A PROJECT REPORT ON�TO STUDY THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES & NUTRITIONAL PROFILING OF CASSIA FISTULA FRUIT

Presented By:

Hritik Kakoti – CIT/17/FP/002

Pranay Kakati – CIT/17/FP/004

Mirjuma Sultana – CIT/16/FP/010

Under the supervision of: DR. PRAKASH KUMAR NAYAK

Assistant Professor, Dept. of FET

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

First of all, we pay our sincere thanks to our Assistant Professor and our Project Guide, Dr. Prakash Kumar Nayak, for giving such a wonderful opportunity to do the project. Secondly, we want to thank the entire faculty, FET and Lab-technician of FET Department for spending their crucial time and immensely helping us in our project. We also thank our classmates and friends who helped us and to clear our doubts. Finally, we acknowledge our deepest gratitude to our parents and all loved ones. Our full dedication to the work would have not been possible without their blessings and moral supports.

INTRODUCTION

Cassia fistula, called as Golden Shower tree is a semi-wild fast-growing tree of the family Fabaceae. It is native to southeast Asia and Indian subcontinent. This deciduous tree has height of about 6-9 m. This tree has greenish to grey colour bark. The fruits are elongated and cylindrical in shape with length ranging from 20-30 cm or even more. The fruit color is green and when ripens it changes to brownish to purple in color. Its pulp is greenish to dark brown in color, sticky and sweet in taste and has a characteristic odour and somewhat disagreeable. Whereas its seeds appear as black ovate shape having 8mm length and slightly less in breadth and about 5mm thick. Its fruits are found throughout the winter. In a study, it says that its seeds are rich in glycerides, linoleic acid, stearic and palmitic acid . The pulp of the fruits is rich in high concentration of soluble sugar, sucrose and also a good source of macronutrients like calcium and potassium. The fruit pulp is used for constipation problems and urinary disorders.

Materials and Methods

Procurement of

Sample

Physical Analysis

Chemical Analysis

PROCUREMENT OF SAMPLE

Raw and fresh samples of C. fistula were collected from market near Central Institute of Technology, Kokrajhara, Assam. The damage free raw samples were selected and stored at room temperature. Before experimentation these samples were washed and cleaned thoroughly.

Weight of fruit

The weight of the fruit was weighed by an electronic weighing balance to an accuracy of 0.001 gm.

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Moisture Content(wet basis)

• Moisture content of C. fistula was obtained by using a Sartorius™ MA160 Infrared moisture analyzer.
• About 1gm of sample pulp was taken and placed inside the machine to analyse its moisture content.

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• To determine the size and shape of the fruit, a sample 50 no. of fruits were randomly selected.
• The three principal dimensions which are length, width was measured by a Vernier caliper of an accuracy of 0.01 mm.

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Size and Shape

• Aspect ratio (Ra) of the fruit was determined by using this following equation
• Ra = (W/L) ×100

Aspect ratio

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES

Color Analysis

• Color is the primary sensory attribute that a consumer notice before consuming that food.
• The color of the sample was measured by Hunter lab colorimeter where it expresses the color in three�numerical values; L* to measure lightness, a* and b* to measure green to red & blue to�yellow color components respectively.
• Afterr calibration the sample color was�analysed.

Texture Analyzer

• Food Texture is defined as the structural elements of the food
• A Texture analyzer TAXT plus (stable Micro Systems) was used to measure the different texture parameter of the c.fistula fruit
• such as; hardness, brittleness, tensile strength, adhesiveness, cohesiveness, firmness,�stickiness etc.

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Ash Content

•  The dry ash technique with a muffle furnace was used to determine the ash content of�the fruit.
• About 1 gm of dry sample were taken in a crucible, weighed and put inside the�muffle furnace for ashing at 500˚C for 3 – 4 hours.After complete ashing the sample�with the crucible was weighed.
• The percentage of ash was calculated

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Total Soluble Solid (TSS)

• It was measured by using a Refractometer and is referred to as degree Brix which ranges�from 0-32˚Brix.
• The Brix is usually considered as equivalent to the percentage of sugar present in the solution.
• It’s the measurement of RI of unknown sample by measuring the angle of refraction when come in contact with the prism surface with respect to the known refractive index.

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Percentage of Ash = ^{𝐖𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐬𝐡} ×𝟏𝟎𝟎

_{𝐎𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞}

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• Crude fiber is determined gravimetrically and its residue remaining after chemical�digestion and solubilization.
• In this process the sample is treated successively with solutions of Sulphuric�acid and Sodium hydroxide at 1.25 % concentration.
• The residue is filtered on a sintered�glass filter i.e. then dried, weighed and ashed at temperature of 500˚C.
• The loss of weight�after ashing corresponds to the crude fiber present in the testing sample.
• The formula for fiber content :

� Fiber content = W1 – W2�W1 = weight of the crucible with oven dried sample�W2 = weight of the crucible after ashing of the�sample

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Fiber Content

• Fat content of the food is estimated by Soxhlet extraction method
• Approximately, 2.0 gm of dried sample was taken in the thimble and placed inside the Soxhlet extractor.
•  250ml dried clean conical flask was taken and it was filled with n-hexene (boiling point of 60-70˚C).
•  The whole setting was assembled and then placed on a heating mantle allowed to boil.
•  The extraction process was continued for 3-4 hours. The flask was then dried at 105-110˚C and cooled in a desiccator and weighed.
•  The % of fat of C. Fistula: �Fat (%) = (W2 - W1)/P ×100�W2 = weight of conical flask with the fat extract�W1 = weight of empty conical flask�P = weight of sample taken

Fat Estimation

Carbohydrate Estimation

• The carbohydrates were measured by hydrolyzing the polysaccharides to simple sugars.
• The resultant monosaccharides estimated by the Anthrone method.
• Standard prepared by using D-glucose & stored refrigerated after adding few  drops of Toluene.
• 100 mg of fruit sample is weighed & get hydrolyzed.
• After 3 hours the acid was neutralized with NAOH until the effervescence stopped.
• The volume of solution was made up to 100 ml & centrifuged.
• Alll test tubes made upto 1 ml, then 4 ml of Anthrone reagent was added.
• The absorbance was measured at 630nm by spectrophotometer.

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• The different physical & chemical parameters were analysed.
• Thee bioactive compounds such as phenolic content & the antioxidant scavenging activity analysed.
• Three replications of the parameters were made & consequently averag tabulated.
• Graphs & tables were prepared for various attributes of Cassia fistula.

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RESULTS and DISCUSSION

• The average length was 48.66 ± 3.70 cm. 
• The width was 7.8 ±  0.38 cm
• Aspect ratio was calculated to be 14.97 cm.
• Moisture content was measured by using a Sartorius™  MA160 Infrared moisture analyser.
• The moisture content was 61.89% on wet basis.

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1. PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

2. NUTRITIONAL PROPERTIES

Colour Analysis

• The colour analysis value showed by C. fistula were L*, a*, b* & ∆E
• Thee L*, a*, b* & ∆E values were 24.26, 2.93, 11.69 & 27.09 respectively.

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Total Soluble Solids (TSS)

• The TSS of this fruit is measured by the visual hand held refractometer.
• Each degree of Brix equal to 1% of sugars.
• TSS value of Sonalu was observed to be 29°C Brix.

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• They exist in polysaccharide.
• Anthrone is widely used for carbohydrate estimation.
• Standardd D-glucose was use din anthrone method.
• Thee carbohydrate content present in the C. fistula is 15.128 mg per 100 mg.

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Carbohydrate Content

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Crude Fiber Content

• Crude fibre is the in digestible cellulosic materials and ligin.
• It was determined gravimetrically and its residue remaining after chemical digestion.
• Solubilizationn of other material present by using crude fibre analyser with the use of dilute acid and alkali. 
• The percentage of fiber present in C. fistula that we got was 3.307%.

Fat Content

• Fat is extracted from C. fistula by Soxhlet method.
• Hexanee is used for extraction process.
• Thee fat percentage of C. fistula that we get was 1.48 %

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Ash Content

• The high temperature muffle furnace was used at 500°C.
•  The percentage of ash content of C. fistula we get was 3.31%.

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• The values of parameter i.e., the hardness, fracturability, adhesiveness, springiness,  cohesiveness, gumminess, chewiness, resilience of C. fistula was 1879.044, 1713.723, - 696.284, 0.938, 0.569, 1069.824, 1003.625 & 0.274
• The texture analysis graph is given below.

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Texture Analysis

NUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS VALUES OF CASSIA FISTULA

Spondius pinnata (L. f.) Kurz

Family : Anacardiaceae

Local name : Amora (As.)

Deciduous tree with grey bark; leaves pinnate, crowded at the ends of branches; leaflets 6-9 pairs, shortly stalked, oblong, acuminate, entire, more or less oblique; flowers greenish-white; drupes fleshy, ovoid, becomes yellowish on maturity.

Distribution : Common throughout the state, often grown.

Uses :  Bark used in dysentery, urticaria, melaena and blood dysentery; leaves used as vermifuse; fruits used in diarrhea and cough.

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Some Pictures of Our Works On Amora

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