Nutritional compound analysis and morphological characterization of spider plant (Cleome gynandra) - an African indigenous leafy vegetable

Publication date: October 2017 Source:Food Research International, Volume 100, Part 1 Author(s): Emmanuel O. Omondi, Christof Engels, Godfrey Nambafu, Monika Schreiner, Susanne Neugart, Mary Abukutsa-Onyango, Traud Winkelmann Spider plant is among the important indigenous African leafy vegetables having the potential to contribute to food and nutritional security in sub-Saharan Africa. The main objective of this study was to quantify the mineral concentration, to identify and quantify glucosinolates and flavonoids in spider plant and further to characterize spider plant entries using important morphological traits. Thirty spider plant entries from different African countries, comprising of farmers' cultivars, gene bank accessions and advanced lines were grown in a field experiment and harvested for leaves, stems, flowers and siliques at different developmental stages. Five plant types based on the stem and petiole colorations were identified. Significant genotypic differences were shown for all the morphological traits except for 100 seed weight and silique weight. High mineral concentrations in the leaf tissue were observed especially for potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, manganese and zinc. The aliphatic 3-hydroxypropyl glucosinolate was the main glucosinolate detected in all tissues with the highest concentrations in the reproductive organs. Glycosides of quercetin, kaempferol and isorhamnetin were the main flavonoids. Isorhamnetin glycosides were d...
Source: Food Research International - Category: Food Science Source Type: research