Quantification of hydroxycitric acid in selected genotypes of Garcinia atroviridisGriff ex T. Anders. collected from four populations in Peninsular Malaysia

One of the potential food ingredients with anti-obesity benefits is hydroxycitric acid (HCA), which is a derivative of citric acid. It was reported that HCA can be obtained from fruits of garcinia species. In Malaysia, Garcinia atroviridis commonly known asam gelugur is a very popular fruit used as a flavouring agent in cooking and for traditional health care. It was also reported that the G. atroviridis fruits contain hydroxycitric acid (HCA) and flavonoids which possess remarkable hypolipidemic effects, promoting weight reduction by reducing lipogenesis and enhancing glycogen formation. Due to the health benefits, researchers from Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) intended to screen and identify G. atroviridis genotypes from several populations in Peninsular Malaysia with a high content of HCA. In this study, the fruits from selected genotypes were collected from four populations namely i) Tapah, Perak (AGA); ii) Yan, Kedah (AGY); iii) Bukit Gantang, Perak (AGBG) and iv) Jeli, Kelantan (AGJ). The ripe fruits were sliced and dried in an oven at 50°C for three days. Dried fruit with a moisture content of below 10% was finely ground before being analyzed for High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The amounts of HCA in each genotype showed a variation of non-detectable to detectable quantities and had an average HCA content in the range of 18.02-28.36% w/w (AGA), 21.91-27.03% w/w (AGY), 5.35-46.66% w/w (AGBG) and 31.65-57.21% w/w (AGJ). A total of 10 out of 69 genotypes have been selected as desirable genotypes due to acceptable amounts of HCA higher than 50% w/w. These superior genotypes will be used for clonal propagation and future clone development.