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Global Perspectives on Underutilized Crops pp 151–164Cite as

Nutritional Prospects of Edible Fern of the Western Ghats of India

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Abstract

The nutritional potential of ethnically edible fiddleheads of riparian fern Diplazium esculentum distributed in the Western Ghats of India has been compared with other geographic regions. Uncooked and cooked samples possess moderate quantities of proteins, lipids and carbohydrates. Among the minerals, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, zinc and copper in uncooked fiddleheads fulfil or surpass NRC-NAS standards with favourable Na-K ratio (<1). The uncooked and cooked fiddleheads obey FAO-WHO yardsticks for six essential amino acids (His, Ile, Leu, Lys, Thr and Val) with highest quantity of lysine. The contents of seven essential amino acids (Ile, Leu, Lys, Phe, Thr, Tyr and Val) in fiddleheads are comparable or higher than soybean and wheat. The uncooked as well as cooked fiddleheads possess high quantity of palmitic acid. Adequate quantities of minerals, several essential amino acids and high in vitro protein digestibility with high protein efficiency ratios of fiddleheads of D. esculentum support its novelty as human diet.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biosciences, Mangalore University, Mangalagangotri, Mangalore, Karnataka, India

    Ammatanda A. Greeshma, Kandikere R. Sridhar & Mundamoole Pavithra

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  1. Ammatanda A. Greeshma
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  2. Kandikere R. Sridhar
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  3. Mundamoole Pavithra
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Center for Environmental Studies, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey

    Munir Ozturk

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Khalid Rehman Hakeem

  3. Pakistan Science Foundation, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Muhammad Ashraf

  4. Department of Botany, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Muhammad Sajid Aqeel Ahmad

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Greeshma, A.A., Sridhar, K.R., Pavithra, M. (2018). Nutritional Prospects of Edible Fern of the Western Ghats of India. In: Ozturk, M., Hakeem, K., Ashraf, M., Ahmad, M. (eds) Global Perspectives on Underutilized Crops. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77776-4_5

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