Nutritive values of the drought tolerant food and fodder crop enset

• Enset (Ensete ventricosum) is a drought tolerant crop, traditionally grown in Ethiopia. It has manyusages: food, fodder, fibres and traditional medicine. Being perennial, enset improves local climate andsoil conditions. It could contribute to improved food security in several drought-prone parts of theworld. The aims of this study were to reveal the amino acids of enset corm, which can be cooked as aroot crop, and to increase the general knowledge regarding chemical composition and energy values ofdifferent enset fractions. Water content was high, 85 to 90%, which is beneficial when used as fodderduring dry periods. Enset corm contained 17 of 20 amino acids and had similar or higher concentrationthan potato of 12 of these. Leaves had 13% protein, among the highest available in Ethiopia, 20% crudefibre and 10% sugar; a good fodder and suitable for ensilage. The pseudostem, the main food source,was rich in soluble carbohydrates (80%) and starch (65%), but had low protein content (4%). An ensetbased diet should be supplemented with protein and complementary amino acids; for example frombeans, which are suitable to intercrop with enset.

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)