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Importance of Underutilized Fruits and Nuts

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Book cover Bioactive Compounds in Underutilized Fruits and Nuts

Part of the book series: Reference Series in Phytochemistry ((RSP))

Abstract

The plant wealth of nature is abundant with fruits and nuts which are widely utilized and exploited as supplementary food sources and also for the industrial products as well as for extracting the medicines. Simultaneously, natural plant products have been in use for human healthcare as drugs, antioxidants, flavors, fragrances, dyes, and insecticides. Plentiful of underutilized fruits and nuts (UFNs) are there in plant kingdom which have remained underexploited for a variety of reasons but contributed significantly in food sustainability, as ample sources of important phytochemicals, and have the potentiality for income generation as well as for maintaining the environmental balance. A wide range of products have been harvested from these UFNs which include safe-to-eat fruits, grains, leaves, nuts, roots and tubers, fibers, oils, medicines, spices, stimulants, and their derived products. In this chapter we present the importance of UFNs, their nutritional benefits, their bioactive compounds, and their other biological activities.

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Acknowledgments

HNM is thankful to DST-PURSE phase-2 program and UGC-BSR midcareer award grant [No. F.19-223/2018(BSR)]. VAB thanks the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), Allahabad, India, for the Honorary Scientist fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, Karnatak University, Dharwad, India

    Hosakatte Niranjana Murthy

  2. Department of Biotechnology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, India

    Viswash Anant Bapat

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  1. Hosakatte Niranjana Murthy
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  2. Viswash Anant Bapat
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Correspondence to Hosakatte Niranjana Murthy .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, Karnatak University, Dharwad, India

    Hosakatte Niranjana Murthy

  2. Department of Biotechnology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, India

    Vishwas Anant Bapat

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Botany, Karnatak University, Dharwad, India

    Hosakatte Niranjana Murthy

  2. Department of Horticulture, Division of Animal, Horticultural and Food Sciences, Chungbuk National University, Chenogju, Republic of Korea

    Hosakatte Niranjana Murthy

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Murthy, H.N., Bapat, V.A. (2020). Importance of Underutilized Fruits and Nuts. In: Murthy, H., Bapat, V. (eds) Bioactive Compounds in Underutilized Fruits and Nuts. Reference Series in Phytochemistry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-06120-3_1-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-06120-3_1-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-06120-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-06120-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Chemistry and Mat. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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