Indian Journal of Agricultural Biochemistry

Parkia roxburghii, a lessar known nutritious leguminous plant is grown luxuriantly in North-Eastern India and South-East Asian countries. Right from flowers and tender pods to the mature seeds of this plant are edible and is a good source of ascorbic acid (26.0mg/100g), fat (20.28%), proteins (32.82%) and minerals (4.45%). Though it contains lesser amounts of Na (51.0), Mg (34.7) and P (160 mg/100g) in the seeds, it contains Ca (97.47), K (2400), Cu (2.3) and Zn (2.77 mg/100g) at par with other legumes. As regards Fe and Mn, P. roxburghii was found to be a good source containing 57.1 and 35.0 mg/100g in the pod and 34.9 and 9.4 mg/100g in the seeds, respectively. Its protein fractionation revealed that globulin and albumin are the major fractions. Globulin to albumin ratio was very less (1.6) thereby indicating higher amounts of albumins (8.14%) to compare with the globulins (13.05%). Higher amounts of albumins indicate more protein digestibility and higher content of sulphur containing amino acids which means more nutritive values as these are the limiting amino acids in legumes. P. roxburghii pods also contained saponins, flavonoids and tannins as in other legumes but alkaloids and cyanogenetic factors were absent. Though these constituents are known to inhibit digestion and absorption in the ruminants, they could be removed through processing. Cultivation of this plant will not compete for the available land with other legumes and if properly exploited may be a supplementary source of vegetable proteins.