Chemical and Mineral Composition of Amaranth (Amaranthus L.) Species Collected From Central Malawi

Abstract

Chemical analysis and mineral composition of twenty accessions of grain and leaf Amaranth (Amaranthus L.) collected from different agro-ecological zones of Central Malawi were conducted according to the standards of Association of Official Analytical Chemistry (AOAC). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and means were separated using least significance difference (P ≤ 0.05) in Gen Stat version 15. The analyses for grain Amaranth showed that moisture content ranges from 10.69 to 12.22% while ash content varied from 4.4 to 8.7%. Elemental analyses in mg/100 grams on dry weight basis indicated that the grain had calcium (78.3 to 1004.6), iron (3.61 to 22.51), magnesium (44.31 to 97.38), potassium (267.8 to 473.6) and zinc (0.53 to 1.20). The mean differences for leaf chemical analyses were highly significant (p < 0.001) with crude protein ranging from 13.37 to 23.27%; ash (14.08 to 19.95%) and Vitamin C (30.3 to 117.79 mg/100 g) while the mean mineral leaf analyses in mg/100 grams ranged from 14.84 to 31.17 for iron, 1.03 to 3.46 for zinc, 1512 to 2381 for calcium, 1320 to 1677 for potassium and 383.4 to 513.9 for magnesium. Generally the accessions from mid altitude area of Lilongwe showed highest values for both grain and leaf mineral analyses while accessions from the high altitude showed lower values. The results of this study provide evidence that local Amaranthus genotypes have appreciable amount of nutrients, minerals and vitamins important to meet dietary requirements of rural and urban communities in Malawi.

Mineral Composition of Vegetable Biomass of Amaranthus L. Species

“…The most important thing is that our samples were dominated by potassium (up to 44,926.67 mg/kg), while in samples grown in the Сentral Malawi calcium more than potassium. The content of potassium in A. lividus (44,926.67 mg/kg) in our experiment is three times greater than the African samples (1,473-1,563 mg/100 g) (Kachiguma et al, 2015). Amaranths from Central Malawi accumulated much less calcium than in Ukraine, their maximum values were 2,381 mg/100 g and 36,126.67 mg/kg, respectively.…”

“…The tradition of using of amaranths as a vegetable is especially widespread in Africa. Kachiguma et al (2015) provide data on the content of some mineral elements for A. lividus compared to A. hybridus L., A. cruentus and A. hypochondriacus. The most important thing is that our samples were dominated by potassium (up to 44,926.67 mg/kg), while in samples grown in the Сentral Malawi calcium more than potassium.…”

Origin-dependence of variation in seed morphology, mineral composition and germination percentage in Gynandropsis gynandra (L.) Briq. accessions from Africa and Asia

“…One hundred gram (100 g) of dry mature seeds of G. gynandra contain on average 58 g of carbon, 38.04 g of oxygen, 0.30 g of magnesium, 0.20 g of aluminium, 0.30 g of phosphorus, 0.69 g of sulphur, 1.05 g of potassium and 0.92 g of calcium. These amounts are generally higher compared to those in Amaranth grain which contains calcium (0.0783 to 1.0046 g), iron (0.00361 to 0.02251 g), magnesium (0.04431 to 0.09738 g), potassium (0.2678 to 0.4736 g) and zinc (0.00053 to 0.00123 g) [28]. We observed, however, that the germination ability of the species was not correlated to any of the mineral elements identified in the seed.…”

Lycium europaeum Extract: A New Potential Antioxidant Source against Cisplatin‐Induced Liver and Kidney Injuries in Mice

“…Minerals were evaluated according to the method described by Kachiguma et al [ 16 ] with minor modifications, using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) (ZENIT series). Calibration curves were constructed using the standard stock solutions of 1000 mg/L which were diluted to make working standards of different concentration, and the calibration ranges were selected according to the expected concentrations of the elements of interest.…”