Comparative study of the nutritional potential of some starchy food (potato, yam, cassava, Sweet potato and taro) in rats
International Journal of Development Research
Comparative study of the nutritional potential of some starchy food (potato, yam, cassava, Sweet potato and taro) in rats
Received 20th February, 2020; Received in revised form 03rd March, 2020; Accepted 14th April, 2020; Published online 30th May, 2020
Copyright © 2020, KOFFI Kouamé Parfait et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The objective of this study is to compare the chemical composition and nutritional quality of potato, yam, cassava, sweet potato and taro. For this purpose, the rats of wistar strain, weighing on average 67.5±2.94 g, were fed diets based on these starchy foods. 30 growing rats were used for the experiment, with 6 rats per diet containing herring fish as protein source (10 %). Energy value ranges from 137.44±2.40 Kcal/100 g (yam) to 396.15±0.01 Kcal/100 g (cassava). Lipids contents are between 0.08±0.01 % DM (potato) and 1.07±0.01 % DM (cassava). Protein contents are between 0.90±0.03 % DM (sweet potato) and 4.38±0.06 % DM (taro). Ash contents are between 0.43±0.01% DM (cassava) and 3.72±0.19% DM (taro). This study allowed to appreciate the good nutritional quality of all these roots and tubers through high dry matter intake of rats which is ranging from 8.08±1.32 (sweet potato diet) to 22.18±4.72% DM (potato diet). Body weight gain of rats is between 4.93±0.51 g (cassava) and 6.01±0.57 g (potato). Digestibility of starch ranges from 92.65±1.32 % DM (cassava) to 99.01±0.28 % DM (potato). Under these experimental conditions, growth of rats can be supported by all food tested, even though potato diet is better for growth.
