Nutritional Evaluation Of Pawpaw (Carica papaya) Morphotypes And Papain Activity Using Casein As Substrate.

ABSTRACT

The nutritional evaluation of five pawpaw morphotypes was carried out in this research work; the seeds, leaves and pulp were evaluated for their nutrient composition and papain activities. The result on proximate composition showed that the ash content of the seeds had the highest value and ranged from 3.35% to 4.28%. The leaves contained 1.43% to 2.25% ash while the pulp contained 0.3 1% to 0.61% ash. All the pawpaw morphotypes were not good sources of fat. The seeds contained 1.33% to 3.27% and the leaves contained from 1.27% to 3.15% while the pulp contained 0.37% to 0.53%. The protein consent of the pulp was also low( 0.47% to 1.12%). The result on vitamin composition indicated that the pulp is an excellent source of vitamin C which ranged from 36.37mg/100g to 43.4 lmg/100g. Also, the result showed that the pulp is a good source of Beta-carotene which ranged from 5173.33 IU/100g to 6207.18 IU/100g. Generally, the seeds, leaves and pulp were found to be poor sources of Niacin, thiamine and riboflavin. The seeds are low in iron (with a range of 0.15mg/kg to 0.25mg/kg). Papain activity was detected only on the leaves. Papain activity in the leaves ranged from 205.87units to 401.27units.The wine samples produced from the five pawpaw morphotypes had good sensory properties.