Evaluation of Proximate and Anti-nutritional Contents of Sprouted and Fermented Cottonseed (Gossypium hirsutum L)

The effect of fermentation and sprouting on the nutrient content and anti-nutritional factors of cottonseed were investigated. Cottonseed  samples were anaerobically fermented for four (4) days and sprouting was done for two (2) days at ambient temperature (32 o C). Treated and untreated seeds were analyzed for proximate parameters and  anti-nutritional factors (gossypol, tannins, phytate and oxalate). The  results indicated that the moisture content of the sprouted sample  (76.54%) was significantly higher than that of the fermented and  untreated samples (43.55% and 9.26%) respectively (p <0.01). Protein  (26.41%) and ash (4.02%) content of fermented cottonseed samples were significantly higher (p <0.01) than that of the untreated (24.81% and  3.90%) and sprouted samples (8.49% and 2.64%) respectively. Fat, fibre and carbohydrate contents of treated samples were significantly lower (p <0.01) than that of the untreated samples. The anti-nutritional factor  gossypol was significantly reduced (p <0.01) from 1.65% to 0.42% and 0.09% for sprouted and fermented samples respectively.