Composition and nutritional properties of seeds from Pachira aquatica Aubl, Sterculia striata St Hil et Naud and Terminalia catappa Linn

The seeds of three wild plants (Pachira aquatica, Sterculia striata and Terminalia catappa) were analyzed to establish their chemical compositions and nutritional properties in order to investigate the possibility of using them for human and/or animal consumption. Proximate analyses showed that they have high amounts of protein and oil. However, they are deficient in various essential amino acids but P. aquatica seeds have tryptophan, threonine and phenylalanine + tyrosine contents higher than those reported for human milk, chicken egg and cow's milk. Haemagglutinating and trypsin inhibitor activities were found to be present in the seeds of P. aquatica and T. catappa but absent in S. striata. Coincidentally the rats fed on S. striata diet gained slightly in weight and presented alterations in the key internal organs which were less drastic throughout the 10-day test period. On the other hand, the rats fed on T. catappa diet maintained their body weight but suffered from stomah, small intestine and pancreas hypertrophy as well as spleen atrophy. Five out of six rats fed on P. aquatica diet died within 6-8 days. The remaining rat experienced enlargement of the stomach, liver, pancreas, kidneys, heart and lungs and had spleen atrophy when compared with the same organs of rats fed on egg-white diet. Hypertrophy of the pancreas and kidneys was very marked and these organs nearly doubled in dry weight in comparison with those of the egg-white control group, demonstrating that the raw seed of P. aquatica are highly toxic when fed to rats even at a meal protein concentration half that of S. striata or T. catappa, which were better tolerated by the experimental animals. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.