Download This PaperThe Anti-Nutritional and Proximate Composition of Rain Tree (Samanea saman) Pod Samples
Uzoukwu, A. E; Ubbaonu, C. N; Nwosu, J. N.; Ogueke, C. C.; Chukwu, M. N. (2020). The Anti-Nutritional and Proximate Composition of Rain Tree (Samanea saman) Pod Samples. Agriculture and Food Sciences Research, 7(1): 28-37.
10 Pages Posted: 21 May 2020
Date Written: April 8, 2020
Abstract
The anti-nutritional and proximate composition of pods of Samanea saman were determined. About 600g of wholesome, cleaned and dried pods were divided into two portions: one portion was ground as whole pod meal while the other portion was deseeded and ground as the seedless meal. The removed seeds were ground separately as a sample to obtain three samples namely: whole pod, pulp, and seed samples. Triplicate data obtained were subjected to One-Way ANOVA using SPSS software of version 21. Mean values and Fisher’s least significant difference (LSD) were determined for the separation of the means at (p≤0.05). The whole pod had 1.49mg/100g oxalate, 1.97mg/100g hydrogen cyanide, 0.71mg/100g tannins, 27.07mg/100g saponins, 0.51mg/100g flavonoids and 1.71mg/100g alkaloids, which were significantly(p≤0.05) different from that of pulp (1.89mg/100g oxalate, 1.51mg/100g hydrogen cyanide, 0.86mg/100g tannins, 28.46mg/100g saponins, 1.00mg/100g flavonoids and 1.41mg/100g alkaloids) and seed samples (1.39mg/100g oxalate, 1.61mg100g hydrogen cyanide, 0.56mg/100g tannins, 26.51mg/100g saponins, 0.49mg/100g flavonoids and 1.86mg/100g alkaloids). The moisture contents were pulp (19.30%), whole pod (15.50%) and seed (9.20%). Ash contents were whole pod (4.70%), the pulp (2.90%) and seed (2.60%); Ether extract of the whole pod, pulp and seed were 3.31%, 2.52%, and 2.66% respectively. The crude proteins were whole pod (13.21%), the pulp (10.98%) and seed (21.55%); crude fiber of the plant were whole pod (15.95%), the pulp (6.77%) and seed (8.47%). The whole pod had 47.33% carbohydrate which was significantly (p≤0.05) lower than the carbohydrate of pulp (57.53%) and seed (55.52%). The utilization of the pods of S. samana is a significant source of bioactive that if harnessed in the formulation of nutraceutical beverages could offer a whole lot of health benefits to the users.
Keywords: Saponins, Tannin, Alkaloid, Oxalate, Flavonoid, Moisture, Proteins, Ash, Fibre, Carbohydrate
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