Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences
J. Anim. Plant Sci. [ISSN 2071 - 7024]
Volume 20(3): 3159 - 3170. Published February, 2014.

Leafy vegetables consumed in Southern Côte d’Ivoire: a source of high value nutrients

Constant F. ACHO, Lessoy T. ZOUE*, Eric E. AKPA, Valery G. YAPO and Sébastien L. NIAMKE
Laboratoire de Biotechnologies, UFR Biosciences, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny 22 BP 582, Abidjan 22, Côte d’Ivoire.
*Corresponding Author: E-mail: y.lessoy@yahoo.fr, Phone: + (225) 08 98 67 44

Key words: Leafy vegetables, proximate composition, nutritive value, antioxidant properties

1 SUMMARY
In tropical Africa, leafy vegetables are traditionally cooked and eaten as a relish together with a starchy staple food. Nevertheless, scientific report on their nutritive potential is scanty. In order to promote and to contribute to their wider utilization, leafy vegetables consumed in Southern Côte d’Ivoire Basella alba (épinard), Colocasia esculenta (taro), Corchorus olitorius (kplala), Solanum melongena (aubergine) and Talinum triangulare (tikliti)) were studied. The physicochemical and nutritive properties of these leafy vegetables were investigated and the results obtained were as follow: moisture (73.66 - 90.41%), crude proteins (9.64 - 21.17%), crude fibres (11.46 - 24.46%), ash (8.38 - 22.57%), carbohydrates (40.17 - 56.42%), crude lipids (2.67 - 8.50%) and food energy (244.77 - 291.11 kcal/100g). The mineral elements contents were high with remarkable amount of K (1652.06 - 9402.42 mg/100g), Ca (1103.07 - 4838.79 mg/100g), Mg (562.02 - 3161.6 mg/100g), P (190.94 - 1348.05 mg/100g) and Fe (27.29 - 78.74 mg/100g). The Ca/P ratio was desirable and ranged from 2.09 to 8.40. These leafy vegetables also contained appreciable levels of vitamin C (45.67 - 74.33 mg/100g) and polyphenols (123.58 - 292.87 mg/100g). The studied leafy vegetables highlighted antioxidant activity varying from 65.11 to 78.71%. All these results suggest that the studied leafy vegetables if consume in sufficient amount would contribute greatly to the nutritional requirement for human health and to the food security of Ivorian population.

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