Effect of boiling on the proximate, anti-nutrients and amino acid composition of raw Delonix regia seeds

Abstract

Raw and boiled Delonix regia seeds were analyzed for organic matter, ash, crude protein, crude carbohydrate, crude fibre, crude lipid, gross energy anti-nutrients and amino acids using standard procedures and methods. The contents of crude protein (487.19g kg^-1) and lipid (65.0g kg^-1) were significantly (p< 0.05) lowered in the boiled seeds, while the crude fibre (63.7g kg^-1) significantly (p<0.05) increased, other nutrients were unaffected by boiling. The antinutrients tannins (830.2g kg-1), trypsin inhibitory activity (141.0 TIV g^-1), hydrocyanic acid (587.1mg kg^-1) total oxalate (9.6mg kg^-1), phytic acid (98.0mg kg^-1) and HCN (92.4mg kg^-1) significantly (p<0.05) reduced in the boiled seeds. Most amino acids were essentially unaffected by boiling, others like cysteine, glutamicacid, glycine, lysine, methionine and proline reduced significantly (p<0.05). It is concluded that raw Delonix regia seeds contain high antinutrients and may be unsuitable as feed ingredient but boiling reduces the anti-nutritive substances in the raw seeds.

Keywords: anti-nutrients, boiling, Delonix regia seeds, proximate content, amino acids

Nigerian Food Journal Vol. 23 2005: 128-132