EVALUATION OF BIOACTIVITY OF JAGGERY PREPARED USING PLANT MUCILAGE AS CLARIFICANT

Objective: The aim of the study was to prepare the jaggery using plant mucilage as clarificants and to evaluate the bioactivity of jaggery by determining total phenols, total flavonoids, reducing power, antibacterial activity, and antihelmintic activity.Methods: Jaggery was prepared from sugarcane variety Co-80632 using five plant mucilage as clarificants, namely Aloe vera, flax seeds, fenugreek, purslane, and malabar spinach at three different concentrations, i.e., 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.4% of raw sugarcane juice. The characteristic bioactivities such as total phenol content by Folin–Ciocalteu method, flavonoids content by spectrophotometer method, reducing power assay by measuring the absorbance at 700 nm, antibacterial activity by well-diffusion method, and antihelmintic activity by in vitro were determined.Results: The highest total phenolic content was observed in jaggery prepared using plant mucilage clarificant of A. vera (JAV4 [3.68±0.02]) and Fenugreek seeds (JFG4 [3.61±0.02]) at 0.4% followed by them at 0.2% and 0.1% concentration, respectively. Similarly, a significant amount of total flavonoids content was elevated only in 0.4% plant mucilage clarificants of Aloe vera-treated experimental group jaggery (0.73±0.01) compared to control (0.61±0.02). Further, the antioxidant activity of jaggery was evaluated by reducing power. The increased absorbance at 700 nm indicated the presence of reducing power. At 10 mg/ml concentration, an absorbance unit of 1.93 and 1.80 was observed for jaggery prepared using 0.4% concentration of A. vera and fenugreek seed mucilage clarificants. Antihelmintic activity of jaggery showed dosage depended on the pattern where with the increase in the concentration of mucilage, the antihelmintic activity enhanced. A. vera mucilage showed maximum antihelmintic activity at 0.4% concentration with paralytic time (28.6 min) and death time (39.6 min).Conclusion: Jaggery prepared using plants mucilaginous clarificants is the richest source of polyphenols such as phenolic acids and flavonoids, thereby contributed to the enhancement of bioactivity such as antioxidant, antibacterial, and antihelmintic activity. Thus, jaggery prepared using plant mucilage as clarificants is a novel nutraceutical product which can supplement the nutrients along with various medicinal properties through antioxidant, antibacterial, and antihelmintic activity