Determination of Proximate, Mineral and Vitamin Composition on the Leaf and Stem of Desmodium velutinum (Willd.) DC

Proximate, Mineral and Vitamin composition on the leaf and stem of D. velutinum were evaluated to determine its nutritional characters using standard techniques. Data obtained were analyzed using independent sample T-test with SPSS software version 21. All Statistical Analysis was carried out at 0.05 level of significance. Result of the proximate analysis revealed that the leaf had higher percentage of moisture (10.38±0.01%), crude fibre (18.76±0.03%) and carbohydrate (22.10±0.04%), while the stem had higher dry matter (90.56±0.03%), ash (23.45±0.01%), ether extract (11.28±0.01%) and crude protein (18.14±0.03%). In the mineral composition, the leaf contained higher composition of calcium (90.34±0.09 mg/100 g), sodium (87.64±0.06 mg/100 g), magnesium (48.76±0.01 mg/100 g) and iron (10.17±0.01 mg/100 g), while the stem contained higher composition of potassium (115.80±0.01 mg/100 g) and phosphorus (59.90±0.42 mg/100 g). However, in the vitamin analysis, the leaf had higher composition of vitamin A (9.38±0.01 IU/100g) and vitamin B1 (27.61±0.01 mg/100 g), while the stem had higher composition of vitamin B2 (1.78±0.028 mg/100 g), vitamin B3 (6.08±0.01 mg/100 g), vitamin C (19.25±0.00 mg/100 g) and vitamin E (2.43±0.04 mg/100 g). D. velutinum parts (stem and leaf) were found to be rich in nutrients, thus could be exploited for different nutritional uses in enhancing human diet.