Selected Sri Lankan food plants and other herbs as potential sources of inulin-type fructans

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the inulin-type fructan content in 20 selected food plants and other herbs commonly found in Sri Lanka. The inulin content of the selected plants were determined qualitatively and quantitatively using thin layer chromatography (TLC) and enzymatic spectrophotometric (ES) methods, respectively. The ES results showed that the inulin-type fructan contents based on fresh weight was highest in Allium sativum (18.62% ± 1.55), followed by Asparagus falcatus (17.74% ± 2.92), Asparagus racemosus (11.8 3% ± 0.87), Allium cepa (8.60% ± 0.88), Allium ampeloprasum (6.20% ± 0.23), Taraxacum javanicum (5.77% ± 1.53) and Vernonia cinerea (4.55% ± 0.93), respective..