ANALYSIS OF PROXIMATE COMPOSITION,ANTI-NUTRITIONAL FACTORS AND HEAVY METALS OF SHEABUTTER (Butryospermum parkii) LEAVES

Abstract

ABSTRACT The shea-butter tree (Butryospermum parkii) occurs in the West Africa savannah, it can grow to 40 ft or more depending on the protection given to it. It belongs to the familySapotaceae .The aim of this research is to determine nutritive,anti-nutritive factors and heavy metal content of the leaves. The Proximate composition were determined using the method describe by Association of Official Analytical Chemist’s,while Carbohydrate was determined by difference. The proximate composition of the leaves gave the following values of (89.17±0.95),(1.63±0.15),(3.00±1.00),(1.39±0.02),(2.50±0.50) and (3.94±0.44) for carbohydrate, crude fiber, ash content, crude lipid, moisture content, and crude protein respectively. The content of anti-nutrients determined are low; phytate (1.42±0.350), oxalate (0.05±0.009) andcyanide (0.16±0.001) these can be tolerated by the body system. The low level of these constituent will not pose a serious nutritional problem in consumption of shea-butter leaves. The leaves also contains heavy metals Mn(0.015mg/2g),Cd(0.001mg/2g),Cr(0.004mg/2g), Zn (0.007mg/2g) and Cu (0.010mg/2g) which were all below WHO maximum permissible limits.ABSTRACT The shea-butter tree (Butryospermum parkii) occurs in the West Africa savannah, it can grow to 40 ft or more depending on the protection given to it. It belongs to the familySapotaceae .The aim of this research is to determine nutritive,anti-nutritive factors and heavy metal content of the leaves. The Proximate composition were determined using the method describe by Association of Official Analytical Chemist’s,while Carbohydrate was determined by difference. The proximate composition of the leaves gave the following values of (89.17±0.95),(1.63±0.15),(3.00±1.00),(1.39±0.02),(2.50±0.50) and (3.94±0.44) for carbohydrate, crude fiber, ash content, crude lipid, moisture content, and crude protein respectively. The content of anti-nutrients determined are low; phytate (1.42±0.350), oxalate (0.05±0.009) andcyanide (0.16±0.001) these can be tolerated by the body system. The low level of these constituent will not pose a serious nutritional problem in consumption of shea-butter leaves. The leaves also contains heavy metals Mn(0.015mg/2g),Cd(0.001mg/2g),Cr(0.004mg/2g), Zn (0.007mg/2g) and Cu (0.010mg/2g) which were all below WHO maximum permissible limits.