ABSTRACT

Two cultivars of bambara groundnut seeds were processed in this study using various methods (soaking for twenty four hours with subsequent decortications and germination with their viscosities determined after 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours respectively) and were evaluated for its nutritionaI composition using chemical and growth studies as well as the analysis of biochemical indices of the blood samples of the sacrificed experimental animals. The result obtained show that weaning albino rats fed with soaked decorticated brown cultivar based dit (SDBC) for 28 days gained more weight (73.425g). Rats fed with SDBC and GCC based diets showed a high HB count, per and RBC counts. Lymphocyte count of' te SDBC and control based diets were higher (56.8 and 57.0 respectively) and were significantly different (P<0.05) from the others. Crude protein, moisture content and mineral content significantly increased (P><0.05) with processing but fat content remained insignificant (P>0.05). Anti-nutritional content (phenol) significantly decreased (P<0.05) in the processed cultivars but remained insignificant (P>0.05) in tannins and alkaloids. he viscosity of both germinated cultivars (cream and brown) of barnabara groundnut reduced with germination time. The results indicate that processing significantly improved the nutritive value of the two cultivars of bambara groundnut with respect to growth performance and protein quality with soaked decorticated brown cultivar (SDBC) having the best nutritional quality.