AN ANALYSIS OF MICRO-NUTRIENTS COMPOSITION OF COCOYAM (COLOCASIAE ESCULENTA) AND SWEET POTATO (IPOMOEA BATATAS L) LEAVES IN MELON SOUP

Abstract

The study ascertained the micro-nutrient composition of cocoyam and sweet potato leaves in melon soups. The study was conducted to identify vitamins and mineral composition in three types of melon soups. The instrument adopted for the study was laboratory analysis of food nutrients using official methods of Association of Official Analytical Chemists. The data for micro nutrients were collected in triplicates from the melon soups in the food analysis laboratory, raw triplicate values of each micro nutrient in the soups were collected and analyzed using ±SD and ANOVA statistics to test the hypotheses 1 – 4. The findings revealed that cocoyam and sweet potato leaves melon soups are as rich as fluted pumpkin leaf melon soup in micro nutrients, such as vitamin A (Iµ) 16.03: 16.80 while fluted pumpkin 19.88; vitamin C (mg) 26.30: 36.89 while fluted pumpkin 28.46; folic acid (mg) 33.44: 40.64 while fluted pumpkin 46.73 among others. For minerals- Na (mg) 29.80: 26.16 while fluted pumpkin 34.19; Fe (mg) 1.41: 1.60 while fluted pumpkin 1.24 K (mg) 36.08: 46.46 while fluted pumpkin 34.57; Ca (mg) 11.19: 8.10 while fluted pumpkin 5.88; Mg (mg) 4.62: 3.53 while fluted pumpkin 2.63 among others. The study also showed that there was a significant difference between the mean values of the micro-nutrients analysis. The study recommended that, the consumption of cocoyam and sweet potato leaves should be encouraged by families in the country, as well be made available in the open market same way the popular vegetables are sold such as fluted pumpkin (Ugu) leaf.