TITLE:
Nutritional Composition of Four Underexploited Wild Fruits in Mali
AUTHORS:
Mamadou Abdoulaye Konare, Cheickna Cisse, Nouhoum Diarra, Marius K. Somda, Mamadou Wele, Rokia Sanogo
KEYWORDS:
Wild Fruits, Nutritional Values, Provenances, Malnutrition, Food Insecurity
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.13 No.1,
January
21,
2022
ABSTRACT: Malnutrition and food insecurity are major concerns for the Malian authorities. The objective of this study was to strengthen the knowledge
about the nutritional and physicochemical
values of four underutilized edible wild fruits picked at two cities
belonging to different bioclimatic zones of Mali. The physicochemical and
nutritional parameters were performed using standard methods. The findings
revealed that all these parameters varied from one fruit to another, this outcome could be associated with the provenances of the wild fruits (p-value R. sudanica fruits to 5.34 g/100g DM for those of B. aegyptiaca, all these samples were being harvested from Sikasso. The highest concentrations of vitamins are C (150,800 to 151,000 μg/100g DM), E (1,310 to 1,350 μg/100g DM) and A (38 to 40 μg/100g DM) respectively for the fruits of Z. mauritiana, B. aegyptiaca and S. senegalensis.
In addition, these fruits would constitute a potential source of minerals such as iron, phosphorus and calcium.
Thereby, these fruits are promising raw materials to be used against the malnutrition linked to the micronutrients
deficiencies and the management of certain pathologies related to
oxidative stress.