Nutritional Quality of Crassocephalum crepidioides and Senecio biafrae

Abstract

2 Abstract: The nutritional potentials of two green leafy vegetables namely, Crassocephalum crepidioides (CC) and Senecio biafrae (SB) were evaluated through their proximate composition, mineral and amino acid profile. Crassocephalum crepidiodies contained 27.17±0.51% crude protein (CP) while that of Senecio biafrae was 28.93±0.68% but were not significantly different (P > 0.05). The crude fibre content for SB was 7.26±0.22% while that of CC was 8.13±0.06%. The ash content for SB was 16.30±0.21% and 17.31±0.02% for CC. The nitrogen free extract (NFE) for SB was 20.81±1.36% while CC recorded a value of 19.03±0.56%. The organic matter (OM) for SB was 83.70±0.24% and CC had 82.69±0.02%. The mean values of the CP, ash, NFE and OM were not significantly different (P > 0.05). Iron (Fe) in CC was 0.056±0.006% and 0.029±9.60 x 10 % These values were not significantly different (P > 0.05). The mean values for manganese -4 . (Mn), sodium (Na), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca) in CC and SB were all significantly different (P < 0.05). Among all the minerals evaluated, K had the highest value of 0.07±2.0 x 10 %in CC -4 while it is 0.04±6.0 x 10 % in SB. The amino acids values in CC ranged from 0.54±0.02 mg/g in threonine -3