Quality Assessment and Proximate Analysis of Amaranthus hybridus , Celosia argentea and Talinum triangulare obtained from open Markets in Benin City, Nigeria.

摘要

The aim of this research is to determine the quality and proximate composition of Amaranthus hybridus , Celosia argentea , and Talinum triangulare obtained from open marketsin Benin City, Nigeria. Microbiological and proximate analysis were carried out using standardmethods. Results of the proximate analysis revealed the presence of proteins (12.86 ± 0.19 %;9.28 ± 0.07 % and 2.82 ± 0.08 %), carbohydrates (9.06 ± 4.19 %; 8.28 ± 0.48 % and 12.22 ±0.53 %), fibre (10.38 ± 0.25 %; 8.45 ± 0.13 % and 3.55 ± 0.17 %), lipids (0.23 ± 0.13 %; 1.44 ±0.28 % and 1.06 ± 0.28 %), moisture (62.38 ± 4.05 %; 62.98 ± 0.38 % and 79.65 ± 0.56 %) andash (mineral content) (5.10 ± 0.14 %; 9.58 ± 0.05% and 0.70 ± 0.12 %) in the green leaf, sokoand water leaf respectively, needed for normal functioning of the body. However, microbialcontaminants were observed which included bacterial and fungal species. The bacteria isolatedwere: Staphylococcus aureus , Bacillus subtillis , Enterobacter sp, Klebsiella sp, Proteus vulgaris , Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli , while the fungal species isolated were: Rhizopus stolonifer , Aspergillus niger , Fusarium solani , Aspergillus flavus , Mucor mucedo , Penicillium notatum , and Penicillium expansum . The bacterial count, coliform count and fungalcount of A. hybridus were: 1.19 x 105 ± 4.52 x 104 cfu/g, 3.30 x 104 ± 1.82 x 104 cfu/g and 6.50x 103 ± 3.32 x 103 cfu/g respectively. C. argentea had 1.56 x 105 ± 7.00 x 104 cfu/g, 3.88 x 104 ±2.56 x 104 cfu/g and 6.00 x 103 ± 3.74 x 103 cfu/g respectively, while T. triangulare had 1.99 x105 ± 9.31 x 104 cfu/g, 4.93 x 104 ± 4.77 x 104 cfu/g and 4.78 x 103 ± 2.18 x 104 cfu/grespectively. Antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the bacterial isolates revealed multi-drugresistance and plasmid-mediated resistance genes among the isolates. Public enlightenment,proper washing and cooking with potable water are therefore recommended to avoid themenance of these multi-drug resistant microbial contaminants.