Composition of Cissus populnea stem

Stems of Cissus populnea have been studied using standard analytical techniques in order to evaluate their nutritional, anti-nutritional and gum compositions. Proximate composition analysis of C populnea stem flour showed that it is very rich in carbohydrate (43.7 +/- 2.5 to 48.1 +/- 3.5 g/100 g). Results of the mineral composition indicated that C. populnea stem is a very good source of minerals with high level of potassium (>1000 mg/100 g). Other elements that were present in appreciable quantities are calcium (821 +/- 17 to 905 +/- 17 mg/100 g), magnesium (295 +/- 18 to 394 +/- 12 mg/ 100 g) and phosphorus (203 +/- 15 to 251 +/- 17 mg/100 g). The concentrations of anti-nutrients obtained were very low with appreciable quantities in oxalates (12.4 +/- 0.08 to 12.5 +/- 0.02 mg/g) and trypsin inhibitors (13.1 +/- 0.2 to 13.4 +/- 0.1 mg/g). The crude gum yield of C. populnea stem was also found to be very high (38.3 +/- 1.9 to 40.4 +/- 3.5 g/100 g on dry basis). Means of the experimentally determined values were not significantly different at P < 0.05 for majority of the parameters. The results indicated that C populnea stem is a potential food source and exploitable as commercial gum. Crown Copyright (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.