Abstract & Overview
The numerous ethno-medicinal properties of Morinda lucida, an evergreen rainforest medium-sized tree also known as Brimstone tree, have called for a serious research investigation of all the various parts, including the fruits, in order to promote maximum utilization of the plant. In this present study therefore, the nutritional (proximate) and phytochemical evaluation of the fresh and dried fruit of Morinda lucida were carried out using standard methods such as in order to determine the nutritional potential of the plant. The result of the proximate analysis showed that the dried fruit of Morinda lucida contains in percentage (%), 3.23±0.04 moisture, 4.25±0.35 ash, 4.98±0.05 crude protein, 27.80±0.14 crude fiber, 16.95±0.21 total lipids and 42.79±0.11 total carbohydrate while the fresh fruit contains in percentage (%), 70.15±2.62 moisture, 2.55±0.07 ash, 3.88±0.05 crude protein, 4.61±0.57 crude fiber, 2.27±0.09 total lipids and 15.58±0.46 total carbohydrate. The phytochemical analysis showed that the dried fruit of Morinda lucida contains phytate, alkaloids, oxalate, saponins and cardiac glycosides with mg/100g values of 140±0.02, 3310±0.47, 1336±0.91, 4450±0.78 and 3910±0.13 respectively while the fresh fruit contains 60±0.00 mg/100g phytate, 470±0.02mg/100g alkaloid, 488±0.17mg/100g oxalate, 1710+0.13mg/100g saponin and 1950+0.78mg/100g cardiac glycoside. The tannin content of the dried fruit was 1496+0.36 mg/100g. However, the fresh fruit did not have a detectable amount of tannin. The observation that equal grams of the dried fruit had higher concentrations of the nutrients and Phytochemicals compared to the fresh fruit may be attributed to the fact that drying of fruits concentrates the fiber and phytochemicals in them. These results have shown that the fruits of Morinda lucida have pharmacologically active compounds and is also nutritionally potent and as such, could be used in ethno-medicine as well as an alternative source of feed for animals.