NUTRIENT COMPOSITION OF SOME PROCESSED AND UNPROCESSED LESSER KNOWN VEGETABLES CONSUMED IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

📄 Project Abstract

Vegetables are edible parts of plant that are consumed wholly or in parts, raw or cooked as part of main dish or salad. They include leaves, stems, roots, flowers, seeds, fruits, bulbs, tubers and fungi (Asaolu and Asaolu, 2010). Vegetables are made up of chiefly cellulose, hemi cellulose and pectin substances that give them their structures and firmness (Mohammed and Sharif, 2011). They are good sources of oil, carbohydrate, minerals and vitamins depending on the vegetables consumed (Mepba et al., 2007). Leafy vegetables are important items of diet in many Nigerian homes because of the presence of vitamin and mineral elements (Mohammed and Sharif, 2011) They are valuable sources of nutrients especially in rural areas where they contribute substantially to protein, minerals, vitamins, fibres and other nutrients which are usually in short supply in daily diet (Anjorin et al., 2010). It is worthwhile to note that consumption of numerous types of edible vegetable are sources of food, that...