Abstract

NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF IRVINGIA GABONENSIS (O'RORKE) BAILL ALMONDS (IRVINGINACEAE) AND ANTHROPOMETRIC PARAMETERS IN GROWING WISTAR STRAIN RATS

Diby Yao Bernard*, Kokore Angoua Baudouin, Dally Theodor and Yapo Angoué Paul

ABSTRACT

Irvingia gabonensis (O'Rorke) Baill. Is a food plant whose almonds are often used as a condiment in sauces to balance the diet. However, nutritional virtues and physicochemical composition of this plant's almonds are sometimes poorly understood. The aim of this work is to assess the nutritional quality and physico-chemical composition of the plant's almonds. To achieve this, an animal experiment was carried out with fifteen (15) young growing rats divided into 3 groups of 5 rats each. Rats in group 1 (control) were fed the control fish diet (RTP), while those in group 2 and 3 were fed the Irvingia gabonensis 10% test diet (RTIG1) and Irvingia gabonensis 12% test diet (RTIG2) respectively for twelve (12) days, including two (2) adaptation days. Results showed that Irvingia gabonensis almonds contain carbohydrates (40%), lipids (7.12%), proteins (14.56%), fibers (15.35%) and a low water content (7.45%). In addition to these compounds, almonds also contain minerals such as calcium,magnesium, iron and zinc. From a nutritional point of view, rats fed diets containing Irvingia gabonensis (RTIG1 and RTIG2) had high levels of total dry matter ingested (MSTI) and total protein ingested (PTI) compared with the control, with respectively 9.42 ± 1.61 and 10.12 ± 0.8 g/d compared with 6.80 ± 0.93 g/d, and 0.94 ± 0.13 and 1.21 ± 0.07 g/d compared with 0.68 ± 0.07 g/d, reflecting the good quality of these diets. These diets therefore encouraged growth and weight gain in the rats during the experimental period. Animals fed the different diets (RTP, RTIG1 and RTIG2) gained 2.36 ± 1.64, 3.20 ± 0.09 and 3.56 ± 2.53 g/d respectively. With regard to other nutritional parameters such as the feed efficiency coefficient (CEA) and proteins efficiency coefficient (CEP), no significant variation (p>0.05) was observed in rats fed the different formulated diets. These results could therefore justify the culinary use of Irvingia gabonensis almonds, which could be a good alternative source of plant protein and a way of making up for the shortfall in the diet.

Keywords: Irvingia gabonensis almonds, nutrients, nutritional impact, diet, rat.