Nutritional and Phytochemical Profile of Niger Cultivated Date Palm (Phoenix Dactilyfera L)

Abstract

Abstract:The chemical constituents available in plants have been reported to vary with the geographical location of the plants. This investigation assessed the nutritional and phytochemical profile of Niger date palm (Khaokhara) fruit and sought to determine any uniqueness of Niger cultivate Date palm relative to Date palms cultivated in other regions. Standard procedures as described by AOAC were employed in the analyses. The moisture, crude protein and fat contents were determined to be 13.40, 2.67 and 0.70 g/100g respectively while the dietary fibre, ash, and carbohydrate values were respectively estimated as 2.13, 3.29 and 76.95 g/100g. The antioxidant vitamins present in the fruit were also evaluated; ascorbic acid (0.5mg/100g), carotenoid (15.5µg/100g) and Tocopherol (0.00mg/100g). Phytochemical screening of the fruit showed that it contained alkaloids (1.59g/100g), anthraxquinones (0.17g/100g), flavonoids (3.36g/100g), tannins (0.69g/100g), saponins (1.37 x 10 -3 g/100g) and terpenoids (1.97 x 10 -3 g/100g). Other phytochemicals that were detected but not quantified are phlobatanins and steroids. This fruit is very rich in potassium (360.79 mg/100g) and contains appreciable amount of calcium and phosphorus (37.45 and 27.30 g/100g respectively). Overall, the data obtained from this investigation did not show much difference between Niger Date palm fruit and other previously studied cultivars vis-a-vis phytochemical and nutritional compositions.

Evaluation and assessment of nutritional composition for quality profiling of Phoenix dactylifera cultivars using multivariate analytical tools

“…The highest value for potassium was recorded with Maktoomi. Contrary to the ndings of the present study, Abdrabo et al [30] reported a higher concentration of potassium that ranged from 3500 mg/kg to 7500 mg/kg (Abdrabo, 2015). The sodium concentration of date samples was in the range of 7.46 mg/100g to 14.47 mg/100g.…”

“…Sultana reported high carbohydrate content while Lulu and Shebeby recorded low carbohydrates of 70.22 g/100g and 70.64 g/100g, respectively. Oni and Sadiq et al reported a similar carbohydrate content in Nigerian PDF (Oni, 2015;Sadiq, 2013).…”

“…High ash content was found in Shebeby (1.58g/100g) and a low ash value was observed in Lulu DPF (1.05g/100g). A previous study reported 1.45 to 2.56% of ash content in Algerian DPF (12) whereas Nigerian DPF showed 3.29% of ash (Oni, 2015).…”

Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Flour as an Alternative Culture Media for the Growth of Escherichia coli and Bacillus cereus

“…Date fruits have a high nutritional being rich in carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, vitamin B complex such as thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pantothenic (B5), pyridoxine (B6), folate (B9) (Al-Harrasi et al, 2014). Phytochemically date palm contains alkaloids, flavonoids, anthraquinone, saponin, terpenoids and tannin (Oni et al, 2015). Escherichia coli and Bacillus cereus are pathogenic bacteria that cause infection foodborne with diarrhea symptoms.…”