The Nutritional Composition of Seeds fromBoscia senegalensis(Dilo) from the Republic of Niger

The seeds ofBoscia senegalensisare used as a staple food during periods of famine in the Sahel zone of West Africa. Seeds collected in the Republic of Niger were extracted exhaustively with water to remove bitter components and possible toxic substances and then analyzed for their content of various nutrients. The processed seeds, calleddiloby the Hausa-speaking people of the western Sahel, contained 21% (dry wt) protein whose quality is inferior to that of an “ideal” WHO protein standard. Whilediloprotein contains a considerable quantity of tryptophan (4%) and extraordinarily large amounts of arginine (15.8%), it is deficient in lysine (3%) and threonine (3%). Lipid accounted for 3.68% of the dry weight ofdilo.Three-fourths of the fatty acids in the crude lipid extract were contributed by saturated fatty acids: palmitic acid (690 mg/100 g dry wt) and stearic acid (130 mg/100 g dry wt).Dilocontains 70 mg/100 g dry wt of the essential fatty acid linoleic acid, but undetectable levels of α-linolenic acid. In terms of mineral content,dilocontained relatively little calcium (29 mg/100 g dry wt) and magnesium (4.2 mg/100 g dry wt), and only traces of copper, selenium, and manganese. Zinc and iron, however, were present at relatively high levels, 6.0 and 5.3 mg/100 g dry wt, respectively. These data indicate that whiledilodoes not provide a complete food source in terms of essential nutrients, it does contain substantial quantities of arginine, tryptophan, and other essential amino acids, one of the essential fatty acids (linoleic acid), and zinc and iron. The chemical composition ofdiloharvested in Niger differs significantly from that ofB. senegalensisseeds grown in Sudan.