Effect of varietal difference on the proximate, functional and sensory properties of melon seeds

The study was carried out to evaluate the effect of varietal difference on the proximate, functional and sensory properties of four varieties of melon seeds such as Cucumis melo, Cucumeropsis manii, Citrullus colocynths and Citrullus vulgaris. The proximate result showed that protein, fat, ash, moisture, crude fibre and carbohydrate contents of the melon seeds ranged from 30.37 to 34.81%, 47.14 to 52.52%, 2.57 to 4.40%, 4.30 to 6.26%, 3.92 to 5.51% and 0.11 to 3.16%, respectively. There were significant differences (p<0.05) in the values obtained for protein, ash and crude fibre contents. Bulk density, Oil and water absorptions of the melon seed varieties ranged from 0.54 to 0.67 g/g, 2.10 to 2.55 g/ml and 1.26 to 1.45 g/ml, respectively. Sensory analysis of the egusi soups prepared from the melon seed varieties indicated that soup of Citrullus vulgaris was most preferred than other varieties in terms of appearance (8.07), taste (7.80), flavour (7.40), water separation (7.67), thickness (8.07), as well as overall acceptability (7.93) and showed no significant differences (p>0.05) with Cucumis melo and Citrullus colocynths. The results showed that the four melon seed varieties contain appreciable quantities of protein, ash and fat with functional properties that are favourable for human consumption and for industrial applications. Higher premium should therefore be placed on the consumption of Cucumis melo and Citrullus colocynths as they can be used to replace Citrullus vulgaris in the preparation of egusi soup.