Effect of Processing Methods on Amino Acid and Fatty Acid Composition of Parkia biglobosa Seeds

Parkia biglobosa (PB) is among the various underexploited nutritious plants. A comparative study was conducted on the effect processing PB has on the amino and fatty acid composition. Fermented (FPB), defatted (DPB), and protein isolates (PI) samples were prepared from Parkia biglobosa seeds using various processing methods, and evaluated using standard analytical protocols. The PI showed the highest significant total non-essential amino acids, essential amino acids, and conditionally essential amino acids when compared with FPB and DPB. In addition, the PI showed the highest significant (p < 0.05) total neutral amino acids, basic amino acids, total aromatic amino acids, and the lowest percentage cystine ratio of total sulphur amino acids and total amino acids in comparison with FPB and DPB. The PI also showed a better-predicted protein efficient ratio, essential amino acid index, biological value, protein content, and nutritional index than FPB and DPB. Furthermore, PI amino acid composition was compared favourably with the reference scores for a whole hen’s egg, preschool child, and provisional scoring pattern. Arginine and histidine values of PI were higher than the recommended values. The FPB (42.29%) showed the highest polyunsaturated fatty acids compared with the DPB (41.94%) and PI (26.7%). The dominant saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids were stearic acid (15.1 DPB), linoleic acid (42.29 DPB), and oleic acid (14.05 PI). The DPB (1.84) showed a better polyunsaturated to saturated (P:S) ratio than FPB (1.74) and PI (0.91). The results revealed that the processing methods improved the relative amino acid composition, whereas the fatty acid composition improved in DPB. Therefore, PI could serve as an alternative in the formulation of complementary foods.