Biochemical and Microbiological Evaluation of the Effect of Processing on Cucumeropsis mannii Seed

Abstract

The determination of the effect of processing on nutritional composition and level of undigested oligosaccharide in Cucumeropsis mannii seeds was carried out. The dried melon seeds were sorted, cleaned, soaked in 60mL water for 15 min for easy removal and de-hulled to get the cotyledons, which were divided into three portions. The first portion was used unprocessed, the second portion was boiled while the third portion was fermented for analysis. The microbial load, physicochemical analyses, proximate compositions, anti-nutritional factors, antioxidant activity, vitamins, mono and oligosaccharides sugars were determined. Processing led to significant increase in the pH, moisture contents buta reduction in the total titratable acidity. Processing increased protein, fat and ash contents. Significant reduction in anti-nutritional factors of boiled and fermented melon seed was noted. Processing led to significant increase in the antioxidant activity. The saccharide sugars reduced after processing. The study observed that processing increased significantly the nutritional composition of the melon seeds but significantly reduced the anti-nutritional factors.