Chemical Evaluation of Nutritional and Medicinal Potentials of Fluted pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis) Seeds and Coffea robusta (Coffea canephora) leaves. – M. U. Ntinya, V.N. Osabor and G.A. Samuel
ABSTRACT
The evaluation of nutritional and medicinal potentials of seeds of Fluted pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis) and Coffea robusta (Coffea canephora) leaves was carried out using various analytical techniques. Proximate parameters: ash, moisture, crude protein, crude fibre, crude fat and carbohydrate as well as phytochemicals: alkaloids, cardiac glycosides, saponins, anthranoids, flavonoids, polyphenols, tannins, anthraquinones and phlobatannins were assessed. The results of proximate analysis revealed the following compositions: ash (7.20 ±0.32%), moisture (6.40±0.41%), crude fibre (7.00±0.79%), crude lipid (6.20±0.40%), crude protein (6.10±0.43%) and carbohydrate (73.50±0.87%) for fluted pumpkin (T. occidentalis) seeds, while the proximate composition of the leaves of Coffea robusta revealed: ash (16.00±0.11%), moisture (26.00±0.18%), crude fibre (38.00±0.42%), crude lipid (10.00±0.05%), crude protein (1.14±0.01%) and carbohydrate (34.86±0.51%). The phytochemical screening of T. occidentalis showed the presence of polyphenols in moderate amount in both water extract (WE) and petroleum ether (PE) extract while flavonoids, saponins and cardiac glycosides were only present in petroleum ether but absent in water extract, while alkaloids was only present in water extract. Tannins, reducing sugar, anthraquinones and anthranoids were however absent in both extracts. For C. canephora, polyphenol was present in small amount in both extracts, cardiac glycosides, alkaloids, saponins and anthranoids were present in water extracts but absent in petroleum ether extract. Tannins was only present in petroleum ether extract while reducing sugar and phlobatanins were absent in both extracts. The result shows that T. occidentalis and C. canephora have good nutritional and pharmaceutical potentials.