This study looked to establish the proximate composition, mineral content, water absorption capacity, energy values and microbial load of the seeds of Moringa oleifera following processing. The study was carried out using standard physicochemical and microbiological techniques. Proximate analysis revealed that M. oleifera seed powder was rich in protein (34.39%) and fat (37.76%). The mean crude fibre, ash and carbohydrate values were 5.10%, 5.93% and 9.42% respectively while moisture was relatively low at 7.40%. The water absorption capacity, gross energy and metabolisable energy levels were determined as 428.01%, 509.67 Kcal/100g and 398.22 Kcal/100g respectively. The heavy metal levels were low to negligible but the calcium and phosphorus levels were somewhat high at 437.85 mg/kg and 525.10 mg/kg respectively with a ratio of 0.834. Counts of 1730 CFU/g and 121 CFU/g were obtained for total heterotrophic bacteria and total fungi. The fungi and bacteria obtained were Rhizopus stolonifer, Aspergillus niger, Bacillus, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus and Micrococcus luteus. No coliforms were recorded. The results from this study established M. oleifera seed powder as a good source of energy, protein, fat, calcium and phosphorus amongst other minerals and nutrients. Its nutritional and mineral content support coagulation/ flocculation and use in livestock and aquaculture feed.
The world is facing increasingly more severe water security issues. It has, therefore, become imperative to develop sustainable, eco-friendly water management and recycling techniques. This study assessed the capacity of powdered seeds of Moringa oleifera to improve water quality of effluent from two (2) cassava processing plants in Umudike, Nigeria by measuring the variations in specific physicochemical and microbiological parameters of the samples. The biodegradability indices of the wastewater samples were determined as 0.513 and 0.507 for Plants 1 and 2 respectively indicating samples that were fairly biodegradable and treatable biologically. At the end of the 7-day study, turbidity reduced by 59.6% -63.2% while chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and total organic carbon values dropped by 66.6% -74.1%, 86.7% -88.2% and 67.0% -72.6% respectively. Correlation analysis showed a strong positive correlation between BOD 5 and COD for both Plants 1 and 2. The total heterotrophic and coliform bacteria were completely removed by around day 5 of the study. The observed bacterial isolates in the effluent at onset were Escherichia coli, Bacillus sp., Klebsiella sp., Salmonella sp., Streptococcus faecalis, Shigella sp. and Aerobacter aerogenes. This study confirms the efficiency of powdered seeds of M. oleifera in biotreatment of wastewater from cassava processing plants.
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