Greener Journal of Agricultural Sciences

Greener Journal of  Agricultural Sciences Vol. 3 (3), pp. 204-210, March 2013.

 ISSN: 2276-7770 

Research Paper

Manuscript Number: 011613386

 

Proximate Analysis, Mineral Content, Amino Acid Composition and Functional Properties of Vernonia amygdalina Vegetable Leaf Protein Concentrates

 

Sodamade A.

 

Department of Chemistry, Emmanuel Alayande College of Education. P.M.B 1010, Oyo.

 

Email: abbey4uselect @ yahoo. com or abbey01 @ fastmail.net or

abbeyelectrochemical @ hotmail.com

Abstract:

Freshly harvested Vernonia amygdalina green vegetable was authenticated and processed for its vegetable leaf protein concentrates with a view to evaluate its proximate constituents, amino acid content and mineral composition. Proximate analysis was determined using standard analytical technique. The nutrient composition of the protein concentrates revealed the moisture content (66.45±0.07), Crude fat (9.20 ±0.85), Crude fibre (10.46±1.05), Crude protein (44.28 ±2.43), ash (12.48± 0.24) and Carbohydrate (23.58±3.4). The mineral content of the sample indicated that Ca, Mg, K, and Na are the most abundant minerals with the following values Na;57.5±0.34,Ca;151.6±1.40, K; 61.5±0.38, Mg; 96.5±0.96, other minerals that were present in the sample in trace concentration are Fe(2.3 ± 0.42), Zn (1.11± 0.11), Mn (0.1± 0.14), Cu (0.1 ± 0.73), Pb (0.1± 0.63),while Selenium were not detected in the sample indicating that the leaf concentrate is fit for dietary consumption. The amino acid profile reveals favourable nutritional balance with the presence of essential and non-essential amino acid except that tryptophan which was believed to be predominant in animal protein was not detected.
 
Keywords: Leaf protein, leaf concentrate, Vernonia amygdalina.

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