Varietal comparison of proximate composition and mineral profiling of Pakistan native barberry powder

Berberis Vulgaris fruit (barberry)also commonly known as “zereshk” is one of the world’s renowned medicinal plant with highly nutritious and therapeutic values, world widely. It is an elongated, 8-10mm long, bright red colored, fruit. Berberidaceae family; B. vulgaris fruit is very useful tonic for liver, heart, pancreas, gallbladder and kidneys. It prevents chronic bleeding disorders, purifies blood, lowersblood cholesterol level, blood pressure and most importantly it help to treat diabetes. In addition it is effective in treatment of parasitic liver, kidney stones, gout, colon cancer, prostate inflammation, fever, asthma and malaria. Objective:This study is aimed to check the mineral and chemical profiling of Pakistan native barberry fruit.Methods:Proximate analysis of three different varieties (BVF01, BVF02, and BVF03) of B. vulgaris fruitfrom different three regions Azad Kashmir, Chitral and Gilgit Baltistandemonstrated a nutritional composition in range of 77.43, 70.08, 73.12%for moisture,0.98,0.76, 0.89% for crude ash,0.42, 0.33, 0.39% for crude fat,1.53,1.32, 1.44% for crude protein, 2.76, 2.64, 2.75% for crude fiber,16.88, 24.87, 21.41% for Nitrogen free extract (NFE).The different varieties of barberry contained the ranges of minerals such ascalcium2724.70,2584.13, 2693.59ppm, magnesium 998.46,944.06, 986.32ppm, potassium12189.75, 11,114.21, 12021.19ppm, sodium 1402.16, 872.38, 1269.44ppm, iron 449.67, 334.58, 396.90ppm, zinc8.42,13.78,29.5ppm, copper 15.11, 5.45, 11.63ppm, manganese 32.5, 25.86, 28.91ppm(mg/L), respectively. Conclusions: The type of barberry cultivated in Azad Kashmir is the best having good proximate composition and highest minerals amount as compared to Chitral and Gilgit Baltistan cultivated barberry