Comparative Analysis of Nutritional Quality of Capsicum Annuum (Pepper) and Allium Cepa L. (Onion) Cultivated from War Liberated Communities and Normal Communities in Yobe State

Abstract

Vegetables have become an integral part of human’s diet due to their nutritional values thus any form of contamination especially by heavy metals is of great concern. It is therefore imperative to assess the effect of war on nutritional quality of the cultivated vegetables within Yobe State. A composite sample of plants cultivated from normal and war liberated communities was formed by merging the samples from respective local government accordingly. Proximate and heavy metal analysis were carried out using standard of AOAC. A significant increase in nutritional quality was observed in samples cultivated from war liberated communities than normal communities, heavy metals analysis shows all metals are higher than the tolerable ranges set by International Standard Tolerable Limits and European Regulatory Standard. The study conclude that potential hazard may be speculated due to detected high levels of these metals.

Keywords: Proximate; Heavy Metals; Pepper; Onion; War; Yobe State and Nigeria

DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/13-12-05

Publication date:June 30^th 2022