Comparative Studies of White and Red Allium cepa Cultivated in Sokoto, Nigeria

Abstract

White and red Allium cepa were individually analysed quantitatively for proximate compositions and flavonoids % in dried grinded bulbs. All results were presented as mean + standard deviation of three replicates; white and red Allium cepa contained 89.62 + 0.83 and 88.48 + 0.03% moisture, 3.33 + 0.56 and 3.17 + 0.29% ash, 2.17 + 0.29 and 6.50 + 1.00% crude lipid, 3.22 + 0.07 and 3.02 + 0.29% crude protein, 3.83 + 0.29 and 2.83 + 0.29% crude fibre, 87.44 + 0.24 and 84.48 + 0.93% available carbohydrate, 382.11 and 408.5 kcal/100g energy value, as well as 64.0 + 0.93 and 61.20 + 0.24% flavonoids, respectively. Hence, this research justifiably proved that both species would provide flavouring, nutritional and medicinal importance. Thus, the white Allium cepa possessed a more nutritional and medicinal properties than the red but provides less energy and lower resistance to storage.

Keywords: Allium cepa, Flavonoids, Proximate, Sokoto, Spices