ABSTRACT

There are several green leafy vegetables already implicated in possessing high nutritional values. This study examined the chemical composition of four selected green leafy vegetables (Talinum triangulare, Vernonia amygdalina, Telfairia occidentalis and Gnetum africanum) from two different locations (Umuahia, Abia State and Ado, Ekiti state). The proximate, minerals, vitamins, anti-nutrient and antioxidant analyses were carried out using standard methods and all the data were analysed using SPSS software version 20.0. The results showed that T, triangulare sourced from Umuahia has the highest carbohydrate content (9.71±0.10%) with Telfairia occidentalis sourced from Ado with the lowest carbohydrate content (3.04±0.12%). Similarly, the investigated vegetables are rich sources of Zn, Fe, Ca and Mg with P, Na and K. The studied vegetables are good sources of vitaminsB I andB2. Vitamin BI of the studied vegetables ranged from 0.28mg/I 00ml ( V. amygda/ina) to l.12mg/l 00ml (T. occidentalis). Vitamin B2 ranged from 0.61mg/100ml (G. africanum) to 1.17 mg/l00ml (T. occidenta/is). The vegetables were rich in vitamin C with T. triangulare sourced from Ado having highest vitamin C content (86.34mg/l00ml), while G. africanum had the lowest content (36.22mg/I 00ml). -carotene content of the investigated vegetables varied from 30.67mg/1 00ml to64.7mg/100ml for T, occidentalis and T. triangulare, respectively. The observed values of oxalate ranged from0.38±0.22 to 0.34±0.13 for T. occidentalis and G. africanum respectively, tannin ranged from 0.49±0.12 to 0.72±0.11 and saponin 1.34±0.12 to 1.83±0.13 and these values are much lower than the levels that result in acute and chronic toxicity. The antioxidant flavonoid (values ranging from7.50±0.00 to55.00±3.54) total phenol (values ranging from0.06±0,02 to 5.84±0.58) and FRAP (values ranging from 1.32±0.09 tto2. l 9±0.04) activities of all the studied vegetables were significantly different at p<0.05. The study showed that the selected green leafy vegetables examined are good source of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, and had trace amount of anti-nutrients. Thus the study observed that location had in important contribution to the proximate and vitamins content of the leafy vegetables while there was no much difference in the level of anti-nutrients and antioxidants irrespective of the location