Abstract

The Hausa potato (Solenostemon rotundifolius (Poir) is a tropical, multipurpose, minor tuber crop. This study was designed to carry out proximate composition and determination of some elements in Hausa potato. The moisture, ash, crude lipid, crude protein and crude fiber contents of both uncooked and cooked Hausa potato samples were determined according to the standard method. The elemental composition was determined using the Unicam Solar Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The results showed that the samples were high in carbohydrate but low in lipid contents. Although Hausa potato was significantly higher in moisture, carbohydrate and crude protein contents were not significantly different (P <0.05) in both samples. Whereas boiling improved the availability of carbohydrate and fiber, boiling also reduced the ash content, protein composition and fat in the tuber sample. Cooking significantly lowers the calcium, potassium, phosphorus, sodium and magnesium contents in the sample. Cooking remarkably reduced the anti-nutrient contents of Hausa potato. It is recommended that further studies should be carried out to determine other nutritional composition of various branches such as volatile oils, sesquiterpenes and diterpenes compositions and antimicrobial activities.