Abstract
Cola rostrata plant is an important tree crop grown in many parts of Nigeria. Its fruits and seeds though high in energy remains a minor food crop due to the presence of anti-nutritional compounds. The potential for utilization of cola seed as an alternative source of energy was evaluated by assessing the effect of various processing methods on its proximate contents, anti-nutrient compounds. Cola rostrata seeds was processed to remove the anti-nutritional compounds by different methods such as boiling, boiling followed by fermentation, fermentation, toasting. Energy content was determined by proximate composition using laboratory analysis. All the processing methods, significantly (p<0.05) reduced levels of anti-nutrient such as total oxalate, hydrocyanide (HCN), tannin, phytates and caffeine. It was also, observed that the processing methods reduced the crude fibre (CF) and Ash contents of the seeds, while resulting in increase in crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), nitrogen free extract (NFE), gross energy (GE) and metabolizable energy (ME) respectively. Boiling as a processing method resulted in a reduction in total oxalate from 298.8 mg to 25.60 mg, while HCN reduced from 6.08 mg to 0.52 mg; tannin and phytate reduced from 15.20 to 0.40 and 1.20 to 0.00 respectively. More so, caffeine was completely eliminated when the seed was boiled for 30 minutes. It was observed that, boiling for 30 minutes greatly reduced the anti-nutrients and also increased the GE and ME of the seed and is therefore recommended for use when processing the seed for animal feeding.