Proximate and Elemental Analyses of the Leaves of Tetracarpidium conophorum (Mull. Arg.) Hutch and Dalziel

The leaves of Tetracarpidium conophorum (African Walnut) were subjected to proximate analysis. The proximate analysis revealed organic matter which included Crude Protein (CP), Crude Fiber (CF), Crude Lipid (CL), and Nitrogen Free Extract (NFE) with these values 17.68%, 15.53%, 1.89% and 51.52% respectively. Ash was determined to be 13.38%. The dry matter was determined to be 91.80% while the moisture content was calculated to be 8.14% after the evaporation of water from the sample. Elemental analysis of the leaves of Tetracarpidium conophorum by INAA revealed the presence of fourteen elements. These included macro elements such as calcium (33460 ± 903 mg/kg), magnesium (4756 ± 304 mg/kg), zinc (24.3 ± 2.8 mg/kg) and trace elements such as cobalt (0.11 ± 0.02 mg/kg) and manganese (262 ± 0.5 mg/kg). The other elements detected are aluminum (161± 21 mg/kg), chlorine (200 ±16 mg/kg), strontium (130 ±17), sodium (29 ± 1), potassium (19390 ± 175), bromine (3.56 ± 0.18 mg/kg), lanthanum (6.6 ± 0.1 mg/kg), samarium (0.41 ± 0.01) and barium (558 ± 22 mg/kg). The results justify the consumption of the fresh leaves of Tetracarpidium conophorum as food as well as a useful drug formulation.   Keywords: Tetracarpidium conophorum, proximate analysis, elemental analysis, Euphorbiaceae, leaves