Abstract

The experiment assessed the proximate and amino acid compositions, metabolizable energy and anti-nutrient constituents of Tithonia diversifolia leaf meal (TDLM) harvested separately in the months of May and September, respectively using standard laboratory methods. The crude protein (20.5±0.1%), crude fibre (18.8±0.01%) and ash (14±0.1%) significantly (pË‚0.05) increased in TDLM for September cutting than that of May (18.05±0.1%, 11.17±0.3% and 13.01±0.1%, respectively). All the anti-nutrient factors (ANFs), namely, oxalate, phenols, phytin, phytin P, saponins and tannins except alkaloids and flavonoids were significantly (pË‚0.05) affected by the cutting time of the plant leaf. The ANFs contents in May cutting were oxalate (1.88±0.1 mg/100 g), phenols (0.31±0.01 mg/100 g), phytin (77.3±0.1 mg/100 g), phytin P (21.8±0.1 mg/100 g), saponins (21.8±0.1 mg/100 g) and tannins (0.5±0.01 mg/100 g). The metabolisable energy (ME) for May cutting of TDLM was 2908.27 kcal/kg while that of September was 2565.18 kcal/kg. Glutamic acid had the highest value of 10.94±0.02 mg crude protein among the determined amino acids in TDLM whereas cystine was the lowest (0.94±0.01 mg crude protein for both May and September cuttings. TDLM is limiting in methionine with a chemical score of 30 in both cuttings. Proximate composition of TDLM was higher for September cutting than May and could be used as vegetable protein source.

Key words: Tithonia diversifolia leaf, proximate composition, amino acid profile, anti-nutrients, May cutting, September cutting.