Potential nutraceutical food beverage with antioxidant properties from banana plant bio-waste (pseudostem and rhizome)

Banana plant biomass waste, viz. pseudostem (BPS) and rhizome (BR), contribute 30.81 and 12.67 per cent respectively. A negligible percentage of these were used for fresh consumption, otherwise they are waste and incinerated. In order to utilize these bio-wastes in a bioactive perspective, nutritional and nutraceutical components were studied from the juices and its Ready-To-Serve (RTS) beverage. When compared to BPS juice, BR juice showed higher total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) of 341.44 mgGAE and 87.60 mgCE/200 μL, respectively, and concomitantly exhibited high antioxidant activity (AOA) in all the assays tested, viz. DPPH radical scavenging activity (82.93%), superoxide radical scavenging activity (49.45%), metal chelation activity (48.32%) total reducing power (0.846 OD at 700 nm) and total antioxidant capacity (928 mmol ascorbic acid equivalents). High quantity of polyphenols present in BR juice resulted high AOA. Strong positive correlations were observed between TPC and TFC of BPS and BR juice with AOA assays. Among the different concentrations of RTS beverages prepared, 25% BPS juice and 20% BR juice with 15°brix TSS and 0.3% acidity were adjudged as best by sensory panelists. Thus, BPS and BR juice can be effectively used to produce new generation functional beverages.