Effect of heat on loofah gourd seeds chemical composition and fatty acids of raw seeds

Abstract

Dehulled loofah gourd seeds (DLGS), Luffah cylindrica was divided into three parts namely; raw (DLGSR), boiled for 5 min at 100 oC (DLGSB) and cooked for 30 min (DGLSC). Proximate composition, amino acids, amino acid scores and energy were determined in DLGSR, DLGSB and DLGSC and fatty acids constituents only in DLGSR on dry matter basis. Crude protein content of DLGSB and DLGSC were similar and significantly lower (p<0.05) than DLGSR while crude fibre, carbohydrate, ash, and the ether extract were not (p>0.05). Glutamic acid (Glu), aspartic acid (Asp), leucine (Leu), arginine (Arg), lysine (Lys), valine (Val) and phenylalanine (Phe) were concentrated in DLGSR in the order listed. Arg, Thr, Asp, Glu, Pro,Gly and Ala were significantly highest (p<0.05) in DLGSC while Lys, Asp and Ser were highest (p<0.05) in DLGSR and Gly and Tyr in DLGSB. The percent total non-essential amino acid (TNEAA) and the protein efficiency ratio (P-PER) were highest (p>0.05) in raw and boiled seeds respectively. The limiting amino acid in the samples was Met+Cyst. The fatty acid constituents were myristic, palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic, oleic, linoleic and arachidic acid. DLGSR contained 99.1% total fatty acids, 31.4% total saturated fatty acids, 67.7% total unsaturated fatty acids. Loofah gourd seed is a good potential vegetable protein source as food/feed.

Keywords: Boiled, cooked, dehulled, proximate, energy.