Evaluating the Nutritional and Chemical Composition of Treculia Africana and Vigna Subterranea L. Seeds Collected from Kogi State, Nigeria

This study aims to investigate the nutritional composition of two underutilized leguminous crops, namely Treculia africana and Vigna subterranea seeds, collected from Kogi state, Nigeria. The study analysed their proximate composition, mineral content, and amino acid profile using standard analytical methods. Additionally, the chemical composition of the sample was determined using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. The results showed that there were significant differences (P≤0.05) in the legume samples. However, V. subterranea seeds had the least moisture content (12.90±0.81 %) as well as the highest crude fat content, crude fiber content, crude protein and ash content at 15.70±0.41 %, 5.06±0.16 %, 27.86±0.25 % and 3.23±0.50 %, respectively. The elemental analysis in mg/100g indicated that the samples contained appreciable levels of essential minerals. T. africana had the highest magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium and iron concentrations of 190.03±1.70 mg/100g, 315.95±1.60 mg/100g, 32.61±1.82 mg/100g, 1941.53±2.61 mg/100g and 39.50±1.73 mg/100g, respectively, while calcium (58.46±1.63) was most abundant in V. subterranea The samples were also rich in amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein. However, V. subterranea was the richest in amino acid content, as it had 33.07±2.22 g/100g and 46.01±4.24 g/100g, for essential and non-essential amino acids, respectively. The GC-MS characterization of the chemical composition of the samples showed that myristic acid (48.1) was the most abundant in T. africana, while ethyl palmitate (31.17) was the most abundant in V. subterranea. Overall, the results suggest that these legume samples are rich sources of both nutritional and pharmaceutical properties beneficial for human consumption.