© 2018 JETIR September 2018, Volume 5, Issue 9 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162) Suaeda sp. Based Food Products: A Unique Avenue for Alternative Livelihood 1 2 3 4 5 Nabonita Pal, Sudeshna Biswas, Pavel Biswas Sufia Zaman Abhijit Mitra 1,2,3,4 Department of Oceanography, Techno India University, West Bengal, Kolkata-700091, India 5 Department of Marine Science, University of Calcutta, 35 B.C. Road, Kolkata 700019, India Abstract: We analysed the nutritional status of samosa and kachuri (the most two common food for North Indian breakfast) developed from Suaeda maritima collected from Indian Sundarbans during July, 2018. These two food products were prepared by mixing variable proportions of semi-dried leaves of the species with the ingredients of samosa (potato) and kachuri (Sattu). Significant variations in biochemical composition between the food products (having different levels of semi-dried leaves of the species) is observed as revealed from ANOVA (p ≤ 0.01). Our first order analysis shows that these food products are not only rich in nutrients, but can also be linked up with the domain of mangrove-based alternative livelihood of Sundarbans people. IndexTerms - Suaeda maritima, samosa, kachuri, nutritional value, Indian Sundarbans, alternative livelihood. I. INTRODUCTION Suaeda maritima (commonly called seablite) is a salt marsh plant that is widely available in the coastal zone, mangrove ecosystem and river mouth with high salinity. It’s young leaves can be used as fresh vegetable or cooked. Due to presence of salts in the succulent leaves of the species, the prepared dish is quite salty and hence, the leaves of Suaeda sp. are cooked with other types of vegetables to reduce the salty taste. The species is used in the preparations of various dishes. Local people in Samut Songkram province (in Thailand) use seablite for different types of cooking such as traditional seablite salad, seablite curry with crabs, or scalded seablite with chilli paste. The edible part is the young leaves which are scalded for about 10 to 15 mins and then knocked with cold water to make them crispier (Pornpitakdamrong and Sudjaroen, 2014). In the South Indian states, seablite is pickled in vinegar or used for cooking as well as food for domestic animals (Bandaranayke, 2002). Human population needs a wide range of nutrients to perform various life processes and lead a normal healthy life. A balanced diet (for human beings) refers to optimum levels of protein, carbohydrate, fat, fibre and different minerals (Biswas et al., 2018). Suaeda sp. is a common halophyte growing in the mid-littoral and supra-littoral zones of the sea coast and river mouth. This fleshy plant is found at the edges of wetlands, marshes, sea shores and mudflats, actually on most alkaline flats (Smillie, 2015). This plant has spongy stems with diminutive scale-like leaves, inconspicuous flowers and fruits. The green plant turns orange, pink to reddish in autumn, before dying in winter. The species is widely available in the intertidal mudflats of mangrove dominated Indian Sundarbans (Fig.1). Fig. 1. Bed of Suaeda maritima in the supra-littoral zone of Indian Sundarbans with morphological feature of the species in the inset This paper explores the present status of the species in the food arena (preferably in the domain of snacks for daily breakfast) and evaluates its scope ahead. On the basis of the nutrient level and edibility factor of the species, the present programme was undertaken during July, 2018 with the aim to develop food products (samosa and kachuri) that are widely consumed throughout Indian sub-continent and are available in almost all the sweet shops of the country. JETIR1809253 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 774 © 2018 JETIR September 2018, Volume 5, Issue 9 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162) II. MATERIALS AND METHODS Analysis of proximate composition The total protein content of the semi-dried Suaeda sp. leaves and the food products were determined with Folin reagent with bovine albumin serving as standard (Lowry et al., 1951). The total carbohydrate content was assayed by the phenolsulphuric acid method (Dubois et al., 1956) after extraction with 2.5N HCl. The results were calculated from a glucose standard curve. Total lipid was determined by Soxhlet method as described by Folch et al (1957). Analysis of elemental composition Calcium (Ca) in the acid digested samples of semi-dried Suaeda sp. leaves and the food products was determined by the versenate titration method as described in Raghuramulu et al (1983). The sodium (Na) and potassium (K) were measured by Flame Photometer (ELICO-CL-360) in 10 g air dried leaf samples after digesting the samples with nitric acid and perchloric acid. Statistical analysis Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was performed through SPSS 16.0 to assess whether any significant difference exists between samosa and kachuri which were prepared with different proportions of Suaeda sp. semi-dried leaves. Possibilities less than 1% (p ≤ 0.01) were considered statistically significant. III. RESULTS Suaeda maritima leaves exhibited highest value of total carbohydrate followed by protein, fibre and fat. Among the elements, sodium exhibited highest concentration followed by potassium and calcium (Figs. 2a, 2b). -1 Fig. 2a. Proximate composition of air-dried Suaeda sp. leaves (units are in g 100g ) -1 Fig. 2b. Elemental composition of air-dried Suaeda sp. leaves (units are in mg g ) It is interesting to observe that the samosa prepared from Suaeda sp. semi-dried leaves in the ratio 50:50 (1:1) exhibited higher protein, carbohydrate, fat, fibre, calcium and potassium compared to the samosa with proportion 70:30 (7:3). However, for Na the result was totally different. For this element, the samosa with 7:3 ratio exhibited higher value compared to the samosa with 1:1 ratio (Figs. 3a, 3b). In case of kachuri, similar results were observed (Figs. 4a, 4b). JETIR1809253 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 775 © 2018 JETIR September 2018, Volume 5, Issue 9 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162) -1 Fig. 3a. Proximate composition in Suaeda sp. samosa (g 100g ) -1 Fig. 3b. Elemental composition in Suaeda sp. samosa (mg g ) -1 Fig. 4a. Proximate composition in Suaeda sp. Kachuri (g 100g ) JETIR1809253 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 776 © 2018 JETIR September 2018, Volume 5, Issue 9 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162) -1 Fig. 4b. Elemental composition in Suaeda sp. Kachuri (mg g ) The relatively high values of protein, carbohydrate, fat, fibre, calcium and potassium in the samosa and Kachuri prepared from Suaeda sp. semi-dried leaves in ratio 1:1 compared to those in the ratio 7:3 may be due to inclusion of potato/sattu in varied proportions within the samosa and kachuri. In case of Na, the samosa/kachuri prepared from the species showed an opposite results with higher values in samosa/kachuri where the ratio Suaeda sp. semi-dried leaves: potato = 7: 3. This may be attributed to the fact that Na concentration is considerably high in Suaeda sp. The overall results point towards the development of alternative livelihood by using Suaeda sp. as food ingredient. The food products developed from Suaeda sp. are not only rich in nutrients, but also can upgrade the sweet and snack industries of Indian Sundarbans at cottage level. The present approach is expected to serve as a roadmap towards further research and popularization of this halophyte as food ingredient. IV. DISCUSSION Suaeda maritima is common all along the coast of India particularly in Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, etc. They grow as scrubby bushes and spread in large areas (Fig.1). The species exhibit increase in leaf volume with increasing salinity in the substrate. The present study provides valuable information regarding the potential of Suaeda sp.-based food products as natural sources of protein, carbohydrate and minerals. The results generated from the present study validate the potential use of the species of renewable sources to offer excellent health package. Considering the under utilization of barren salt marsh land in coastal habitats farming of this species can be promoted, which has not been seriously explored earlier due to lack of knowledge about its commercial importance. The Indian Sundarbans at the apex of Bay of Bengal is highly vulnerable to climate change preferably sea level rise and subsequent intrusion of salt water in the islands (Mitra et al., 2009; Mitra et al., 2011; Mitra, 2013; Mitra and Zaman, 2014; Mitra and Zaman, 2015; Mitra and Zaman, 2016). The intrusion of saline water is maximum in the central Indian Sundarbans owing to blockage of fresh water due to Bidhyadhari siltation (Trivedi et al., 2016). This has posed an adverse impact on the traditional livelihoods (agriculture, fishery etc.) of Sundarban people. Therefore, thrust has been given to develop alternative livelihoods strategies to upgrade the local economy of the island dwellers of Sundarbans. In this context, preparation of cookies and snacks from seaweed (Pramanick et al., 2016) and fish feed from salt marsh grass, Porteresia coarctata are notable examples (Mitra, 2013). Due to rise of salinity in different pockets of Indian Sundarbans, the community structure of vegetation has undergone a major shift. Dominance of Suaeda sp., Salicornia sp. etc. are observed in majority of the areas in central Indian Sundarbans, which are salt water loving mangrove associate species and can tolerate extreme salinity. The species are now considered as prospective natural resources from where the flowers of alternative livelihood can bloom. On this background the present programme was undertaken in collaboration with commercial sweet shops after imparting proper training to the workers and stakeholders. V. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors acknowledge the idea of such innovative start-up programme provided by Vikash Jaiswal and Sanjoy Pakre without whom the experimental approach could not see the fruits of results. The preparation of the food products was exclusively taken care of by Mr. Jaiswal. REFERENCES [1] Bandaranayke, W.M. (2002). Bioactivities, bioactive compounds and chemical constituents of mangrove plant. Wetlands Ecol. Manag. 10: 421-452. JETIR1809253 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 777 © 2018 JETIR September 2018, Volume 5, Issue 9 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162) [2] Biswas, S., Pal, N., Biswas, P., Zaman, S., Mitra, A. (2018). Nutritional status of food products developed from Salicornia Brachiata. International Journal of Pharmacy and Biological Sciences. 8(3): 546-551. [3] Dubois, M., Gilles, K.A., Hamilton, J.K., Rebers, P.A. & Smith, F. (1956). Colorimetric methods for determination of sugars and related substances. Analit. 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