Proximate, Mineral and Anti-nutrient Composition of Pumpkin (<i>Cucurbitapepo L)</i> Seeds Extract

Abstract

<b> </b><b> </b>Pumpkin seeds were analysed for their nutritional and anti-nutritional composition, the results obtained were; moisture content (5.00%), ash (5.50%), crude lipid (38.00%, crude fibre (1.00%), crude protein (27.48%), Available carbohydrate (28.03%) and calorific value (564kcal/100g). Elemental analysis shows that potassium is the most abundant element in the sample (273mg/100g) and manganese is least (0.06mg/100g).The anti-nutritional parameters analysed are; phytate (35.06 mg/100g), oxalate (0.02±0.10mg/100g), hydrocyanic acid content (0.22±0.04mg/100g) and nitrate (2.27±002mg/100g). The result shows that the pumpkin seeds if properly utilized can serve as good source of minerals.