Nutritive Compounds Contained In Some Mucilaginous Plants Consumed In Côte d'Ivoire

Aims: To assess the nutritive compounds contents in different edible parts of nine mucilaginous food plants (MFPs) from Côte d’Ivoire.

Study Design: MFPs edible parts were dried and nutritive compound analyzed.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in Laboratory of Biochemistry and Food Sciences, Biosciences Unit, at Felix Houphouet-Boigny University between January and December 2014.

Methodology: The acquirement of the plants has been done in 3 big regions (Tonkpi, Bélier and District of Abidjan) of Côte d’Ivoire. To achieve this study, 100 kg of fresh fruits and masts of the species I. gabonensis, I. wombolu and B. mannii have been collected to the farmer in the region of the Tonkpi. A same quantity of leaves, calyx and flowers of B. buonopozense has been harvested in the region of Belier. As well as 100 kg of leaves of C. olitorius, M. arboreus, A. digitata and varieties tomi and koto of A. esculentus have been collected to the Gouro market in the District of Abidjan. So a biochemical characterization of the kernels (IG and IW), leaves (CO, AD, MA and BB), fruits (BM and AE) and flowers (BB) has been achieved.

Results: The results reveal richness in nutritive components of the studied food plants. The ash contents are consisted between 2.5±0.14% and 10.70±0.07% and are raised more in the leaves and the fruits of A. esculentus. The leaves, flowers and fruits also expressed the best concentrations in polyphenols of 116.40±2.11 to 521.76±5.13 mg/100 g DM. These same parts showed the best concentrations in proteins especially leaves (10.06±0.85% to 12.69±0.64% DM). The mucilaginous food plants provided some contents in carbohydrates varying from 10.33±0.04% to 60.64±0.71%. The concentrations in lipids are generally weak below 6% but very strong (55.79±1.45% and 75.99±2.25%) in the kernels of Irvingia spp, providing thus big calorific value (567.90±4.07 and 689.98±1.41 kcal/100 g DM). The fibers are recovered in important quantity in the leaves of all studied species (28.5±0.55% to 36.5±0.42%).

Conclusion: MFPs valorization could contribute to ensure the nutritional safety to Ivorian populations.