Luffa cylindrica is locally a source of food, medicinal substances and have other traditional application. This study investigated the proximate and mineral analysis of L. cylindrica. The result of the analysis showed that the seed contain principally protein (35.83%) and fat content (33.93%). The crude fiber, moisture and ash content are 4.58, 5.84 and 6.13% respectively, while 13.67% was found as the carbohydrate content which is determine by different methods. The mineral content showed that phosphorus is the most abundant mineral with 30.63 mg/100 g followed by Magnesium (28.93 mg/100 g). It also contains moderately high amount of other minerals such as Potassium (13.86 mg/100 g), Sodium (8.18 mg/100 g) while Chromium (0.25 mg/100 g) was found to be the lowest. The sample could be useful in preventing high blood pressure. Thus, the research suggests that L. cylindrica seed can serve as a potential source of vegetable protein and mineral in dietary formulation.

Citrus aurantifolia essential oils are volatile phytochemicals obtained from various part of the plant which has found wide range of domestic, medicinal and industrial applications. The research seeks to investigate the effect of time of harvest on the yield and phytochemical composition of Citrus aurantifolia leaf oil. Pulverized leaves of Citrus aurantifolia harvested in the morning (7a.m) and afternoon (2p.m) on the same day were separately subjected to hydro-distillation which yielded 0.4 and 0.5% (v/w) of the volatile oil respectively. Analyses of the oil harvested in the morning (7am) revealed the predominance of oxygenated terpenes which constituted 58.3%  of the oil. The principal constituents were; isolimonene (22.2%), neral (22.2%), citral (21.5%), caryophyllene (4.3%), and α-geranyl acetate (4.1%). Furthermore, the leaf oil from the afternoon (2pm) harvest also showed predominance of oxygenated terpenes which constituted 57.7%. The principal constituents in the oil were; limonene (20.2%), neral (24.5%), citral (10.3%), caryophyllene (5.4%), and α-geranyl acetate (3.3%). This study established   that there was compositional variation in the leaf essential oil obtained from the different time of harvests.

Determination of heavy metal contents in edible clay (kaolin) from Enyigba in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State of Nigeria was carried out using Atomic absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). The quantitative analysis of heavy metal analyzed in the edible clay sample were 0.012 mg/kg for Co, 0.113 mg/kg for Cu and 0.712 mg/kg for Ni. This study shows that the levels of these heavy metals (Co, Cu and Ni) in kaolin are below the permissible limits as established by the regulatory organization (World Health Organization, WHO). Compared to the safety intake levels for these heavy metals recommended by US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals (EVM), and Agency for toxic substance and disease Registry (ATSDR), the dietary intakes of the three heavy metals from daily consumption of 20 g of kaolin should pose no health risk to human.