EFFECT OF DIFFERENT PROCESSING METHODS ON THE AMINO ACID PROFILE, MINERAL AND ANTI-NUTRIENT CONTENTS OF Detarium senegalense (Tallow) SEED FLOUR

Detarium senegalense seed known as Tallow in English, is used traditionally as a soup thickener in Eastern Nigeria. Despite its high protein contents its seed is underutilized due to the presence of anti-nutritional compounds such as oxalate, phytate, tannin and trypsin inhibitor which reduces their bioavailability of nutrients. Therefore, the effect of different processing methods on the amino acid profile, minerals and anti-nutritional properties of Detarium senegalense seed flour was investigated. Freshly purchased seeds were washed and portioned into unprocessed (raw) and processed (soaked, boiled, roasted, autoclave and microwave) seed flour. The samples were analyzed using standard procedures. Data obtained were statistically analyzed using Analysis of variance (ANOVA). Duncan's multiple range tests was used to compare the means. Significance was evaluated at (p≤0.05). The result showed that the amino acid profile was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased by boiling method. Mineral composition indicated that all the processing methods significantly reduced the minerals content when compared to the unprocessed sample and varied between zinc 0.01 to 0.07mg/100g, iron 0.15 to 0.51mg/100g, calcium 0.14 to 0.22mg/100g; magnesium 1.09 to 1.19mg/100g, potassium 2.16 to 3.26mg/100g and sodium 0.15 to 0.20mg/100g, respectively. The anti-nutritional factors of the samples were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) reduced by boiling and roasting method than by soaking, autoclaving and microwaving methods. It was found that among the different method investigated, boiling has the highest amino acid profile and reduced anti-nutrient contents.