Nutritional and Phytochemical Quality of Some Tropical Aquatic Plants

Abstract

This study investigates the nutritional and phytochemical composition of some selected aquatic plants to serve as indexes of nutritional values for both domesticated aquatic and terrestrial animals. Freshly harvested Nympheaa lotus (water lily), Pistia stratioties (water lettuce), Eichorrnia crassipes (water hyacinth) and Ipomoea aquatica (water spinach) were collected from Upper Jebba Basin, Niger State, Nigeria. The plants were cleaned to remove dirt, air-dried, grind and analysed for the proximate, minerals (macro and micro elements) contents and phytochemical properties (quantitative) using standard procedures. The result show that water spinach had the least mean moisture content of 6.25 ± 0.87% while water lily has the highest mean concentration of 8.78 ± 1.09% and significantly difference from other sampled plants (p>0.05). The percentage ash content of the samples shows a high value for water lettuce (16.20 ± 0.46) and also significant among the plant samples. The water lily recorded the lowest value of 9.0 ± 0.50% for crude fibre with water spinach having the highest (18.38 ± 0.88%) at a significant level (p>0.05). The crude protein of (26.45 ± 1.12%) in water spinach and (23.27 ± 0.85) in water lettuce are comparatively higher to17.93 ± 1.02% and 17.23 ± 0.02 recorded in water lily and water hyacinth respectively. Crude fat of 14.10 ± 1.15% in water lettuce is significantly lower to other plants. The carbohydrate level of 34.92 ± 1.53 is the highest in all plants analysed while the lowest content (22.12 ± 0.03%) was found in water spinach. For minerals content; K concentration was the highest of all macro-mineral elements, though varied among the sampled plants. Water spinach has the highest concentration of all analysed elements (9.82 for K; 4.24 ± 0.01 for Mg; 3.35 ± 0.01 for Ca and 3.23 ± 0.02 for Na)g/kg followed water lettuce, water hyacinth and water lily. The amount of Fe found in all sample was higher and range from 186.30 ± 0.10 µg/g in water lily to 197.5 ± 0.05 µg/g in water spinach while Cu, Mn and Zn are also constituted. The presence of some important phytochemical such as alkaloids (2.68 ± 0.01 µg/mg-4.12 ± 0.01 µg/mg), saponin (1.27 ± 0.03 µg/mg-1.38 ± 0.01 µg/mg), etc in all the plant samples could also makes the plants pharmacologically active and could be considered as good feed supplement by virtue of their proximate composition.

Prebiotic potential of Azolla pinnata (R.Br.) and dietary inclusion effect of pulverised azolla on the growth performance of milkfish fingerlings

“…The present study elucidated the nutritional properties of A. pinnata in terms of proximate composition and xylan and ß-glucan content. For the proximate components, ash and crude protein in PA were comparable to other aquatic plants previously analysed (Boyd 1968); crude fibre (22.3%) was higher in PA, relative to the concentrations in leaf biomass of several aquatic plant species (Adelakun et al 2016;Bahnasy et al 2016;Akmal et al 2014). The amount of crude fibre in A. pinnata varied as shown in previous studies, usually in lower concentration that ranged between 12.7% (Alalade and Iyayi 2006) and 14.7% (Cherryl et al 2014).…”

Seasonal Variety of Selected Indigenous Plant Raw Materials and Foodstuffs Avaiable for Consumption in Namibia – A Review

“…Water lilies (Nymphaea lotus L.), the local name Omavo in Oshiwambo is found growing in ponds as a wild plant. The edible part is the seeds which are a good source of carbohydrates, lipids, and vitamins (Adelakuna et al, 2016). Water lilies roots can be made into products such as tea that can be used for treating sore throat and mounth irritation and the leaves can be used for lotion (soften skin).…”