Nutritional Profile of Indigenous Cultivar of Black Cumin Seeds and Antioxidant Potential of Its Fixed and Essential Oil

Medicinal plants gained momentous support in the recent era for their therapeutic potential. The core objective of the research study was to characterize the indigenous variety of black cumin (Nigella sativa L.), locally known as “Kalonji” and its fixed and essential oils. Compositional analysis revealed that it contains appreciable quantities of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Moreover, potassium, calcium, phosphorous and magnesium were predominant minerals, whilst considerable quantities of sodium, iron, manganese, zinc and copper were also present. Characterization of fixed oil enumerated that polyunsaturated fatty acids were the dominating fraction i.e., 60.17±1.53% as compared to saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids i.e., 16.64±0.91 and 22.47±0.59%, respectively. Carotenoids and tocopherols were 450.66±16.21 mg/kg-oil, whereas thymoquinone contents were observed to be 201.31±13.17 mg/kg of seeds. In comparison, analysis of essential oil revealed that it contains functional ingredients like thymoquinone, dihydrothymoquinone, p-cymene, carvacrol, α-thujene, thymol, α-pinene, β-pinene and t-anethole as major constituents. Furthermore, In vitro antioxidant capacity indicated that fixed and essential oils inhibited lipid peroxidation by 25.62 and 92.56% and 2, 2-diphenyl-1picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity by 32.32 and 80.25%, respectively. The present findings showed that black cumin fixed and essential oils are rich source of phytochemicals and can be utilized against lifestyle disorders like hyperglycemia and hypercholesterolemia.