ABSTRACT

Chemical composition and amino acid profile of some selected indigenous dishes in Abia

State, Nigeria was investigated. The indigenous dishes (Achara soup, Okro soup, Oha soup,

Odudu and Asusu) were prepared using traditional cooking methods and subsequently

analyzed for proximate, mineral, vitamin, phytochemical and amino acid profile, using

standard methods. The data generated were statistically analyzed using One Way Analysis

of Variance (ANOVA) using the SPSS (Version 23.0). The moisture content of the dishes

ranged from 18.76 to 63.3 1%, crude protein ranged from 4.07 to 40.11%, fat ranged from

0.53 to 12.15%, crude fibre ranged from 3.47 to 16.01%, ash ranged from 3.68 to 5.78%,

carbohydrate ranged from 3.90 to 55.47% and energy value ranged from 169.06 to 246.89

kcal. The mineral content evaluated reflected the iron content of the indigenous dishes,

(0.26 to 4.28 mg/bOg); zinc, (0.23 to 0.46 mg/bOg); potassium, (7.65 to 68.75 mg/bOg);

sodium (3.69 to 12.46 mg/bOg); calcium (9.22 to 67.44 mg/100g; magnesium (11.19 to

18.44 mg/bOg) and phosphorus (12.40 to 19.98 mg/bOg), the vitamin composition of the

dishes showed that carotenoid ranged from 1.31 to 68.56 mg/bOg, thiamin ranged from

0.83 to 4.92 mg/bOg, riboflavin ranged from 0.94 to 2.27 mg/bOg, niacin ranged from

0.42 to 1.83 mg/bOg an ascorbic acid ranged from 1.68 to 2.04 mg/bOg. The

phytochemical and ant nutrient content of the dishes showed that tannin ranged from 0.11

to 0.47 mg/lO0g, flavonoid ranged from 1.03 to 1.38 mg/bOg, phenol ranged from 0.07 to

0.53 mg/bOg, phytate ranged from 0.21 to 0.45 mg/bOg, saponin ranged from 0.05 to

0.52 mg/bOg and trypsin inhibitor ranged from 0.15 to 0.75 mg/bOg, the amino acid

profile of the dishes shows that leucine ranged from 5.26 to 8.00 g/boOg, lysine ranged

from 3.02 to 5.03 g/loog, isoleucine ranged from 3.22 to 4.04 g/bO0g, phenylalanine

ranged from 3.28 to 4.44 g/lOOg, tryptophan ranged from 0.61 to 1.14 g/bO0g, valine

ranged from 3.01 to 3.57 g/lOog, methionine ranged from 1.19 to 2.31 g/boog, proline

ranged from 2. 65 to 3.36 g/l O0g, arginine ranged from 4.29 to 6.20 g/ 100g. tyrosine ranged

from 2.05 to 3.26 g/bOOg, histidine ranged from 1.61 to 2.34 g/boOg, cysteine ranged from

0.86 to 1.23 g/loog, alanine ranged from 3.31 to 4.58 g/lOOg, glutamic acid ranged from

10.21 to 15.15 g/ 100g. glyci ne ranged from 3.01 to 4.32 g/ 100g. threonine ranged from

2.62 to 3.55 g/loog, serine ranged from 3.06 to 4.03 g/lOOg and aspartic acid ranged from

6.74 to 8.57 g/lOOg. This study has shown that these indigenous dishes can provide

substantial amounts of nutrients that will contribute to the recommended daily requirement

of their consumers.