Abstract:
The fruit pulp of common types of palmyrah (Borassus flabellifer) contains high
quantities of dietary fibre and pectin content which had been reported to be 5-7%.
Four uncommon fruit types were collected from Mannar, Sri Lanka, The fruit pulp
contained 12,8 to 16.8% insoluble dietary fibre and 9.7 to 10.9% dry weight soluble
dietary fibre. Pectin contents were high (8.1 to 10.6% dry weight) and pectin was by
far the largest contributor soluble dietary fibre. Sepharose-gel chromatography
showed that the soluble dietary fibre was polydisperse with some factions in type A
and type B showing eluent volume corresponding to molecular weight in excess of2
million Daltons. The study show that: (i) if these uncommon type are propagated
this could yield a commercially valuable by-product in pectin. (ii) high fibre content
of fruit pulp can result in medically beneficial effects when edible palmyrah fruit
preparations is consumed.
