Ibironke A. Ajayi

Effects of Different Home Storage Conditions and Preservation on Some Chemical Constituents of Tomato (Lycopersicon Esculentum)

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different home storage conditions and preservation on some chemical constituents of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). The experiment involved three post-harvest treatments comprising of fruits without preservative used as the control, fruits preserved with groundnut oil and fruits preserved with salt. All these were further divided into sub samples and subjected to different home storage conditions for the period of 8 weeks. The tomato samples were evaluated for changes in total solid, insoluble solid, pH, sugar, salt content, ascorbic acid and ash contents. Results obtained indicated that total soluble solid, insoluble solid, pH, sugar, salt, ascorbic acid and ash contents of fresh and dehydrated samples decreased with different storage conditions while their acidity showed an increase. Powdered tomato samples were found to withstand long term storage and their chemical constituents showed minimal change over the period of the study. The results revealed that preservation by powdering technique proved to be a better technique and worthy of further industrial investigation.

Short-term Toxicological Evaluation of Monodora myristica Seed Oil

A short-term preliminary toxicological evaluation of Monodora myristica seed oil was carried out in order to determine the suitability of the oil for nutritional purposes. The total unsaturated fatty acids found in M. myristica seed oil was 79.93% while the total saturated fatty acid was 20.07% with oleic and linoleic acid making up the major portion of the unsaturated fatty acids; both accounted for 68.67% of the total fatty acids in the oil. The effects of the oil on physical appearance, feed intake, weight gain, plasma and tissue cholesterol and triacyglycerol levels in rats were determined. There seemed to be no toxicological effects on weanling albino rats when fed with 5% M. myristica seed oil in their diet for 8 weeks. Weekly monitoring of the rats showed good physical appearance and steady weight gain, with no mortality recorded for the study period of eight weeks. Haematological analysis of the test rats showed that the rats were not anaemic. M. myristica seed oil is a promising edible oil.

Use of Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) Seeds in Health

Publisher Summary This chapter provides insights into the potential of using jackfruit seeds to promote health and prevent diseases. Healthwise, all parts of the tree are said to have medicinal properties. The plants of Artocarpus species have been used as traditional folk medicine against inflammation and malaria fever. The pulp and seeds have been used as a cooling tonic; the roots in diarrhea and fever; the wood as a sedative in convulsions; the leaves for the activation of milk supply in women and animals and also as an antisyphilic and a vermifuge; while leaf ash has been applied to treat ulcers and wounds. The compound isolated from the seed of A. heterophyllus, jacalin, has potential as a therapeutic agent for cancer. Jacalin has been used as a histochemical reagent to study tissue-binding properties in benign and malignant lesions of the breast and thyroid. The crude methanolic extract of the stem and root barks, stem and root heartwood, leaves, fruits, and seeds of A. heterophyllus, and their subsequent partitioning with petrol, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, and butanol, gave fractions that exhibited a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity, with the butanol fractions of the root bark and fruits being found to be most active. Native jacalin as well as jacalin-derived peptide have been found to prevent HIV-1 infection in vitro. However, the mechanism of action of jacalin in preventing HIV-1, as well as jacalins mode of interaction with CD4, is not well understood.

Chemical Analysis and Toxicological Assessment of Sesamum indicum Seed Cake on Albino Rats

Sesamum indicum L. seed cake was analysed for proximate composition, mineral element content and phytochemical properties after which toxicological assessment was carried out on it. The result of the proximate composition showed that the seed cake contained 8.26±0.04% moisture, 28.96±0.12% crude protein, 9.58±0.03% ash, 13.90±0.04% crude fibre, 23.28±0.02% fat and 29.91% carbohydrate. The cake was found to be a good source of mineral elements. Calcium (1.5%) was the highest, followed by magnesium (0.4%), phosphorus (0.06%), iron (0.04%) and lead (0.02%). The qualitative phytochemical screening carried out on the seed cake revealed the presence of some secondary metabolites such as flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, phenol, carbohydrate and steroids. This suggests its usefulness in drug manufacture. A six-week feeding trial was conducted to assess the effect of sesamum seed cake as dietary replacement of groundnut cake in the diet of albino rats. All diets were formulated to meet the entire nutrient requirement for young albino rats (Rattus norvegius). The performance of the rats fed with sesamum seed cake meal-based diet (test) was compared to rats fed a groundnut cake meal-based diet (control). There were significant differences (P 0.05) in the packed volume cell (PVC), haemoglobin (Hb), red blood cell (RBC), white blood cell (WBC), neutrophil, lymphocyte and monocyte between the rats in the test and control groups. The seed cake might be suitable for edible purposes.

Short term toxicological analysis and effect of total replacement of wheat with Balanite aegyptiaca seed cake on albino rats

The short-term toxicological analysis of Balanite aegyptiaca seed cake (BASC) in rat feed has been carried out in order to determinate its suitability as an additive in feed supplement by comparing the effect of total replacement of wheat with BASC. The proximate analysis of BASC showed that it contained a high protein and a very low carbohydrate value of 49.32 ± 0.13% and 11.02 ± 0.18% respectively with an energy value of 1540.32 ± 1.84kJ/100g. The in vivo experiment with albino rats fed with feed with its wheat constituent totally replaced by B. aegyptiaca seed cake lasted for eight weeks. The albino rats appeared to suffer no toxicological effect and their weekly monitoring showed good physical appearance. There were no significant differences between the haematological, histopathological and the blood chemistry results obtained for both the test and control groups.

Chemical analysis and short-term toxicological evaluation of Beniseed (Sesanum indicum) oil in albino rats

The proximate and physicochemical analyses of Beniseed (Sesamum indicum) were carried out. The seed contains 4.12% moisture, 31.59% crude protein, 32.60% crude fat, 10.85% crude fibre, 5.27% ash and 26.41% carbohydrate. The physicochemical characteristics of the golden yellow oil are as follows: acid value (4.49 ± 0.10 mgKOH/g), iodine value (85.75 ± 0.92 g/100g oil), saponification value (71.95±0.20 mgKOH/g), peroxide value (2.65 ± 0.21) and refractive index (1.40 ± 0.01). The seed was also found to be good sources of minerals; calcium (9190 ± 55.68mg/kg), potassium (4713.33 ± 35.12mg/kg) and magnesium (3508.33 ± 2.89mg/kg). 5% of Beniseed oil was incorporated into the formulation of albino rat feed. This feed served as the test diet while 5% of groundnut oil replaced Beniseed oil in the control diet. There were increments in the proximate composition of the compounded feed. The experiment which lasted for eight weeks showed that the albino rats appeared to suffer no toxicological effect and weekly monitoring showed good physical appearance. The rats in the test group consumed more feed and recorded significant body weight gain when compared to their counter parts in the control group. Blood indices were analyzed for in the test and control rats and the results obtained revealed no adverse effect. There was no significant difference between the histopathology of the rat tissues harvested from the two groups. Beniseed appeared to be promising as a replacement for the more conventional edible oils already employed in cooking and other industrial applications.