PROXIMAE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF WATERMELON (Citrullus vulgaris)

The proximate chemical composition of watermelon (Citrullus vulgaris) was investigated. In addition, dicarboxylic fatty acids were determined using Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Results showed that the content of moisture, ash, crude protein, crude fibre, ash, lipids and carbohydrate contents ranged between 91.65-6.75%, 25.60-7.54%, 4.64- 3.45%, 1.30-1.10%, 25.12-1.42% and 3.11-2.54%, in stems, leaves, green crust, kernels and seeds, respectively. Watermelon plant parts contained variable amounts of macro-minerals potassium (K), Calcium (Ca) and Magnesium (Mg) which ranged between 70.9 -421.5 µg/ml, 2.46-343.1 µg/ml and 11.9-72.1 µg/ml in stems, leaves, green crust, kernels and seeds, respectively. Moreover, watermelon plant parts contained relatively small amounts of micro-minerals: copper, Cobalt, manganese, lead, Zinc and iron which ranged between -<0.1-9.69 µg/ml. The fatty acid analysis indicated that watermelon contain five saturated fatty acids; tetrdecanoic acid, pentadecanoic acid, hexadecanoic acid, heptadecanoic acid and octadecanoic acid with different concentrations. The watermelon plant also contained four unsaturated fatty acids. The the most abundant fatty acids were Hexanoic and Eicosanoic acids (15%) while the lowest detected fatty acid was Octadecanoic acid (9%).