Abstract
Plants are the cheapest and indispensable constituents of human diets supplying the body nutrients (carbohydrates, protein, fats, amino acids, vitamins) necessary for growth and body development. Therefore, this work was designed to examine the proximate and mineral composition of Pentadiplandra brazzeana stem bark (PBSB). Proximate composition of PBSB revealed the presence of 8.75 % moisture, 91.25 % dry matter, 6.43 % crude protein, 41.03 % crude fibre, 5.70 % ether extract, 12.11 % ash, 17.82 (g/100 g) carbohydrates, 0.47 % total reducing sugar and 632.2 Kj/100g energy respectively. Results on mineral analysis shows that PSSB is abundant in calcium (73.84 mg/100g) followed by phosphorus (41.55 mg/100g), magnesium (32.56 mg/100g), sodium (28.11 mg/100g), zinc (17.56 mg/100g), manganese (10.88 mg/100g), potassium (9.47 mg/100g) and copper (2.33 mg/100g). In order of mineral abundance in PBSB Ca ˃ phosphorus ˃ magnesium ˃ sodium ˃ zinc ˃ manganese ˃ potassium ˃ copper. It was concluded that PBSB is low in protein, energy and some minerals (copper and potassium).
Highlights
Pentadiplandra brazzeana is an evergreen shrub or liana that is the only species assigned to the genus Pentadiplandra, and has been placed in a family of its own called Pentadiplandraceae
The harvested stem bark was washed with running tap water to remove dirt’s, shade dried for 15 days to maintain the bioactive chemicals and nutrients in the sample, grounded into fine powder using mortar and pestle, sieved and stored in an air tight well labeled container (PBSP) for further analysis
Crude fibre (CF), crude protein (CP), moisture, ether extract and moisture content were determined according with the official methods of the association of official analytical chemist (AOAC, 2000)
Summary
Pentadiplandra brazzeana is an evergreen shrub or liana that is the only species assigned to the genus Pentadiplandra, and has been placed in a family of its own called Pentadiplandraceae It produces large red berries, sometimes mottled with grey. Carbamates obtained from the roots have shown antibacterial properties in vitro against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and against the yeast Candida albicans (Tancredi et al, 2004).The root is rich in glucosinolates and is believed to contribute to the revitalizing of collagen and to restore skin tonicity (El Migirab et al, 1977).Crude extracts of tubers have revealed moderately strong antiplasmodial activity in vitro, but were not as effective as chloroquine (Assadi et al, 2005) In view of these abundant potential, this experiment was designed to examine the proximate and mineral composition of Pentadiplandra brazzeana stem bark
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