Nutritional content of Zambian underutilized species: The case of mumosomoso (Vangueriopsis lanciflora Hiern)

Aneta Taušnerová

Bachelor's thesis

Abstract:

Vangueriopsis lanciflora is a fruit tree species native to Southern Africa. In Zambia, the most valued product of the tree are the fruits, which are usually collected from natural stands. Despite its importance especially among the rural communities, the species remain neglected from the scientific point of view. Therefore, the objective of this study was to summarize information on V. lanciflora with a focus on its current as well as and potential uses and to evaluate the nutritional content of the fruit pulp from lyophilizate. The fruit pulp was subjected to nutritional analyses of: dry weight (in drying oven), ash (in muffle furnace), crude fat (according the Soxhlet method), fibre (using Filter Bag Technology on ANKOM Fiber Analyzer), protein (using Kjeltec apparatus), NFE content and vitamin C along with B-group vitamins (HPLC). The nutritional values were determined as follows: dry weight - 90.76 %, ash - 2.55 %, crude fat - 1.74 %, crude fibre - 5.02 %, crude protein - 4.8 % and NFE - 76.65 %. As for vitamins, the content of vitamin C proved to be in really high concentration of 1148.26 mg/100 g, suggesting that only 6.53 g of lyophilized fruit pulp is needed to cover the recommended daily allowance. Based on the results we can conclude that V. lanciflora is an important source of both macro and micronutrients, showing that its consumption may enhance the food security and contribute to the balanced diets in rural areas of Zambia. However, the fruits are predominantly eaten and sold in a fresh form, thus food processing methods such as lyophilization may increase their value and create an interesting opportunity for export of V. lanciflora fruits to other countries.

Keywords

domestication, food security, lyophilizate, neglected crops, nutrition, Southern Africa, wild foods, vitamins

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 16. 4. 2021

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: Ing. Olga Leuner, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Bachelor programme / field:
Agricultural Specialization / Agriculture in Tropics and Subtropics