Evaluation of chemical nutritional composition of African pear pulp obtained from Mararaba Jamma Market Jos, Plateau State

Abstract

Malnutrition is a major health problem in Nigeria, particularly among the rural populace where people cannot afford conventional sources of protein or other food additives to enrich their diets The assessment of the chemical compositions of pulp and seed of African pear was obtained from Mararaba Jamma Market Jos, Plateau State, North Central Nigeria, which was analysed using standard analytical methods. The parameters analysed were moisture, protein, ash, fat and fibre, with the respective of 10.00±0.21,18.00±0.05, 3.40±0.00, 44.75±0.22 and 7.40±0.51 %. The carbohydrate content obtained was16.44±0.27 %, while the energy value was 2241.23±0.52 KJ/100g. The sample analysed included reasonable amounts of sodium, potassium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc and calcium. Anti-nutritional analysis revealed the presence of oxalate, phytate, saponins, alkaloids and cyanide within the permissible limits. The compositions of the essential and non-essential amino acids obtained from the sample were 19.55 and 33.81 g/100 g proteins, respectively. African pear pulp could therefore serve as an additional promising source of nutritional content for human and animal feed formulations.

Keywords: African pear, proximate, Anti-nutritional