Asian Journal of Food Research and Nutrition

Beans, which play an important role in African diets. In the absence of sufficient animal protein for the population, it provides as a main source of protein.  Three beans varieties sold in Uli (Potiskum, Aloka and Iron beans) were analyzed for their proximate and phytochemical constituents. Phytochemical screening of the plants was conducted using different standard methods and the result revealed the presence of phytochemicals at different concentrations. The three species contained carbohydrate, protein, fibers and minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, iron, zinc, manganese and copper. The crude protein content was found to be 15.62 and 17.91%, with brown seeds having the highest concentration. The carbohydrate content was determined to be 56.80 and 60.57%, respectively, with white seeds having the greater amount. The crude lipid had the narrowest range, ranging from 2.13 to 2.42%. The moisture percentage, crude fiber, and total ash levels ranged from 3.56 to 5.08, 13.54 to 14.15, and 4.07 to 4.27%, respectively.  Potassium and copper had the highest and lowest concentration in cowpea varieties ranging from 741 to 768 and 0.58 to 0.60 mg/100 g, respectively. There were significant (p<0.05) differences between the potassium, calcium, sodium, magnesium, manganese and zinc concentration of the cowpea varieties, except between iron and copper concentration. From the results, it can be deduced that there is relative difference in the nutritional composition of the three beans as the results demonstrated that Iron beans is nutritionally superior to Aloka and Potiskum.