COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON THE NUTRIENT COMPOSITION AND ANTINUTRITIONAL FACTORS IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF MORINGA OLEIFERA PLANT FOUND IN AWKA, NIGERIA.
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Abstract
Moringa oleifera plant has been used as an essential vegetarian diet to bridge the gap in protein energy demands in the West African sub-region. Since parts of the plant have multi-purpose uses, the comparative studies on the nutrient composition and anti-nutritional factors in the different parts of the plant found in Awka, Nigeria were studied. The methods of Association of Analytical Chemists were used for the proximate analysis, and the amino acid content estimated using Technicon Sequential Multi-sample amino acid analyzer (TSM). The percentage (%) crude protein was comparatively high in the seed (28.02±0.01), leaf (27.60±0.14), and flower (25.99±0.07) in that order, but low in the root (5.02±1.52) and stems (3.59±0.96). The seed (33.78 ± 2.41) and leaf (20.00 ± 2.31) had high amount of % crude lipid compared to the flower (9.44 ± 3.08), root (6.33 ± 1.64) and stem (1.77 ± 0.98). Only the leaf contained all the water-soluble vitamins estimated in the following proportions: ascorbic acid (773.30mg/100g), thiamine (18.47mg/100g), riboflavin (14.82mg/100g), pyridoxine (57.29mg/100g) and niacin (50.35mg/100g). The amino acid assay results indicated that the ratio of the essential amino acids (EAA) and non-essential amino acids (NEAA) were almost equal unlike in many plants where NEAA are always significantly higher than EAA. Statistical analyses showed that there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between the essential and non-essential amino acids present in all the parts of the plant studied. The tannins were highest in the leaf (420.00mg/100g) followed by the stem (100.00mg/100g), the flower (60.00mg/100g) and the root (45.00mg/100g) and lowest in the seed (40.00mg/100g). However, the phytates were low in all the parts of the plant studied. The anti-nutrient values indicated that Moringa oleifera, apart from its high nutrient composition, also contains medically and pharmacologically important agents. It is not therefore surprising that the plant is used in traditional medicine in Africa, Asia, and Americas.
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