Comparative Evaluation Of Quality Characteristics of Fermented Melon Seed (Citruiius colocynthis), Castor Oil Bean (Ricinus communis) And Fluted Pumpkin Seeds (Teifairia occidentails) (Ogiri).

ABSTRACT

This study compared the quality characteristics of Melon seed (Citrullus colocynthis), Castor oil seed (Ricinus communis) and Fluted pumpkin seed (Telfairia occidentalis) ogiri. Melon seeds, castor oil seeds and fluted pumpkin seeds were ground, wrapped in banana leaves and fermented for 4 days (30°C). After fermentation, the samples were analysed for proximate, phytochemical, mineral and vitamin compositions. The result obtained showed significant difference (p<0.05) between the samples in proximate parameters except carbohydrate. The proximate mean values ranged from 37.66% to 47.19% (moisture), 7.25% to 16.75% (fat), 3.25% to 5.10% (fibre), 4.91% to 5.61% (ash) 21.24% to 22.70% (protein) and 14.64% to 15.63% (carbohydrate). There were significant differences (p 05) in the phytochemical composition of the samples. The phytochemical mean values ranged from 0.15mg/100g to 0.43mg/100g (alkaloid), 0.l7mg/100g to 0.27mg/100g (saponin), 0.11mg/100g to 0.33mg/100g (tannin), 0.42mg/100g to 0.35mg/100g (flavonoid), 0.27mg/100g to 0.52mg/100g (phenol), 0.24mg/100g to 0.36mg/100g (phytate), 0.11mg/100g to 0.35mg/100g (oxalate), and 4.l7mg/100g to 9.79mg/100g (hydrogen cyanide). There were also significant differences (p 05) in the vitamin composition of the various samples investigated. The mean values ranged from 7.28 to 10.l5mg/100g (vitamin C), 0.03 to 0.05mg/100g (thiamine), 0.05 to 0.10 mg/100g (riboflavin) and 0.22 to 0.63mg/100g (niacin). The mineral composition result showed that sodium was the dominant mineral in all the samples evaluated. The mineral mean values ranged from 25.39 to 52.10mg/100g (calcium), 10.40 to 17.60mg/100g (magnesium) 86.27 to 156mg/100g (sodium), 8.60 to 10.07 (iron), and 4.03 to 6.85mg/100g (zinc). The result of this study revealed that, the traditional condiments evaluated, do not only add flavor to foods as conventionally known but can also add vital nutrients.