Proximate, Mineral and Phytochemical Composition of Dacryode Edulis

Background: The differences in time and geographical locations has significant effect on the mineral and phytochemical compositions of plants. Dacryodes Edulis obtained in June at Idu market, Abuja, FCT Nigeria, is a plant wildly grown in Nigeria especially in the tropical and semi tropical region and humid climate. The proximate, mineral, and phytochemical components of Dacryodes Edulis was examined in this study. Methods: The proximate constituent analysis was carried out using the Association of Official Analytical Chemist method. The mineral and phytochemical analyses were carried out using Flame Atomic Adsorption Spectroscopy and standard procedures respectively. Results: The result of proximate analysis showed that Dacryodes Edulis consists of 1.96±0.01% moisture, 4.22±0.27% crude protein, 33.74±0.66% for crude fat, 9.67±0.29% ash and 50.41±0.61% carbohydrate. The mineral constituents showed that Dacryodes Edulis contains 272.0+3.00mg/g Iron, 10072.45+1.00mg/g Potassium, 8.40+0.20mg/g Copper, 4461.95+1.01mg/g Calcium and 756.67+0.90mg/g Magnesium. Conclusion: The results of African pear pericarp showed favorable comparisons in terms of moisture content, crude fat, crude protein, ash content, and carbohydrate content with the African pear seed. The findings indicated that eating enough African pear fruit pericarp could significantly help meet human nutritional needs for healthy growth and sufficient defense against diseases brought on by malnutrition.