Study on nutritional and biological evaluation of cassia tora seeds aelu and development of value added food products

Abstract

Cassia tora commonly known as Foetid Cassia, The Sickle Senna and Wild Senna., belongs to family Leguminosae. It is an annual herb, 30 90 cm high occurring as wasteland rainy season weed in India. Shape of the seeds is irregular rectangular resembling fenugreek seeds. Raw seeds of Cassia tora contain about 15 per cent crude protein, 1 per cent crude fat and 4 per cent crude fiber, 71 per cent carbohydrates. The seeds also contain antinutritional factors like phytic acid, trypsin inhibitors and tannins. Biological trial for evaluating the protein quality of Cassia tora seeds was conducted on rats by feeding them diet containing 10, 20 and 30 per cent levels of raw and roasted Cassia tora seeds. High mortality was observed in the groups fed on raw and roasted Cassia tora at 30 per cent levels. The postmortems revealed that the animals died due to hemorrhages of lungs and gastro-intestinal tract. In- vivo protein digestibility was the highest in the control group followed by the group fed on roasted Cassia tora at 10 per cent level. Incorporation of Cassia tora seeds in the diets of rats resulted in a decrease in blood cholesterol levels. Some value added food products namely coffee, chutney, missi roti, rice flour chilla, bread pakora, parantha were prepared by supplementing Cassia tora seeds at two different levels. All the products were found acceptable as per the organoleptic evaluation carried out on the basis of a 9-point hedonic scale. However, further research needs to be done to detoxify and recommend a safe level of consumption of Cassia tora seeds for humans. newline