Study of nutritional contents of Pruns amygdalus batsch seeds

ABSTRACT

Prunus amygdalus Batsch [Rosaceae] is one of the major tree crops of the world.Inaddition to its nutritional value, almond also contains a number of phytochemicals that are responsible for a variety of bioactivities, among which antioxidant activity which has been frequently studied.Noprevious studies were done on Umm alfahm cultivar, this encouraged the authors to perform the present study aiming to throw light on the nutritional profile of title plant. Proximate analysis of the kernel Prunus amygdalus B. includes the determination of moisture content, total ash, total protein, total fats, total carbohydrates and crude fibers, study of vitamin E content by using HPLC, determination of the mineral content according to Association of Official Analytical Chemists[A.A.O.C] and determination of amino acid contents in kernels. Almond were showed a total fat [52.083%] the protein constitute [22.83%], carbohydrate [16.9%] adequate low moisture content [4.37%] low ash content [3.82%], the content of vitamin E in almond [77.67 mg/100gm], the mineral contents of almond were resulted Calcium [0.23%] Phosphorus [0.53%], Potassium 6656 mg/kg, Magnesium 2864 mg/kg, Sodium 1072.5 mg/kg, Iron119.9 mg/kg, Zinc 52.25 mg/kg, Selenium 68.71 mg/kg and Copper 13.55 mg/kg. The identified amino acids amounted to [40.2%] calculated on dry basis, total non-essential amino acids percentage [70%] was higher than the percentage of the essential amino acids [30%]. Glutamic acid [5.02%] was the major non-essential amino acid identified, whereas Cysteine [0.37%] was the minor component, concerning the identified essential amino acids, Leucine was the major one [1.38%], while methionine [0.16%] was the minor component. From the present study, it could be concluded that the kernels of Prunus amygdalus Batsch"Umm alfahm" cultivated in Egypt are good for health and should readily be incorporated into diet