B P International

Aim: The aim of this work was to explore the nutrients, minerals, beta-carotene and total carotenoid contents of five sweet potato varieties viz., Agric orange flesh, Agric white, Red skin, Orange flesh and T.U. purple and present the findings in a language that the average reader can understand. This will help consumers to appreciate what they are feeding their bodies with when they eat the different varieties of sweet potato. Study Design: The sweet potato vines at six week stage were cut into 1.2 m each and transplanted in parallel lines on the same 1.2 m x 2.6 m bed, spaced about 0.52 m from each other in Dukumah Garden. There were five such beds and vine cuttings transplanted in the same order on each bed. The essence was to provide the same soil and environment so that at harvest, the content of their nutrients, mineral salts and other food factors can be compared. Study Site: The study, which took four months, was conducted in the Dukumah Garden in Bolgatanga Mun...

Musa paradisiaca (plantain) fruit peels and the plant leaves may have some nutrients and antifungal properties. Thus, the study determined and compared some nutrients (minerals and vitamins) in the ground plantain peels and leaves and the antifungal property of the aqueous and ethanol extracts (at concentration of 100 mg/ml) of the ground plantain peels and leaves, using standard methods. In either sample, vitamin A was not detected. The difference (±5.28 mg/100 g) in the highest of the detected vitamins, vitamin C in the samples, was statistically significant (p<0.05) whereas the difference (±0.01 mg/100 g) in the least detected vitamins, vitamin B 2 , was not significant (p>0.05). Out of the determined minerals (mg/100 g), the highest concentration was potassium (40.00 ± 0.08) in the plantain leaves followed by phosphorous (36.00 ± 1.65) in the plantain peels while the least was magnesium (1.80 ± 0.05) in the leaves followed by iron (5.60 ± 0.06) in the peels. The ethanol and...