Vol. 10, Issue 4 (2021)

Author(s):
Chauhan Vasudha and Lakhawat Sarla

Abstract:
Sunflower is a huge yearly forb from the genus Helianthus that is grown as a crop for its edible fruit and oil. The flowers at the centre of the head of the plant are known as ‘Disk flowers’ which further facilitate to mature into the fruit of the plant called as ‘Sunflower seeds’. The sunflower seeds are excellent source of dietary fibre, amino acids, vitamin E, vitamin B (vitamin B1 or thiamine, vitamin B5 or pantothenic acid and folate), and minerals (phosphorus, calcium, potassium, magnesium, zinc, iron, manganese, selenium and copper) and are also rich in cholesterol-lowering phytosterols. The residual part or by product left after the extraction of oil from the seeds, is known as Seedcake (SC). Over the years the sunflower seed cake (SSC) has been used as animal feed, organic fertilizer and soil compost. Considering the nutritional potential of sunflower seedcake, as it still remains with multifarious nutrients, this underutilized SSC can be a valuable source of remedies of various nutritional deficiencies or other health problems. In regard to this influential aspect the aim of this investigation was to evaluate the nutritional quality of SSC. The nutritional composition was estimated by standard procedures. The chemical analysis of the sunflower seed cake was resulted as moisture (9.23g), crude protein (37.10g), crude fat (0.69g), ash (7.49g), crude fibre (21.50g), carbohydrate (23.97g) and energy (250.56kcal), iron (6.44mg), calcium (650mg), phosphorus (711.33mg) and phytic acid (700mg) per 100g on dry weight basis. Hence, it can concluded from the above mentioned results that SSC was nutritionally rich as a source of protein, fibre, carbohydrate and energy that can be beneficial for various therapeutic purposes.