Nutritional Composition of Some Accessions of Pumpkin (Cucurbita Spp) Seeds from Abia State, Nigeria

Abstract

Despite the nutritional and positive health benefits of consuming pumpkin seeds, pumpkin is still one of the underutilized crops and its existence in Nigeria especially in Abia State, is presently threatened due to neglect. The study involves evaluation of seeds of some accessions of pumpkin for proximate, mineral, vitamins and phytochemical composition. Proximate composition indicated that moisture content (5.77- 9.18%), ash (3.47–4.26%), crude fibre (1.62-1.95%), ether extract (23.23–28.56%), and dry matter contents (90–94.23%) differed significantly (p<0.05) among the seeds while carbohydrate (CHO - 0.57–0.90%) and protein (17.19–32.07%) did not. Minerals varied significantly among the pumpkin seeds and potassium (216.69 - 263.66 mg/100 g) is the most abundant followed by sodium (149.58-170.66 mg/100g), and then Magnesium (63.64-75.87 mg/100g) while the least is iron (2.62-3.61 mg/100g). In the analysis of vitamins, thiamin (0.04-0.08 mg/100g), vitamin A (0.19-0.44 mg/100 g), vitamin C (0.31-0.77 mg/100g) and Vitamin E (1.19-1.48 mg/100g) were significantly different among pumpkin seeds while riboflavin (0.02-0.04 mg/100g) and niacin (0.05-0.51 mg/100g) were not. The phytochemical compositions were: Alkaloid (0.04-0.67%), tannin (0.04-0.34%), oxalate (0.04-0.06%), saponin (0.05-0.09%), hydrogen cyanide (HCN - 0.30-0.73%) and phytate (0.20-0.44%). The values are very low and varied significantly among the seeds except tannin. It can be concluded that pumpkin seeds are good source of some minerals, protein and oil. Thus, more attention should be given to the cultivation and utilization of pumpkin seeds.