Compositional Studies of Citrullus lanatus (Egusi melon) Seed

Abstract

Proximate, amino acid and mineral composition of Citrullus lanatus (egusi melon) flour were determined using standard analytical procedures. The proximate composition analysis of egusi melon showed that the seed contained (% dry weight): moisture (4.6±0.3), ash (3.7±0.1), ether extract (45.7±0.1), crude protein (23.4±0.2), crude fibre (12.0±0.1) and total carbohydrate (10.6±0.2). The result of the amino acid analysis showed that egusi melon seed contained good quantities (g/100g protein) of arginine (9.0), isoluecine (4.8), leucine (4.2), and phenylalanine (3.2) which are essential amino acids as well as glutamic acid (16.9) and aspartic acid (16.3).The mineral analysis (mg/100g) of the flour included: Na (13.0±0.2), K (96.1±0.4), Ca (28.2±0.2), Mg (31.4±0.2), Mn (1.7±0.1), Cu (0.4±0.1), Zn (1.2±0.1), Fe (1.3±0.2), and P (125.3±3.1). With this nutrient profile egusi melon compares favourably with the known protein rich foods such as soybean, cowpeas, pigeon peas and pumpkin.