EFFECTS OF PROCESSING ON THE NUTRITIONAL CONTENTS OF Enterolobium cyclocarpum SEEDS

Abstract

An experiment was carried out to determine the effects of different method of processing on the nutritional and anti-nutritional contents of Enterolobium cyclocarpum seeds. The seeds were harvested and processed into four different treatments: Tl (raw), T2 (boiled), T3 (Soaked), and T4(roasted). The seeds were later ground in hammer mill and taken to laboratory for chemical analysis. Data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA). It was observed that crude protein of the treated seeds were significantly higher than the raw. T2 recorded the highest (36.31%) followed by T3 (34.52%) and T4 (33.24%) while the lowest was observed in Tl (19.33%), Ether extract followed the same trend. Crude fiber ranged from 15.92% in Tl — 2.42% in T2. Results obtained for calcium (8.90-4.00%), magnesium (5.45-4.85%), sodium (2.38-1.69%) and phosphorus (2.85-1.36%) were significantly higher in Tlamong the treatments. Oxalates (0.19-0.11 phytates (0.33-0.19%), tannin (0.05-0.02%), and saponnin (0.41-0.33%) were observed to be significantly lower in the processed seeds than the raw. It can be concluded that processing has significant effects on the nutrient contents of the seeds.