Assessment of anti-nutritional changes in elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius Dennst Nicolson) cultivars

Abstract

Elephant foot yam is basically premium crop in the South East Asian food system, which serves the major source of carbohydrate in Human’s diets. It contains some antinutrient (oxalate) which when eaten pose adverse effect on the body system. The purpose of this study was to determine the antinutritional factors of elephant foot yamcultivar (BCA-1, BCA-2, BCA-4, BCA-5, BCA-6, NDA-4, NDA-5, NDA-9, IGAM-1, AC-28 and Gajendra) of India. The ranges of antinutrient contents were found to be: water soluble oxalate (WSO) 12.71-27.64 mg/100 g, total soluble oxalate (TSO) 19.68-33.83 mg/100g, calcium oxalate 7.01-15.28 mg/100g and total oxalate (TO) 22.85-37.57 mg/100g at different stages during growth and development. The entire investigated sample was found to be low oxalate content in all cultivars, which was safer from the viewpoint of accumulation of urinary oxalate leading to kidney stone. This information will provide breeders with the ability to develop desirable types having high yield and better anti-nutritional profile.