Jatropha curcas

The study evaluate nutrient composition of Jatropha curcas seed oil. Fully ripened Jatropha curcas fruits were collected from Jatropha plantation closed to Wildlife Ecotourism proposed site, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Benin, Benin City. Samples were collected from three parts of the plantation. The seeds were extracted from the fruits and air-dried accordingly. The dried seeds were taken to Faculty of Agriculture, University of Benin, Benin City main laboratory. The seeds were dehusked and grinded using ceramic mortar and pestle. The oil was extracted using a 500ml soxhler extraction apparatus using N-Hexane. Excess N-Hexane were recovered after removing the extracted sample from the extractor and oil parameters determined according to AOAC official method. Data collected were subjected to inferential statistics using analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 5% level of significance. The results showed that moisture and crude protein content of the three samples of Jatropha curcas seed oils were significantly difference (P˂0.05). The moisture content ranged between 0.08±0.001 to 0.10±0.002 with an average of 0.09±0.01%. The crude protein content ranged between 17.50±1.7 to 17.80±1.5 with an average of 17.70±1.5. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) in %fat among the samples. The %fat ranges between 39.4±2.9 to 40.2±2.2, with an average of 39.8±2.7. The results revealed significant difference (P˂0.05) in acid values, saponification, and free fatty acid among the three samples of J. curcas seed oil, while the values of Iodine and peroxide among the three samples showed no significant difference (P>0.05). The average acid values, Iodine, saponification, peroxide and free fatty acid of atropha curcas seed oil were 1.20±0.3, 82.4±3.6, 166.0±4.9, 1.93±0.1, and 0.40±0.02 respectively. In conclusion, the proximate composition studied revealed that the J. curcas seed oil is a good source of protein and has high fat content. This makes the x seed a valuable dietary supplement which can help reduce the problem of protein energy malnutrition.