ISHS Acta Horticulturae 806: International Symposium on Underutilized Plants for Food Security, Nutrition, Income and Sustainable Development
NUTRITIONAL IMPORTANCE OF INDIGENOUS LEAFY VEGETABLES IN CÔTE D'IVOIRE |
| Authors: | E. Agbo, C. Kouame, A. Mahyao, J.C. N'zi, L. Fondio |
| Keywords: | nutrients, consumption, nutritional security, nutritive value, urban and periurban |
| Abstract:
Indigenous leafy vegetables (ILVs) production is rapidly increasing in urban and peri-urban areas of Côte d’Ivoire. They are often consumed by the population. Nutritional composition of samples of selected ILVs collected in urban and peri-urban farms and markets of Abidjan City were determined. Analysis included pH, total proteins, sugars, ascorbic acid (vitamin C),  -carotene (provitamin A), ash content, magnesium, iron, calcium, phosphorus, and oxalic acid.
The results revealed that ILVs are all characterized by acid tissues.
Protein levels are noticeable varying from 20.2% in roselle to 46.6% in black nightshade.
Total sugar content varied from 1.85 g/100 g dry weight (DW) in spinach to 13.36 g/100 g DW in jute mallow.
Ascorbic acid concentration is more important in jute mallow (34.82 mg/100 g of fresh weight (FW)) than in spinach (22.67 mg/100 g FW). -carotene content is high in Lagos spinach (2.84 mg/100 g FW). Ash content varies from 8.88% (roselle) to 22.4% (spinach). Spider plant has the highest amounts of phosphorus (45.04 mg/100 g DW) and iron (51.32 mg/100 g DW). The lowest magnesium and calcium concentration is contained in roselle (0.62 and 1.28 mg/100 g DW respectively). Roselle also has the highest content of oxalic acid (16.65 mg/100 g DW) while amaranth has the lowest (5.92 mg/100 g DW). The study showed that these indigenous leafy vegetables have high nutritive contents and could significantly contribute to the strengthening of nutrition security in Côte d’Ivoire.
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