Abstract
Bauhinia is a leguminous plant species found in almost every part of the world, including southern Africa. In this study, grain composition and protein body microstructure of two indigenous southern African Bauhinia species, B. galpinii and B. petersiana were determined. Protein (38 g/100 g) and fat (23 g/100 g) were the major constituents of Bauhinia. Bauhinia grains also contained substantial amounts of zinc (6 mg/100 g) and iron (3 mg/100 g) when compared to FAO/WHO standards. The parenchyma cells of Bauhinia showed spherical protein bodies with globoids inclusions and these were surrounded by lipids. However, the protein bodies of B. petersiana were smaller in size (7 ± 3 μm) than those of B. galpinii (13 ± 4 μm). The microstructure of protein bodies in Bauhinia is very similar to that of soya, suggesting that the processing technology developed for soya protein may be adopted for Bauhinia.
References
Agbede OJ (2007) Chemical analysis of leaf meal and processed grain flours of an aesthetic plant: Bauhinia tomentosa. J Food Agric Environ 5:233–235
Aguilera JM (2005) Why food microstructure. J Food Eng 67:3–11
Aguilera JM, Stanley DW (1999) Microstructure principles of food processing and engineerin, 2nd edn. Aspen Publishers, Inc, Gaithersburg, pp 259–310
Amonsou E, Taylor J, Minnaar A (2011) Microstructure of protein bodies in marama bean species. LWT-Food Sci Technol 44:42–47
Anhwange BA, Ajibola VO, Oniye SJ (2005) Nutritional potential of the seeds of Bauhinia monandra (Linn). J Food Technol 3:204–208
AOAC (1984) Official methods of analysis, 14th edn. Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Arlington
AOAC (2000) Official methods of analysis, 17th edn. Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Rockville
Arnold TH, Wells MJ, Wehmeyer AS (1985) Khoisan food plants: taxa with potential for future economic exploitation. In: Wickens GE, Goodin JR, Field DV (eds) Plants for arid lands. Chapman and Hall, London, pp 69–86
Bosch CH (2006) Bauhinia petersiana Bolle, in Cereals and pulses/Céréales et legumes secs [CD-Rom], ed. Brink M, Belay G, PROTA 1. PROTA, Wageningen, Netherlands
Brummitt RK, Ross JH (1975) The relationship of Bauhinia petersiana and B. Macrantha (Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae). Kew Bull 30:593–595
De Moreno MR, Smith JF, Smith RV (1986) Mechanism studies of coomassie blue and silver staining of proteins. J Pharm Sci 75:907–911
Dwarte D, Ashford AE (1982) The chemistry and microstructure of protein bodies in celery endosperm. Bot Gaz 143:164–175
Fanie T, Venter JA (1996) Making the Most of the Indigenous trees, du Plessis E (ed), Brisa Publication, Pretoria, South Africa
Filho VC (2009) Chemical composition and biological potential of plants from the genus Bauhinia. Phytother Res 23:1347–1354
Gahan BP (1984) Plant histochemistry and cytochemistry: An Introduction. Academic, London, pp 201–243
Hafiz A (2005) Principle and reaction of protein extraction, purification and characterisation. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 84–89
Lott JNA (1981) Protein bodies in seeds. Nordic J Bot 1:421-432
Lott JNA, Buttrose MS (1978) Location of reserves of mineral element in seed protein bodies: macadamia, walnut, and hazel nut. Can J Bot 56:2072–2082
Lott JNA, Spitzer E (1980) X-ray analysis studies of elements stored in protein body globoid crystals of Triticium grain. Plant Physiol 66:494–499
Martinez HW (1979) The importance of functionality of vegetable protein in food, in Soy protein and human nutrition, ed. Wilck H, Hokpin TD and Waggle HD, Academic Press, London, pp. 53–77
Mosele MM, Hansen ÅS, Hansen M, Schulz A, Martens HJ (2011) Proximate composition, histochemical analysis and microstructural localisation of nutrients in immature and mature seeds of marama bean (Tylosema esculentum): an underutilised food legume. Food Chem 127:1555–1561
Palgrave CK, Palgrave CM (2002) Keith coates palgrave’s trees of southern africa, 3rd edn. Struik, Cape Town
Parada J, Aguilera JM (2007) Food microstructure affects the bioavailability of several nutrients. J Food Sci 72:21–32
Shand PJ, Ya H, Pietrasik Z, & Wanasundara PKJPD (2007) Physicochemical and textural properties of heat-induced pea protein isolate gel. Food Chem 102:119–130
Venkatachalam M, Sathe S (2006) Chemical composition of selected edible nut seeds. J Agric Food Chem 54:4705–4714
Vijayakumari K, Siddhuraju P, Janardhanan K (1993) Chemical composition and nutritional potential of the tribal pulse (Bauhinia malabarica Roxb). Plant Foods Hum Nutr 44(1):291–298
Vijayakumari K, Siddhuraju P, Janardhanan K (1997) Chemical composition, amino acid content and protein quality of the little-known legume Bauhinia purpurea. J Sci Food Agric 73:279–286
Wu WH, Lu JY, Jone AR, Mortley DG, Loretan PA, Bonsi CK, Hill WA (1997) Proximate composition, amino acid profile, fatty acid composition and mineral content of peanut seeds hydroponically grown at elevated CO2 levels. J Agric Food Chem 45:3863–3866
Young CT, Pattee EH, Schadel EW, Sander HT (2004) Microstructure of peanut (Arachishypogaea L. cv ‘NC 7’) cotyledons during development. LWT-Food Sci Technol 37:439–445
Acknowledgments
We thank Mrs Shirley Mackellar and Miss Nelisha Murugan of the Microscopy and Microanalysis unit, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa for their assistance with the microscopy part of this work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Amonsou, E.O., Siwela, M. & Dlamini, N. Chemical composition and microstructure of Bauhinia grains. J Food Sci Technol 51, 2263–2269 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-014-1404-9
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-014-1404-9