Anti-nutrients and heavy metals in some new plantain and banana cultivars

Plantain and banana flour are important raw material in the baking and confectionery industry, andcomplementary food formulation. Five new plantain and banana hybrids developed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) at High rain fall Station, Onne, Nigeria were screened for certain anti-nutritional factors and some heavy metals commonly found in foods. Results show that PITA 17 is lowest (1.66%) in saponin, while PITA 24 (4.97%) is highest. Conversely, the tannin content was lowest (0.16%) in PITA 24 and highest (0.28%) in both PITA 17 and BITA 3. The oxalate content of the new hybrid ranges between 0.49% and 0.82%, across the six cultivars evaluated. Phytate level was lowest (1.2x10^-5) in PITA 14 and highest (11.0x10^-5) in PITA 24. PITA's 14, 24 and Agbagba contained 4.0x10^-5% cyanide, while 4.0x10^-5 was obtained for PITA's 17, 26 and BITA 3. The phenolic content of PITA's 14 and 26, and Agbagba was 0.033%, while PITA's 17, 24 and BITA 3 had 0.036%. The heavy metal contents of the new plantain and banana ranges between 0.13-0.19ppm for Lead, 0.02-0.03ppm for cadmium, and <0.01 for mercury, across the six cultivars investigated.