Nutritional Composition of Telfairia occidentalis   Leaf Grown in Hydroponic and Geoponic Media

The bioactive components of Telfairia occidentalis Hook F. leaf grown in both geoponic (GM) and non-circulating hydroponic (HM) media were assessed. The bioactive components assessed were vitamins, proximate composition and amino acids. Standard procedures were followed in the analyses. The percentage vitamins showed that cobalamin content was the highest (40.29%), followed by beta-carotene (19.89%), riboflavin (13.25%), ascorbic acid (10.33%), thiamine (9.78%), pyridoxine (6.13%), niacin (3.46%), tocopherols (2.66%) and Vitamin K (1.46%) in that order for HM while the sequence for GM was beta-carotene (17.27%), cobalamin (12.70%), thiamine (6.13%), ascorbic acid (3.16%), pyridoxine (2.12%), niacin (1.25%), tocopherols (0.97%), riboflavin (0.80%) and Vitamin K (0.63%). The proximate composition of T. occidentalis varied in HM and GM. The percentage protein were 0.53% and 0.30%, crude fat (0.90% and 0.30%), moisture (83.36% and 81.42%), crude fibre (2.09% and 4.76%) and ash (0.37% and 0.47%) for HM and GM, respectively. The carbohydrate composition (12.76%) remained same for both treatments. The essential and non-essential amino acids ranges from 0.11-3.44% and 0.01-2.51% for HM and 0.05-1.73% and 0.01-1.26% for GM, in that order. The percentage total amino acids of T. occidentalis grown in HM and GM were 19.07% and 9.77%, respectively. The study therefore support the growing of T. occidentalis in hydroponic nutrient medium with the aim of improving the bioactive components, directly providing the nutritional requirements of humans and thereby addressing an aspect of food security challenges.