ABSTRACT
The study was carried out to determine the yield and phytochemical composition of Azadirachta indica leaf protein concentrate and bagasse of leaves collected from three different locations in Benin city using heat coagulation method. The leaves were obtained from Ekehuan Campus, Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) and Garrick which were coded as Location A, B and C respectively. The leaf protein concentrate and bagasse were extracted using Heat Coagulation Method and taken to the Laboratory for Qualitative and Quantitative phytochemical analysis to detect the presence and quantity of Alkaloids, Flavonoids, Saponins, Tannins, Phenols, Steroids and Oxalic acid. The data obtained from the yield and Phytochemical analysis of A. indica were subjected to one-way Analysis of Variance and the means with significant difference were separated using Duncan’s Multiple range test. From the results obtained, the LPC yields from the different locations were 1.81%, 3.00% and 1.50% for Locations A, B and C respectively, while that of Bagasse were 36.88%, 41.94%and 34.25% for each respective location. It was observed that the LPC and Bagasse were both in solid state, the LPC obtained after drying was light green in colour and clumpy in texture, whereas the Characteristics of the Bagasse varied from location, with dark green to brown colour as well as a smooth to coarse texture. From the phytochemical analysis, Flavonoids were highly present in all three locations, while alkaloids, saponins and phenols were highly present in two locations, with the others moderately present and positively xiv present respectively. The phytochemical screening for bagasse showed positive presence for all the phytochemicals in all the locations. Location B, despite having the highest yield was surpassed in phytochemical content by Location A which had the highest phytochemical content for Saponin(13.30mg/g), flavonoid(14.62mg/g) and Tannin(11.29mg/g), while Location C had the highest Alkaloid(15.12mg/g) and Oxalic acid content (5.99mg/g). Phenol and Sterol had no significant (p<0.05) difference between locations. Into the conclusion of this study, it was discovered that the yield of LPC and Bagasse from two locations were below 2 percent each and that flavonoids were highly present in the LPC from the three locations.
