Effect of drying on the nutrient and anti- nutrient composition of Bombax buonopozense sepals

Bombax buonopozense is one of the underutilized plants in West African. Most of the parts of this plant are used by some populace in West Africa for medicinal and nutritional purposes while the sepals mostly go waste. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of different drying methods on some nutritional and anti- nutritional composition of fresh and dried sepals of B. buonopozense. The sepals were oven, solar and sun dried while the fresh sepals served as a control. Proximate, some mineral and anti- nutrient composition of the sepals were determined. The fresh samples were significantly different from all the dried samples (p<0.05). Ash content was relatively high with a range of 7.38 to 7.86%; protein, 9.99 to 10.76%; crude fiber, 14.63 to 15.39%; carbohydrate, 56.62 to 63.52%; iron, 1.55 to 3.22 mg/100 g; magnesium, 171.92 to 184.47 mg/100 g for the dried sepals. The various drying methods reduced the content of both oxalate and phytate of the sepals. The present findings show that drying of sepals of B. buonopozense tends to retain most of the nutrients as well as reduction in the anti- nutrients. Hence the dried sepals could be used as a potential ingredient in making foods such as soups and sauces.   Key words: Bombax buonopozense, antinutrients, drying methods, nutritional composition.