Proximate, Minerals, and Amino Acid Compositions of Banana and Plantain Peels

The by-products of banana and plantain fruits, especially banana and plantain peels are usually thrown away by producers in plantations, and produce important quantities of post-harvest waste. The banana and plantain peels grown in Nigeria was assessed for their proximate, minerals and amino acid compositions. The proximate contents including moisture, ash, lipids, proteins, carbohydrates and crude fibres were determined using standard A.O.A.C methods. The amino acids by HPLC, and minerals by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Results revealed that the total amino acid of 89.71±5.45 g/100g and 86.71±3.02 g/100g was recorded for plantain and banana peel. Glutamic acid 12.72±0.02 g/100g was the most abundant amino acid in plantain peel while glycine (3.02±0.82 mg/100g) was the most abundant amino acid in banana peel. Results revealed that sodium is the most abundant minerals contents of both the plantain (76.88±0.89 Mg/100g) and banana (58.16±2.73 Mg/100g) peel, while iron (7.89±0.79 Mg/100g and 5.06±0.07 Mg/100g) was the least minerals in the both samples. Carbohydrate is the most abundant proximate contents of both the plantain (74.12±0.565) and banana (63.82±0.32%) peel, followed by Crude fibre 8.36±0.04% and 12.67±0.08 %, crude ash (6.17±0.05% and 9.56±0.06%) for both plantain and banana peels respectively. While crude fat (3.01±0.06% and 0.89±0.04%) was the least proximate in the both samples. These peels could be considered good source of nutrients for production of human and animal feeds, and their utilization for this purpose should be encouraged, as this will also help in reducing the menace of nutrient deficiencies