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.