Nutritional and Anti-nutritional Composition of two Agroforestry tree species

Abstract

Savanna biome is endowed with many tree species bearing edible fruits, seeds and nuts for human consumption. These fruits play an important role in human nutrition owing to their nutritional values, vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and low anti-nutritional factors. The nutritional and anti-nutritional composition of Adansonia digitata and Parkia biglobosa pulp and seeds from guinea savanna eco-system were examined in this study. The nutritional and anti-nutritional composition of the fruits differs. Moisture content was higher (11-18%) in the fruit pulp than in the seeds while the seeds of the two species are rich in protein (16-20%). Parkia biglobosa seeds proved a better source of crude fat (13%), crude fiber (10%), the ash content was slightly higher (4-5%) in the seeds than the fruit pulp. Crude fat (7.91%), crude fibre (7.52%) was higher in Adansonia digitata seed than the fruit pulp. Anti-nutritional content of Adansonia digitata and Parkia biglobosa was generally low, indicating that their consumption would not pose nutritional or health challenges. However the higher anti-nutritional factor in the seeds could be reduces through appropriate processing techniques.