The relative merits of the presence of hull on the nutritional qualities of the African yam bean flour

The flour from three colour cultivars of hulled and dehulled seeds of the African yam bean (AYB) (Sphenostylis stenocarpa) was analysed for anatomical fractions: proximate, mineral, fatty and amino acids composition. The seed hull varied between 8.25% and 9.14%. Na, K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Zn are preferably found in the hulled samples. Essential fatty acids as well as essential amino acids are more enriched in the hulled samples than in the endosperm. Correlation coefficient results showed that proximate composition (rD 1 D 2 , rE 1 E 2 , rF 1 F 2 ), mineral composition (rD 1 D 2 , rE 1 E 2 , rF 1 F 2 ), fatty acids (rD 1 D 2 , rE 1 E 2 , rF 1 F 2 ), fatty acids saturation (rD 1 D 2 , rE 1 E 2 , rF 1 F 2 ) and amino acids (rD 1 D 2 , rE 1 E 2 , rF 1 F 2 ) were significant at α = 0.05 in the samples shown in parentheses with values having high positive correlation coefficients ranging from 0.82 to 1.00. These results showed that dehulling of African yam bean seeds will lead to reduction in the nutritional qualities of the AYB.