Proximate Analysis Of Castor Seeds And Cake

Castor seed obtained from Ilorin was evaluated analytically using its un-decorticated and decorticated full-fat and cake forms for chemical composition and nutritional constituents. Proximate analyses of un-decorticated and decorticated seeds and cake revealed that both the oil seed and cake contain valuable nutrients namely soluble carbohydrate: seed-7.96, cake-24.69, protein: seed-20.78, cake-31.06, fat: seed-51.20, cake-19.40, mineral matter: seed-7.75, cake-11.10 for undecorticated castor seeds and cake respectively. The decorticated seed cake gave higher values of these nutrients than the un-decorticated, for instance carbohydrate: seed-8.86, cake-24.88, nitrogen: seed-21.87, cake-35.43, ether extract: seed-55.50, cake-25.10, total ash: seed- 9.40, cake-7.14. Amino acid profile analysis of un-decorticated and decorticated seed and cake compared with soybeans as standard plant protein indicated that the cake is deficient in some indispensable amino acids like lysine (4.11), iso-leucine (3.09), tryptophan (0) compared with 6.30, 7.90 and 1.30 lysine, iso-leucine and tryptopha in soybeans respectively.Based on results of the analyses, it is observed that the seed and cake contain valuable nutrients especially when decorticated and may serve useful alternatives to food/feedstuffs if the castor seed is detoxified of the phytotoxins, ricin (a toxic protein), ricinine (a relatively harmless protein), hydrocyanides and allergens, the extremely potent toxins.