A comprehensive study on the seeds of custard apple was done to identify innate prebiot c potential. Among the different components of seeds, low molecular weight carbohydrates are good substrates for growth of probi tics as they are likely to have prebiotic activity. The high amount of crude fiber (28g/100g) identified from the proximate analysis of the seed was selected for further testing and analyses. The seeds were found to contain 9.6g/100g low molecular weight sugars, 23.26g / 100g soluble dietary fiber and 54.43g / 100g insoluble dietary fiber. These promising components were isolated,purified and tested in vitro. Prebiotic activity score was calculated to evaluate the prebiotic efficiency of the selected components. PAS were 1.91 for the soluble fiber fraction, 0.63 for the insoluble fiber fraction and 0.19 for the LMWC.

Keywords : Custard apple seeds, prebiotic, low molecular weight carbohydrates, dietary fiber, prebiotic activity score.