Characterization of the Mucilages of Four Food Plants, Abelmoschus esculentus, Beilschmiedia mannii, Corchorus olitorius, and Irvingia gabonensis, from Côte d’lvoire

Aims: The objective of this work is to characterize the mucilage of food plants from Côte d’Ivoire.

Study Design: Mucilage food plants edible parts were dried, mucilage were extracted and Physicochemical and nutritive constituent content have been evaluated.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in Laboratory of Biochemistry and Food Sciences, Biosciences Unit, at Felix Houphouet-Boigny University between January and December 2014.

Methodology: The study was carried out on fruits of A. esculentus (okra), B. mannii (sran), I. gabonensis (kplé) and leaves of C. olitorius (kplala) collected. The mucilage of different plants has been extracted. Physicochemical and nutritive constituent content have been evaluated.

Results: The mucilage contents of B. mannii, I. gabonensis, A. esculentus and C. olitorius were respectively 63.00 ± 2.69%, 56.34 ± 5.44%, 34.86 ± 5.27% and 25.81 ± 4.13%. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations of the mucilages have showed varying forms. Ash, pH, total polyphenols, lipids, proteins and insoluble fibers differentiated the studied mucilages to p˂0.001. The mucilages obtained are rich in minerals (ash content between 4.11 ± 0.19% and 10.71 ± 0.20%) and soluble fibers (72.86 ± 7.63% and 80.34 ± 5. 58%). These mucilages are very low in energy (36.66 ± 17.44 kcal/100 g at 50.71 ± 30.22 kcal/100 g).

Conclusion: Mucilages of selected plants are rich in ash and have low energy value.