Assessment of Proximate Composition, Minerals and Vitamins of Bush Buck (Gongronema latifolia) Leaf Meal and Leaf Extracts

In attempt to search for lesser- known vegetable leaf plants that are nutritionally beneficial to man and his animals, the proximate composition, minerals and vitamins content of bush buck (Gongronema latifolia) were analysed. Fresh leaves (6kg) of bush buck were after air-drying and grinding divided into three (3) samples. Sample 1 was left as dried Gongronema latifolia leaf meal, sample 2 was dissolved in de-ionized cold water (20oC) at 1kg/5L of water, while sample 3 was dissolved in de-ionized warm water (40oC) at same quantity. Both samples (2 and 3) were left to settle for 1 hour before decanting the supernatants. The dried leaf meal and the supernatants were thereafter analysed. The results revealed that ash, crude protein, fat and crude fibre were higher in the dried leaf meal except for moisture content and nitrogen free extracts (9.26, 17.84, 4.15, and 42.56% respectively). Values for warm water extract were least except for moisture and nitrogen free extracts (5.88, 12.48, 2.66, 20.25, and 39.33% respectively). All the analyzed minerals (K, Na, Fe, Zn, Mg, Mn, Ca, P, Cu and Co) were higher in the dried leaf meal except molybdenum (Mo) which was not detected across the three samples. Similarly, results for vitamins depict that the values for dried leaf meal were higher than those of cold and warm water extracts; 978.650, 1.003, 0.998, 0.144, 0.201, 87.311 and 0.400 mg/g respectively for vitamins A, B2, B3, B6, B12, C and E. These results have further confirmed the high nutrients composition of bush buck, but care must be taken in heat processing to avoid excessive loss of the nutrients