Author(s):

Adulkadir Nasiru and Adedokun Oluwasegun

Abstract: Medicinal plants are used in prevention and treatment of various health problems from simple to complex disease situations among rural and urban populations. Proximate, anti-nutrient, mineral, amino acid and phytochemical analyses of Citrullus lanatus, seed flour were carried carried using standard methods. The mean values of the various parameters of proximate composition were; moisture (4.0%), ash (4.0%), protein (19.62%), crude fat (70.0%) and carbohydrate (by difference) (2.35%). The anti-nutrients were determined to be saponin (1.45%), oxalate (0.27%), Phytic acid (0.37%), phytochemical analysis showed the presence of glycosides, saponins, flavonoids, terpenoids, reducing sugars and steroids. The mineral analysis (mg/kg) indicated that the seed has sodium (Na) (21.1), Potassium (K) (800), Zinc (Zn) (916.7), Lead (0.03), Cadmium (Cd) (0.01), Chromium was, however not detected. The amino acid result showed that watermelon seed contains glutamate, aspartate, cystine and methionine to the extent of 16.03 g/100 mg, 9.69 g/100 g and 945 g/100 g respectively. Considering the percentage of crude fat extracted, it can be concluded that watermelon seed contains a lot of oil which may have domestic and industrial application.

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