Abstract
Marama root is known to be the major source of nutrition for the first settlers (the Herero, Tswana and Khoisan people) of Sub-Sahara Africa, but it is not yet domesticated. The potential of Marama (Tylosema esculentum) root in food and nutrition security may pave way for the domestication of the plant in Sub-Saharan Africa. Marama storage roots collected from two locations, Omipanda and Okomumbonde in Namibia were analysed and compared to commercial potato and waxy potato tuber as well as sweet potato root. Fresh weight (FW) marama roots had mean water content, crude protein, fat, ash, and starch content of about 866, 24, 2, 22, and 56 g/kg root, respectively. Marama root showed higher total soluble solids (4.3°) compared to potato, waxy potato and sweet potato. The swelling index (3 g/g) and water absorption capacity (1.5 g/g) of marama root were close to those of sweet potato, but lower than those of the potato and waxy potato. The soluble and insoluble dietary fibre of marama root (4.8, and 15%, db, respectively) were higher than those of the commercial potatoes; and the in vitro- starch digestibility of marama root was close to those of potatoes. Marama root has potential as prebiotic and its food value is similar to sweet potato in functional properties and nutritional composition. The high soluble solids of marama root can enhance the energy density of complimentary food, but will require compositing with high protein legume flour. There is a prospect of a protein-energy dense composite flour from a blend of the bean and root.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adeboye AS, Emmambux NM (2017) Physicochemical, morphological, thermal and pasting properties of marama (Tylosema esculentum) storage root starch. Starch - Stärke 69:1600084
Aina AJ, Falade KO, Akingbala JO, Titus P (2009) Physicochemical properties of twenty-one caribbean sweet potato cultivars. Int J Food Sci Technol 44:1696–1704
American Association of Cereal Chemists AACC International. (2000). Method 10–05.01. Guidelines for measurement of volume by rapeseed displacement. Approved Methods of the American Association of Cereal Chemists (10th ed.). St Paul, MN, U.S.A.
Aprianita A, Purwandari U, Watson B, Vasiljevic T (2009) Physico-chemical properties of flours and starches from selected commercial tubers available in Australia. Int Food Res J 16:507–520
Association of Official Analytical Chemists, AOAC (1995). Method 991.43. Total, insoluble and soluble dietary fiber in food. Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC International 16th Edn., Gaithersburg, MD, U.S.A. 1995
Association of Official Analytical Chemists, AOAC (2005). Method 925.45B, 942.05, 920.39A and 968.06. Official method of Analysis of AOAC International, 17th ed., Gaithersburg, MD, U.S.A. 1995
Atwater WO (1902) Experiments on the metabolism of matter and energy in the human body. US Government Printing Office, Washington, pp 1898–1900
Block G, Dresser C, Hartman A, Carroll M (1985) Nutrient sources in the American diet: quantitative data from the Nhanes II survey: II. macronutrients and fats. Am J Epidemiol 122:27–40
Bordoloi A, Singh J, Kaur L (2012) In vitro digestibility of starch in cooked potatoes as affected by guar gum: microstructural and rheological characteristics. Food Chem 133(4):1206–1213
Carolina L, Fernanda JO, Rafael R, Renato JS, Soˆnia CS, Egon S (2013) Structural, physico-chemical, thermal and pasting properties of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) flour. J Therm Anal Calorim 111:2211–2216
Chauhan N, Chandra S, Singh J, Singh S (2019) Assessment of functional properties of composite flours. Progress Agric 19:161–163
Fernandes AM, Soratto RP, Evangelista RM, Nardin I (2010) Qualidade físico-química e de fritura de tubérculos de cultivares de batata na safra de inverno. Horticultura Brasileira 28:299–304
Goni I, Garcia-Alonso A, Saura-Calixto FA (1997) Starch hydrolysis procedure to estimate glycemic index. Nutr Res 17:427–437
Hanim AM, Chin NL, Yusof YA (2014) Physico-chemical and flowability characteristics of a new variety of Malaysian sweet potato VitAto Flour. Int Food Res J 21:2099
Hertog ML, Putz IB, Tijskensi LM (1997) The effect of harvest time on the accumulation of reducing sugars during storage of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) tubers: experimental data described, using a physiological based, mathematical model. Potato Res 40:69–78
Holse M, Husted S, Hansen Å (2010) Chemical composition of marama bean (Tylosema esculentum)—a wild African bean with unexploited potential. J Food Compos Anal 23:648–657
Holse M, Skov T, Hansen Å (2012) Oxidative storage stability of roasted marama beans (Tylosema esculentum). Food Res Int 47:385–391
Jaisut D, Prachayawarakorn S, Varanyanond W, Tungtrakul P, Soponronnarit S (2008) Effects of drying temperature and tempering time on starch digestibility of brown fragrant rice. J Food Eng 86:251–258
Jyothi G, Renjusha M, Gourikutty P, Moothandassery SS, Subramoney NM (2011) Nutritional and functional characteristics of protein-fortified pasta from sweet potato. Food Nutr Sci 2:944–955
Karamanos AJ, Travlos IS (2012) The water relations and some drought tolerance mechanisms of the marama bean. Agron J 104:65–72
Kayitesi E, de Kock HL, Minnaar A, Duodu KG (2012) Nutritional quality and antioxidant activity of marama–sorghum composite flours and porridges. Food Chem 131:837–842
Lebot V (2009) Soils, plant growth and crop production, Vol II - Tropical root and tuber crops: cassava, sweet potato, yams and aroids: CIRAD. UNESCO, Montpellier
Lee SC, Prosky L, DeVries JW (1992) Determination of total, soluble, and insoluble dietary fiber in foods—Enzymatic-gravimetric method, MES-TRIS buffer: Collaborative study. J AOAC Int 75:395–416
Li S, Zhang Y, Wei Y, Zhang B (2014) Thermal, pasting and gel textural properties of commercial starches from different botanical sources. J Bioprocess Biotech 2014
Lobell DB, Burke MB, Tebaldi C, Mastrandrea MD, Falcon WP, Naylor RL (2008) Prioritizing climate change adaptation needs for food security in 2030. Science 319(5863):607–610
Lovegrove A, Edwards C, De Noni I, Patel H et al (2017) Role of polysaccharides in food, digestion, and health. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 57:237–253
Mañas E, Bravo L, Saura-Calixto F (1994) Sources of error in dietary fibre analysis. Food Chem 50:331–342
Maruatona GN, Duodu KG, Minnaar A (2010) Physicochemical, nutritional and functional properties of marama bean flour. Food Chem 121:400–405
McCleary BV, DeVries JW, Rader JI, Cohen G, Prosky L, Mugford D et al (2012) Determination of insoluble, soluble, and total dietary fiber (CODEX definition) by enzymatic-gravimetric method and liquid chromatography: collaborative study. J AOAC Int 95:824–844
McCleary BV, Solah V, Gibson TS (1994) Quantitative measurement of total starch in cereal flours and products. J Cereal Sci 20:51–58
Mweta DE, Kalenga-Saka JD, Labuschagne M (2015) A comparison of functional properties of native Malawian cocoyam, sweetpotato and cassava starches. Sci Res Essays 10:579–592
National Research Council (2006) Lost crops of Africa: volume II: vegetables. National Academies Press, USA
Ramesh YA, Guha M, Tharanathan RN, Ramteke RS (2006) Influence of drying conditions on functional properties of potato flour. Eur Res Technol 223:553–560
Singh N, Kaur L, Ezekiel R, Singh GH (2005) Microstructural, cooking and textural characteristics of potato (Solanum tuberosum L) tubers in relation to physicochemical and functional properties of their flours. J Sci Food Agric 85:1275–1284
Tian SJ, Rickard JE, Blanshard JM (1991) Physicochemical properties of sweet potato starch. J Sci Food Agric 57:459–491
Velmurugu R, Ganesharanee R, Ramiah S, Sundara B (1995) Biochemical and nutritional assessment of tubers from 16 cultivars of sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas L.). J Agric Food Chem 43:2646–2651
Vimala B, Nambisan B, Hariprakash B (2011) Retention of carotenoids in orange-fleshed sweet potato during processing. J Food Sci Technol 48:520–524
Vinoy S (2016) Slow-release carbohydrates: Growing evidence on metabolic responses and public health interest. Food and Nutr Res 60:1–10
Wokadala OC, Ray SS, Emmambux MN (2012) Occurrence of amylose–lipid complexes in teff and maize starch biphasic pastes. Carbohyd Polym 90:616–622
Xin M, Tai-Hua M, Jun-Juan H (2010) Composition and physicochemical properties of dietary fiber extracted from residues of 10 varieties of sweet potato by a sieving method. J Agric Food Chem 58:7305–7310
Yun S-H, Matheson NK (1990) Estimation of amylose content of starches after precipitation of amylopectin by concanavalin-A. Starch - Stärke 42:302–305
Acknowledgements
Dr. Emmanuel Nepolo of the University of Namibia is appreciated for his assistance on marama roots used in this study.
Funding
This work was supported by the joint Research Grant under the South African/Namibia—research partnership bilateral agreement programme, the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors have declared no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Adeboye, A.S., Emmambux, N.M. Composition, functional and nutritional quality of marama (Tylosema esculentum) storage root. J Food Sci Technol 58, 4391–4402 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-020-04924-2
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-020-04924-2