Amino acid, fatty acid and mineral composition of pigeon pea (cajanus cajan)

Abstract

The amino acids, fatty acids and mineral contents of pigeon pea were analysed. Amino acids analysis showed that the protein contained nutritionally useful quantities of most of the essential amino acids but was low in sulphur-containing amino acids. The total essential amino acids in the pigeon pea amounted to 43.61%. Linoleic and palmitic were the predominant fatty acids with values of 54.8 and 21.4% respectively in the oil sample. Caprylic, lauric, oleic and eicosenoic acids were present only in small quantities. The results also showed that potassium, magnesium and calcium were the most abundant minerals in the pigeon pea sample while it was significantly low in sodium.