Biochemical and Nutritional Composition of Two Perennial Crops Grown in Nigeria: A Comparison

The nutritional composition, physicochemical properties and fatty acid composition of two perennial crops: Tetracarpedium conophorum (African walnut) and Irvingia gabonensis (African bush mango) were studied. The oils were extracted from the seeds using n-hexane in soxhlet extractor and were used to determine the physicochemical properties and fatty acid composition of the samples while the proximate analysis was done from the powdered form of the seeds. The results showed that both samples had high percentage oil yield with I. gabonensis having significantly higher oil yield than T. conophorum (p= .001). I. gabonensis have significantly higher protein content of 9.02% than 3.12% of T. conophorum (p =.006). They both have high percentage of carbohydrate but T. conophorum has significantly higher percentage (p =.000). The fatty acids composition of the I. gabonensis are mainly saturated fatty acid (87.28%) while T. conophorum revealed high proportion of unsaturated fatty acid (99.95% ) implying that, T. conophorum could provide the body with essential fatty acid. In conclusion, both samples have good nutritive values and can also be of economic importance in soap making, oil and domestic food industries since they are perennial plants with guaranteed availability during seasons. In addition, the consumption of I. gabonensis can be substituted for T. conophorum because of its high percentage of saturated fatty acid in order to avoid health risks associated with too much consumption of saturated fatty acid.