Comparative Proximate and Phytochemical Analysis of Leafy Vegetables in Lagos, Nigeria.
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Date
2017
Authors
Onuminya, Temitope
Shodiya, Oreoluwa
Olubiyi, Oluwatomisin
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Physical Sciences and Faculty of Life Sciences, Univ. of Ilorin, Nigeria
Abstract
A systematic survey of leafy vegetables in three different markets in Lagos state, Nigeria was carried out
to compare their proximate and phytochemical compositions. The vegetable samples were oven dried for
two weeks, pulverized into powdery form and soaked in ethanol for extraction of bioactive constituents.
The proximate and phytochemical analyses were carried out following standard procedures. A total of
sixteen vegetable samples were collected, six are used as spices while others are taken either raw or
cooked as vegetables. The phytochemical analysis of the methanolic extracts revealed that the all the leafy
vegetables studied are rich in flavonoids, tannins (except in Laurus nobilis – bay leaf), saponins (except in
Amaranthus viridis - slender amaranth) and alkaloids (except Murraya koenigii – curry leaf and
Amaranthus hybridus – green amaranth); with considerable amount of phenols, anthraquinones and
phlobatannins while cardiac glycosides were recorded in 75% of the samples studied. Analysis of the
proximate composition of the various leafy vegetables examined varied with each species however the
ranges recorded across the samples are as follows: moisture content (2.4 – 19.8%), crude fiber (9.8 –
22.4%), total ash (9.0 - 20.3%), crude lipid (0.5 – 13.5%), carbohydrates (0.25 – 9.12%) and total
nitrogen (32.5 – 71.1%). This result indicates that the leafy vegetables are valuable reservoir of bioactive
compounds of substantial medicinal merit and could be a good source for nutrients supplement and as a
source for drug production. Therefore, if consumed in sufficient amount, these vegetables would
contribute greatly towards meeting human nutritional requirement for normal growth and adequate protection against diseases arising from malnutrition.
Description
Keywords
Bioactive compounds, Edible leaves, Medicinal plants, Proximate, Spices
Citation
Onuminya, T.O., Shodiya, O.E. and Olubiyi, O.O. (2017). Comparative Proximate and Phytochemical Analysis of Leafy Vegetables in Lagos, Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences 30(3): 3097-3103 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.19240/njpas.2017.C06