Spectrophotometric Comparison of Iron (III) in the Fruit Samples of Gooseberry and Bilimbi

The fruit samples of Phyllantus emblica (Indian gooseberry) from Phyllanthaceae family are rich in iron content, known for centuries. The fruit samples of Averrhoa bilimbi (Bilimbi) of oxalidaceae family are not much investigated for the iron content. Since these traditional fruits are consumed for a long time, their iron contents are not yet compared by any means.

The comparison of iron rich gooseberry with bilimbi was done by employing the spectrophotometric method. The extraction of iron from the samples was done by acid digestion and the quantification done spectrophotometrically by thiocyanate method. The calibration plot constructed by recording the optical density of standard iron (III) solutions was linear.

The iron content of gooseberry is found to be 2.5 times more than that of bilimbi.