EFFECT OF COOKING DURATIONS ON PROXIMATE AND ANTINUTRITIOINAL COMPOSITION OF FLAMBOYANT (Delonix regia) SEED MEAL

Abstract

Flamboyant seed (Delonix regia) was collected from the premises of Plateau State College of Agriculture, Garkawa to explore the effect of cooking interval on proximate composition and anti-nutritional factors. The seeds were divided into five equal parts and cooked for 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes each representing a treatment and coded as CFSM0, CFSM30, CFSM60, CFSM90, and CFSM120 respectively. Each treatment was replicated three times in a completely randomized design. Cooked flamboyant seeds were sun dried, crushed using a hammer mill crusher and sieved for proximate analysis. The results showed that cooking as a processing method significantly (P<0.05) affected proximate and anti-nutritional compositionsof flamboyant seed meal (FSM) as cooking interval increase from 0 – 120 minutes. Observed higher crude fibrecontents of Delonix regia might serve asa challenge to its utilization in poultry nutrition if not properly handled during feed formulations. Cooking was demonstrated to be effective in reducing the levels of these anti nutrients:phytate, tannin and oxalate. Cooking for 120 minutes lower the level of phytic acid by 61.14% Tannins (29.82%) and oxalate (23.88%) respectively. Cooking of flamboyant seed for 60 minutes increased crude protein content to 27.98 %, and was effective in reducing its ant nutritional contents and is hereby recommended for use as a protein source in the diets of monogastric animals.