In arid and semi arid areas where prevalence of droughts and famines is a recurring feature, forest cover can in general make valuable contributions to food security and provide income to the rural poor. Protein and calorie malnutrition is widespread in these areas leading to high child mortality rate. Plant species can play an important role in overcoming this by being used as a source of LPC, a highly nutritious food. Leaf protein concentrate (LPC) should be seriously considered as additional protein source in the case of non-ruminants and man especially in drought prone areas. The use of LPC in developing countries as alternative protein source to fishmeal in broiler diet holds tremendous promise as it can lower substantially high cost of fishmeal and eventually the acute shortage of animal protein supply. Potential tropical plants for LPC production have been evaluated and selected for further research by USDA. The present study was aimed to determine the potential of arid zone plants for preparation of LPC. Extraction characteristics of the several plant species have been studied and the quality of LPC prepared from them was investigated. Different fractions, chloroplastic and cytoplasmic proteins, were analyzed for their crude protein contents. Analysis of LPC shows considerable differences in their protein contents, which was found to range from 10.9% to 88.9%. Based on this the Moringa oleifera, Azadirachta indica, Achyranthes aspera and Tephrosia purpurea were found best suited for LPC preparation.
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2022: 6.012
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