Investigation of Amino and Fatty Acid Characterisation of <i>Thevetia peruviana</i> (Milk Bush) Seed

Abstract

This study examined the amino acid profile and fatty acid analysis of Milk bush (thevetia peruviana) seed. The seeds were ground into very fine powder using three processing techniques. The parameters of interest were carried out using standard methods. The results of both essential and non-essential amino acids showed that the total essential amino acid content in oven-dried seed sample (OD.S), airdried seed sample (AD.S) and sun-dried seed sample (SD.S) were within the WHO Standard. It was observed that eighteen out of the twenty amino acids content of food were present in the seed with glutamic acid having the highest value, followed by aspartate and arginine. Also the eight essential amino acid needed in the daily diet were all present in the sample (arginine, valine, histidine, isoleucine, lysine, methionine, phenylanine, threonine, tryptophan and leucine). There were reductions in the level of some amino acids as a result of the processing treatments. The fatty acid analysis also revealed that the sample contained both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. The unsaturated fatty acids for oven-dried, sun-dried and air-dried are 60.89, 2.21 and 20.47 respectively while the saturated fatty acids for oven-dried , sun-dried and air dried 26.15, 3.29 and 35.61 respectively. The result suggested that thevetia peruviana contains high quality protein and the oil is a good source of unsaturation which increases the shelf life and edibility of the oil.

Keywords: Amino acid; Fatty acid; Characterization; Processing techniques; Milk-bush seed