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Ethnobotanical Leaflets 14: 225-35. 2010. Nutritional
Assessment and Chemical Composition of Raw and Defatted Luffa cylindrica Seed Flour 1Abitogun
A.S. and 2Ashogbon A.O. 1Department of
Science Technology, Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, 2Department of
Industrial Chemistry, 1E-mail: adeboabitogun@tahoo.com Issued March 1,
2010 Abstract The
raw and defatted Luffa cylindrical seed flours were
characterized with respect to their proximate, mineral and energy using
standard analytical technique. The range values of the proximate analysis for
raw and defatted samples were; crude protein (42.17-70.65%), moisture
(5.69-6.42%), fat content (1.53-33.64%), ash content (3.87-3.92%), crude fibre (1.95-2.80%), carbohydrate (12.68-14.68%) and the
available energy range was (1507.53-2177.13KJ). The minerals determined and
their range values in mg/100g for raw and defatted samples were; K (910-960),
Na (28-31), Zn (0.86-1.50), Mg (16-18), Fe (4.67-6.23), P (680-660), Ca
(40.24-43.44), Mn (4.20-4.47) and Cu (1.10-1.24).
The results revealed that crude protein was higher in defatted sample.
Therefore, the seed could play valuable roles as supplemental nutrient
sources to some farm products used in food formulation for animal and human
most especially in developing country where hunger is endemic. Key
Words: Luffa cylindrical,
protein, mineral, defatted and energy. Introduction The
significance of seed legumes in the diets of animal and man in the developing
countries is well documented (Oke et al., 1995, Agbede
2000). They are rich in nutrients such as digestible proteins with good array
of amino acids and minerals (Ologhobo 1980). The
percentage crude proteins of most legumes ranged from 20 to 50g/100g dry
weight (Apata, 1990, Igene
1999) and have been judged as good sources of minerals (Oke
et al., 1995). Leguminous seed have
been reported to be excellent sources of energy (Del Rosario et al., 1981, Oke
et al., 1995) in animal and human
diets. This explains why considerable research has been directed to
harnessing the potential of the seed in animal and human diets. Luffa cylindrical L.
is a member of the family Cucurbitaceae. It is a
running vine with rounded leaves and yellow flowers. It is an herbaceous
plant and thrives commonly with twinning tendrils (Ajiwe
et al., 2005). Luffa cylindrical produces berry like fruit whose colour
at tender stage is green and yellow at maturity. The fruits are smooth and
cylindrical in shape with white flesh. The length of the fruit is one to two
feet. In There
is little information on the nutritional and chemical compositions of Luffa cylindrical seed. Therefore, this
work seeks to study the proximate and mineral compositions of raw and
defatted seed flours. Materials
and Methods The Luffa cylindrical gourds used for this study were harvested between
the months of December to January from an uncompleted building in Owo, Proximate
analysis The raw and de-fatted samples were
analyzed for proximate composition using AOAC (1990) methods. Nitrogen was
determined by the micro-Kjeldahl method (Pearson
1976) and the percentage nitrogen was converted to crude protein by
multiplying a factor 6.25. The carbohydrate content was determined according
to James (1996). All determinations were however carried out in triplicate. Mineral
analysis Sodium and potassium were determined
using flame photometer (Model 450, Results
and Discussion Table
1 gives the proximate composition of raw and de-fatted Luffa cylindrical flour. The crude protein content for raw and
defatted samples was 42.17±0.2 and 70.65±2.5 g/100g respectively. The
desirable attribute of defatted sample was the high protein content; this
might be due to the fact that more protein cells were opened during
extraction process. However the values were high when compared with
20.40-22.40% reported for protein-rich-foods such as soybean, cowpea, pigeon
peas groundnut and some oil seeds (Oshodi et al., 1993). This is also higher
than 24.70 reported for chickpea (Sanchez-Vioque et al., 1998). However, the crude protein of raw
sample was in agreement with the value reported by Olaofe
et al., (2008). Proteins are
essential component of diet needed for the survival of animals and human and
the basic function in nutrition is to supply adequate amount of amino acids (Pugalenthi et al.,
2004). Luffa cylindrical could therefore be used
as alternative source of protein in diet supplement especially in the areas
where majority of populace live on starchy food and cereals. The
moisture contents for raw and defatted samples were in the range of
5.69±0.50-6.42±0.4 g/100g. These values were higher than the 3.46% reported
for gourd seed and Bombcapsis glabra, but
compared with 5.02% reported for Pumpkin seed (Olaofe
et al., (1994). This is an
indication that Luffa cylindrical seed might not be
susceptible to microbial attack, thus, it can withstand long storage and
transportation. The ash content ranged between 3.87g/100g for raw sample and
3.92g/100g for defatted sample. Ash content gives an idea about the inorganic
content from where mineral content could be obtained. The ash content was
moderate and similar to the values reported for some Nigerian grains (Oshodi and Adeladun 1991), and
it compared favourably with the range value of
3.00-5.8% reported for those of legumes like cowpea, groundnut, and fluted
pumpkin seed (Ayodele et al., 2000, Mbofung et al., 2002). This implies that the Luffa cylindrical seed could provide
essential, valuable and useful minerals needed for good body
development. The
fat contents for raw and defatted samples were 33.64±0.7 and 1.53g/100g
respectively. The fat content in raw sample was in close agreement with
31.45% reported by Abitogun and Olumayede
(2008). The fat content is higher than range values of 14.05-20.30% reported
for soybean, locust bean and cotton seed, which are commercially exploited
and classified as oil seed (Ayodele et al., (2000). The low fat content in
defatted sample implies that, it could be used for preparation of animal
feed. Nevertheless, Luffa cylindrical is a better source of oil
and could be grouped under oil rich plant hence, could be refined to edible
vegetable oil for domestic and industrial applications (Abitogun
and Olumayede, 2008). The
crude fiber for both samples ranged between 1.95-2.80g/100g. Fibre is desirable in the maintenance of human health and
has been known to reduce cholesterol level in the body (Eromosele
and Eromosele 1993). The values were in close
agreement with 2.8% reported for gourd seed but lower than 2.4% reported for
soybean (Akintayo et al., 2002). The low level of fibre
in Luffa cylindrical indicates that it might
be desirable in their incorporation in weaning diet. The carbohydrate content
for raw and defatted samples was 12.68 and 14.68g/100g respectively. High
carbohydrate feed is desirable; deficiency causes depletion of body tissue
(Barker 1996). The carbohydrate content in raw sample was higher than 6.93%
reported for pumpkin but lower than 33.00% reported for Bombcapsis glabra (Olaofe
et al., 1994).The low carbohydrate
content of the sample might be ideal for diabetic and hypertensive patients
requiring low sugar diets. The calculated metabolizable
energy for raw and defatted samples was 2177.13KJ and 1507.22KJ respectively.
This implies that the sample was concentrated source of energy within the
recommended energy dietary allowance for children (Aremu
et al., 2005). The value of raw
sample was higher than 1595.34-1692.85 KJ for some legumes (Aremu et al.,
(2006). Table
2 depicts the mineral composition of raw and defatted Luffa cylindrca flour. The minerals detected
in the samples were Potassium, Sodium, Zinc, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorous,
Calcium, and Manganese. The most abundant minerals in both samples was
potassium, the values obtained for raw and defatted samples were 910.00 and
960mg/100g respectively. This was followed by Phosphorous, the values ranged
between 660.00- 680.00g/100g. The phosphorous content in raw sample was
higher than 32.9±2.0 reported for whole cowpea. These values were in
agreement with the report on some other legumes (Oshodi
and Adeladun 1991). The values obtained for raw and
defatted samples were; Sodium (28.00, 31.00g/100g), Zinc (1.50, 0.86g/100g),
Iron (4.64, 6.23 g/100g), Magnesium (16.00, 18.00 g/100g), Calcium (40.24,
43.44 g/100g), Manganese (4.47, 4.20 g/100g), Copper (1.24, 1.10
g/100g). Calcium help in regulation of
muscle contractions transmit nerve impulses and bone formation (Barker 1996).
The recommended dietary allowance (RDA), for Calcium is 800mg/day (FNB 1974),
which means that Luffa cylindrical might not be good source
of Calcium. The presence of phosphorous, calcium and magnesium makes Luffa cylindrical seed flour suitable for
bone formation since the deficiencies of these minerals can lead to abnormal
bone development (Aletor and Aladetimi
1995). Iron is reasonably high which is required for blood formation and also
important for normal functioning of the central nervous system. However,
these values compares favourably with the values
reported for pigeon pea by Oshodi et al., (1993). The ratio of Na/K was
less than one this implies that the samples will not promote high blood
pressure. Food is considered “good” if the Ca/P ratio is above one and “poor”
if it is less than one, therefore, the Ca/P ratio of both samples were less
than one, this implies that the samples could be consider “poor”. The Ca/Mg
ratio 2.50 for raw sample and 2.34 for defatted samples were higher than the
recommended value of 1.00 (Adeyeye and Fagbohun 2005). In
conclusion, the results of the assessment shows that the seed can be
classified as oil seed, and the defatted sample contains high percentage of
protein indicating that it is a good source of protein. The results also
confirm that it contain nutritionally valuable minerals such as Potassium,
Phosphorous, Magnesium, Calcium and Iron. The seed flour could play valuable
roles as supplemental nutrient sources to some farm product used in food
formulation for animal and humans, most especially in developing countries
where hunger is endemic. References Abitogun, A.S. and Olumayede, E.G. (2005). Extraction and Characterization
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63, 357-855. Table
1. Proximate compositions of raw and de-fatted Luffa cylindrical flour.
Mean ± Standard deviation of
triplicates. Table
2. Mineral composition of raw and defatted Luffa cylindrical Flour.
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