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Nutritional Evaluation of Eight Accessions of Ocimum gratissimum (Scent Leaf) Collected from Abia State, Southeast Nigeria
Abstract
Knowledge of the chemical constituents of the plant is necessary for disclosing new sources of economic materials and this cannot be achieved without much information on the phytochemicals, proximate, vitamins and mineral constituents, hence the study focused on the evaluation of nutritional constituents of accessions of Ocimum gratissimum collected from different Local Government Areas of Abia state. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomization design replicated three times and data collected were subjected to analysis of variance. Results showed that vitamins, minerals, proximate and phytochemicals varied significantly (p<0.01) among the accessions. They had high amounts of Vitamin C (169.610 (AB/06/OBIKABI) – 185.170 (AB/08/AHABA) mg/100g) and were rich in carotene (18.390-23.560 mg/100g) and Vitamin E (17.640-22.660) respectively. All the accessions contained high amount of minerals but the most abundant was potassium (387.37 (AB/02/NGWAROAD) – 512.59 (AB/08/AHABA) mg/100g), followed by calcium (277.62 (AB/06/OBIKABI) – 319.56 (AB/05/UMUDIKE) mg/100g), sodium (156.77 (AB/08/AHABA) – 179.75 (AB/02/NGWAROAD) mg/100g), phosphorus (119.48-132.76 mg/100g) and magnesium (96.77-108.21 mg/100g) respectively. Dry matter content ranged from 85.24% (AB/06/OBIKABI) to 89.4 2% (AB/15/NDUME) while carbohydrate ranged from 45.49% (AB/06/OBIKABI) to 50.67% (AB/10/ELU). Protein contents varied from 16.71% (AB/11/OSISIOMA) to 19.61% (AB/02/NGWAROAD) while moisture levels were low, ranging from 10.58% (AB/15/NDUME) to 14.76% (AB/06/OBIKABI). Ash ranged from 10.35% (AB/11/OSISIOMA) to 8.43% (AB/10/ELU). Crude fibre varied from 9.27% (AB/11/OSISIOMA) to 7.17% (AB/15/NDUME). Fat content varied from 2.86% (AB/04/AMAMBA) to 4.17% (AB/15/NDUME). Flavonoids varied from 3.44 (AB/02/NGWAROAD) to 4.87 (AB/04/AMAMBA); glycoside ranged from 1.47% (AB/08/AHABA) to 1.90% (AB/10/ELU) while Alkaloid ranged from 2.87 (AB/11/OSISIOMAI) to 3.88% (AB/04/AMAMBA). Phytochemicals (especially flavonoid, alkaloid, glycoside and saponin) were slightly higher when compared to most plants.
