The proximate composition and phytomorphometry of gmelina (<i>Gmelina arborea</i>) fruit and fruit pulp from Calabar, Nigeria

Abstract

We investigated the phyto-morphometric parameters of gmelina fruit and the proximate composition of ripe gmelina whole fruit (RGWF), unripe  gmelina whole fruit (UGWF) and ripe gmelina fruit pulp (RGFP) from  Calabar as potential livestock feed ingredients. Results showed that the fruit and fruit pulp were low in crude protein (4.46-6.36g/100g), ether extract (0.49-0.64g/100g), nitrogen free extract (46.24-65.55g/100g), ash (2.44-3.83g/100g), and caloric value (215.01-285.54g/100g) but high in crude fiber (19.51-10.84g/100g). Fruit pulp constituted 88.18% of the fruit weight. The mean fruit length (FL), width (FWT) and circumference (FC) were 2.69, 2.40 and 7.79 cm, respectively while mean weights of the fruit (FW), seed (SW) and pulp (PW) were 9.64, 1.13 and 8.50 g respectively. Fruit weight (FW) was the best predictor (p<0.0001) of pulp yield (R2, 0.99) while FL was the least (p<0.0001) predictor (R2, 0.62). Addition of more parameters in multiple regressions did not improve the predictive
power of the models. It is recommended that fruit weight could be used as predictor of pulp yield. Also, the use gmelina fruit pulp especially in  monogastrics diets may need supplementation with sources rich in protein and energy.

Key words: Phytophotometry;Gmelina arborea,Fruit pulp