COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE MINERAL, PROXIMATE AND AMINO ACID COMPOSITIONS OF RED SWEET POTATO (IPOMOEA BATATAS) AND ITS SYRUP

Abstract

The nutrient contents of raw Ipomoea batatas and its syrup were determined using standard methods. The proximate parameters determined were the ash, moisture, fat, crude fiber, crude protein, carbohydrate, and calorific values. At p ≤ 0.05, the raw potato had a higher carbohydrate (69.41±0.71%) than the syrup (59.17±0.74%) but the latter had respective higher values of crude protein and ash (4.08±0.58% and 9.63±0.05%) than the former (3.03±0.23% and 3.55±0.57%). Both the 15.29±0.27 and 1.31±0.02%) crude fat and fiber contents of the raw potato were higher than the respective 10.09±0.13% and 0.53±0.00% of the syrup. The moisture content of the syrup (17.03±0.38%) was also higher than that of the raw sample but its calorific value of 343.82±1.03 kcal/100g was lower than that of raw Ipomoea batatas (427.43±3.61kcal/100g). The potassium, magnesium and zinc contents of the syrup were higher than those of the raw sample, the sodium, calcium, iron, and phosphorus of the latter were higher. The amino acids profile of raw Ipomoea batatas and its syrup revealed that the raw sample had higher values than the syrup while the functional properties of the samples revealed that only the pH and oil absorption capacity of the raw sample were higher than those of the syrup. Therefore converting sweet potato to syrup was found to have enhanced most of its functional properties.