The nutrients and lipid characterization of seed pastes of four selected Peanut (Arachis hypogaea) varieties from Ghana

Advanced Journal of Seed Science and Technology Vol. 2 (2), pp. 051-057, February, 2015.© Advanced Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

The nutrients and lipid characterization of seed pastes of four selected Peanut (Arachis hypogaea) varieties from Ghana

Kofi Mensah¹, Owusu Apele² and Micheal Ajapon³

^1,2,3Department of Plant Science, Faculty of Agricultural Science, University of Ghana, Accra.

E-mail: [email protected]

Accepted 12 January, 2015

Abstract

The proximate nutrients, calorific value, mineral nutrients and lipid characteristics of the seed pastes of four (4) peanut (Arachis hypogaea) varieties namely: Sinkarzie, F-mix, JL 24 and Manipintar were investigated. Crude protein values ranged between 23.62% (±0.34) in Sinkarzie to 28.88% (±0.24) in JL 24. Crude fat ranged between 38.11% (±0.47) in JL 24 to 48.79% (±0.20) in Sinkarzie. Carbohydrate content ranged between 11.54% (±0.18) for Sinkarzie to 19.65% (±0.55) in JL 24. The energy content in kCal/100 g sample ranged between 537.06 in JL 24 to 581.54 in Manipintar. Calcium contents (mg/100 g) ranged between 23.14 (±0.49) in Manipintar to 128.25 (±2.90) in F-mix. At room temperature (25°C), all the oils from the four groundnut varieties were pale yellow coloured liquids with nutty odour. Saponification value (mg KOH/g oil) ranged from 144.70 (±0.63) in JL 24 to 208.97 (±0.58) in Sinkarzie. Iodine value (mg/100 g) ranged from 79.10 (±0.15) in Sinkarzie to 86.93 (±0.26) in F-mix. Percentage free fatty acids (% FFA) ranged from 8.09% (±0.20) in Manipintar to 14.21% (±0.10) in F-mix. The results indicate that while the groundnut seeds could be used in fighting malnutrition, the oils obtained from the seeds could also be used for domestic and industrial purposes.