Phytochemical Screening, Proximate Analysis and Nutrient Evaluation of Thaumatoccocus Daniellii (Sweet Prayers Leaves) And Musa Accuminata (Banana Leaves)

ABSTRACT

Thaumatococcus daniellii and Musa acuminate are leaves used for wrapping foods and these herbs have some medicinal value. The affordability, preservation, usage techniques, and seasonal scarcity of the leaves make it difficult for people to use them frequently but they are preferred over plastic bags and aluminum foil in terms of wrapping edible foods like beans pudding (moi-moi), agidi, etc and fresh foods like uncooked meat, vegetables etc. This research work involved phytochemical screening, proximate analysis, and nutrient evaluation of the leave extracts of T. daniellii and M. accuminata .The extraction methods used were, hot / cold water maceration method and soxhlet extraction method   on the Thaumatoccocus daniellii (sweet prayer leave) and Musa accuminata (banana leave). Phytochemical analysis showed the presence of alkaloids (+), tannins (+), glycosides (+), flavonoids (+),and steroids (+) present in cold water , hot water , and methanol extracts on the T. daniellii leaves. For the banana leave, the results obtained were as followed:  alkaloids (+), tannin (+), glycosides (+),flavonoid (+), and steroids (-) in cold water extract, hot water extract and methanol extract. The proximate analysis was carried out on the samples evaluating the composition of ash content (20%), crude fibre (0.01%), moisture content (0.596%), crude protein (15.75%) for T. daniellii and M. accuminata, ash content (27%), crude fibre (0.01%), moisture content (00.82%), crude protein (13.13%). Nutrient evaluation was also carried out on the two samples. For T. daniellii, Ca (0.16mg/L), Mg (2.05mg/L), Na (nil), K (0.10mg/L), and Fe (nil).For M. accuminata, it contains Ca (0.19mg/L), Mg (2.45mg/L), Na (0.01mg/L), K (0.81mg/L) and Fe (0.36mg/L).