NUTRITIONAL EVALUATION OF DIFFERENTLY PROCESSED Moringa oleifera SEED BEFORE AND AFTER OIL EXTRACTION FOR INCLUSION IN Clarias gariepinus BASED DIETS

The present study aims to evaluate the effect of different processing methods on the nutrient and anti-nutrient profiles of Moringa oleifera seed before and after oil extraction. Four processing methods involving toasting at 10, 20 and 30mins, boiling at 30, 60 and 90mins, soaking at 8, 16 and 24 hours and combination of boiling (30, 60 and 90 minutes) and soaking for 72 hours were employed. The results showed that the three toasting treatments significantly increased the crude protein content while revealing a significant (p<0.05) increase in the crude protein (55.05±0.17) and ash (6.01±0.10) contents of the processed seed meal and significantly (p<0.05) lower fat (9.39±0.11), moisture (1.50±0.07) and crude fibre (3.93±0.05) contents after oil extraction. The anti-nutritional factors detected in the raw moringa seeds were (Oxalate, saponins, alkaloids, phytic acid, tannin, cyanide and phytate) with the following contents; 0.86±0.13, 1.50±0.06, 2.32±0.06, 269.84±1.62, 1.21±0.14, 0.56±0.04 and 69.82±0.86, respectively. Combination of boiling and soaking treatments (B30mins/S72hrs, B60mins/S72 hrs, B90mins/S72hrs) significantly (p<0.05) reduced the anti-nutritional factors. Processing, B60mins/S72hrs and B90mins/S72hrs were able to reduce all the anti-nutritional factors to acceptable levels with the exception of phytic acid which remained significantly (p<0.05) higher. All the toasting treatments significantly increased the crude protein content while boiling and soaking did not. However, displacement of oil after extraction greatly enhanced the crude protein level of the treated (B90mins/S72hrs) seed. It could be concluded that this processing method coupled with oil extraction could effectively improve on the crude protein content of the seed.