NUTRIENT AND PHYTOCHEMICAL COMPONENTS OF DRIED AND FRESH FORMS OF TALINUM TRIANGULARE INVESTIGATED FOR POSSIBLE USE AS NUTRACEUTICAL IN POULTRY AND LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION

Abstract

This study serves as a prerequisite to proposed use of Talinum triangulare as a nutraceutical in poultry and livestock production. Nutrient and phytochemical compositions from freshly harvested and driedpulverised T. triangulare were determined using standard methods. Proximate analysis of T. triangulare revealed very high moisture content of 94.5 ± 0.10 % in the freshly harvested sample; and 6.1± 0.20 % in the dried. High levels of ash, protein, and fibre; moderate carbohydrate; and low lipid contents were observed in both samples. Minerals and vitamins studied occurred in appreciable quantities in both samples. Drying concentrated the nutrients and phytochemical components in T. triangulare Vitamin E was however completely destroyed during the drying process. Quantitative phytochemical analyses of T. triangulare revealed the presence of alkaloids, cyanogenic glycosides, flavonoids, oxalates, phenols, saponins, and tannins, in aerial shoot of freshly harvested plant. However, cyanogenic glycoside was reduced from 0.31± 0.02µg/g in the freshly harvested to 0.00 µg/g in the dried samples. Tannin constituted 1.6 % of the T. triangulare for the freshly harvested sample and 0.1 % in the dried sample. High nutrient and bioactive components in T. triangulare as observed in the study supports possible use as an ethno-medicinal protein/mineral-vitamin supplement. Fortification of T. triangulare - leaf meal from dried sample with Vitamin E is advocated. Anti-nutritional factors, as found in cyanogenic glycosides and tannins respectively, were either eliminated or drastically reduced with drying, making the dried sample safer for use in supplements.