Nutrient composition and effect of processing treatments on anti nutritional factors of Nigerian sesame (Sesamum indicum Linn) cultivars

Sesame (Sesamum indicum Linn) is an underutilized oil seed in Nigeria. Two high yielding sesame seed cultivars (White -NCRI-98-60 and black-NCRI-97-28) were used in this study. Proximate composition, minerals, vitamins and anti nutritional factors of whole seeds, dehulled seeds and hulls were determined. Also, effects of processing namely soaking, germination, autoclaving, roasting and cooking) on the anti nutritional factors were determined for whole and dehulled seeds. The ranges of proximate composition for whole sesame cultivars were: moisture 4.18–5.41%, fat 45.6–46.1%, protein 21.9–23.6%, crude fibre 4.70–7.15%, ash 6.16-7.34% and carbohydrate 10.8–17.0%. Dehulled sesame cultivars had protein (25.3-26.8%), fat (47.7-49.9%) and carbohydrates (9.7-12.4%). The hulls however contain lowest amount of protein, fat and carbohydrate. Calcium was highest (473.6–521.9 mg/100 g) followed by phosphorus (466.0–482.8 mg/100 g) and potassium (465.7–468.8 mg/100 g) in whole seeds compared with lower values observed for dehulled seeds and hulls. The whole seeds also had values of thiamine and riboflavin with a range of 0.71-0.83 and 0.36-0.38 mg/100 g, respectively. The whole seeds of the cultivars contained the highest level of anti-nutrients. Processing treatment were observed to decrease the phytate and oxalate contents significantly (p 0.05) in both whole and dehulled cultivars with a maximum reduction observed after germination.