensory analyses of Moringa oleifera Lam. collected from mid-hill region of Nepal

This study was aimed to determine the phytochemicals and nutritional compositions, antioxidant activity and sensorial properties of Moringa oleifera extracts. The powders prepared from leaves and pods were mixed separately at the ratios of 1:0, 0:1, 0.25:0.75, 0.5:0.5 and 0.75:0.25 and labelled as mixtures A, B, C, D and E, respectively. Mixture A exhibited highest chlorophylls, tannins, phenolics and flavonoids contents (17.8 mg/g, 9.1 mg GAE/g, 91.1 mg GAE/g and 38.1 mg QE/g, respectively). The crude proteins content was higher (18.03%) in mixture A. The fats, fibres and carbohydrates amounts were higher (2.96%, 11.02% and 67.86%, respectively) in mixture B. The highest energy value (335.62 Kcal/100 g) and the highest antioxidant activity (83.2%) were in mixture A. However, most of the sensory attributes were ranked high for mixture D, signifying to use the equal proportion of leaves and pods powder of M. oleifera for the development of food products.

Keywords: Moringa oleifera; antioxidant activity; nutritional value; phytochemicals; sensory analysis.