Chemical Composition and Nutritional Evaluation of Velvet Bean Seeds (Mucuna utilis) For Domestic Consumption and Industrial Utilization in Nigeria

Velvet bean seeds were collected from a farm Ibadan. The mature seed samples were analyzed for proximate and mineral compositions, fatty acid profiles and amino acid composition. The mean values of various parameters for proximate composition (%) were: Moisture (6.02±0.11), crude protein (25.65±0.14), ash (3.60±0.01), ether extract (14.52±0.05), crude fibre (7.23±0.05) and carbohydrate (by difference) (42.98). The calculated fatty acids were (12.49) and gross energy was (1703.95). The investigated seed samples contained higher amounts of crude protein and lipids when compared with most of the commonly consumed pulses. Mineral element (mg/100g) include: Calcium (148.88±0.2), potassium (1472.33±0.2), phosphorus (377.12±0.2), magnesium (23.66±0.3), iron (3.44±0.2) and manganese (5.28±0.1). The fatty acid profiles of the seeds revealed that the seed lipids contained higher concentration of palmitic acid and linoleic acid. Linoleic acid was the dominating fatty acid, followed by palmitic acid and oleic acid. The seed proteins of sample contained higher levels of the essential amino acids such as, threonine, valine, isoleucine, tyrosine, phenylalanine and histidine. Amino acid analysis revealed that velvet bean flour contained nutritionally useful quantities of most of the essential amino acids.