Evaluation of nutritional and quality characteristics of selected dragon fruit varieties of Telangana, India

Now a days consumption of fruits and vegetables is gaining popularity in the functional food
market due to their health-promoting components, dragon fruit is one among them. The
consumption trend of dragon fruits in India is increasing due to their potential health benefits.
Hence, the present study was conducted to the select best nutritional variety of dragon fruit
through the biochemical analysis, by estimating the nutritional, phytonutrients and antioxidant
activity in red-fleshed and white-fleshed dragon fruits. The moisture and fat content of white-
fleshed dragon fruit comparatively had higher levels 84.70%, and 1.01% respectively compared
to red-fleshed variety. Wherein, the red-fleshed dragon fruit exhibited higher levels of protein,
crude fiber, carbohydrates, and energy: 0.70%, 0.87%, 20.99%, and 93.71 K cal per 100 g
respectively when compared to the white-fleshed variety. The mineral composition of red-
fleshed dragon fruit was high in iron (3.25 mg/100 g), calcium (47.52mg/100 g), sodium (9.11
mg/100 g), manganese (0.60 mg/100 g) and copper (0.14 mg/100 g) respectively compared to
white-fleshed variety. However, Red-fleshed dragon fruit had higher levels of antioxidant
activity, total phenols and total flavonoid contents. Thus, the present study highlights the
nutritional richness of red-fleshed dragon fruit variety it can be also selected as a promising
functional ingredient in food formulations and processing industries.