A Review on Botanical Characteristics, Bioactive Compounds and Traditional Uses of Some Selected Unconventional Fruits of Upper Brahmaputra Valley, Assam

Background: Unconventional fruits are the least concerned and least exploited fruits and require a scientific investigation. Assam is rich in biodiversity in terms of rare and endemic flora and fauna of this region. Over-exploitation of these species without any knowledge and checklist may lead to the endangerment of these species in wild. Keeping in view of such a problem, five locally available unconventional fruits viz. Bon-pitha (Chrysophyllum roxburghii), Heloch (Antidesma acidum), Korja-tenga (Carissa carandas), Bilombi-tenga (Averrhoa bilimbi), Thereju (Prunus jenkinsii) were studied for their morphological, nutritional, phytochemical and traditional use as food and folkloric medicines, which would be the highlight of this paper. Materials and Methods: For writing this review, data were generated using various online databases viz. Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, ResearchGate etc. A total of 135 articles were retrieved, out of which only 49 were selected due to the exclusion criteria. These articles provide a detailed idea about these unconventional fruits and their immense nutritional importance. Results and Conclusion: Detailed analysis of the gathered articles revealed that unconventional fruits are rich in various macro and micronutrients. Phytochemical investigations of their various parts showed the presence of phenols, flavonoids, terpenes along with other related compounds. These fruits have several traditional uses including folkloric medicines, but they received very less attention in pharmacological industries. Moreover, due to a lack of people’s knowledge, many of these unconventional fruits are on verge of extinction. So, further scientific studies are needed in order to conserve and increase their potential values.