NUTRITIONAL AND ANTINUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE SEED AND SEED OIL OF Citrullus ecirrhosis (WILD MELON)

Abstract

Attempt was made to determine the nutritional and anti nutritional composition of Wild melon ( C. ecirrhosus ) popularly known as “Gunar shanu in Hausa land, using suitab le methods of analyses. The results for proximate analyses (% DW) showed a composition of 3.73 ± moisture, 2.12 ± 0.08 ash content, 26.36 ± 0.10 crude protein, 50.67 ± crude lipid, 2.17 ± 0.29 crude fibre, 18.69 ± 0.82 carbohydrate and energy value of 601. 7 ± 8.75 Kcal/ 100g. Amino acids determination revealed a profile containing essential amino acids for adults, but leucine, lysine, and threonine are below the requirement value for 14 children. The oil was found to composed of a combination of high concentra tion (67.3%) of unsaturated fatty acids (linoleic acid C:18.2) and oleic C:18.1), and low concentration (36.6%) of saturated fatty acids (stearic acid C: 18.0 and palmitic acid C:16.0). This arrangement gave the oil good properties suitable for industrial and domestic activities. High concentration of nitrate (151666±7637), phytate (136.04±1.54) and saponin (18.65 ± 0.2 mg/100gDW ) were recorded in the seed, this is notwithstanding because boiling reduce their effect to a minimum. The overall result implies t hat seed of the wild melon possessed the potential to be used as a source of nutrition.