Chemical Composition of Guinea Fowl (Numida Meleagris) Egg Shells

I. Adeyeye²* and M. K. O. Arifalo¹

²Department of Chemistry, University of Ado Ekiti, P.M.B. 5363, Ado-Ekiti (Nigeria). 1Department of Chemistry, College of Education, Ikere –Ekiti, P.M.B. 250, Ikere-Ekiti (Nigeria).

ABSTRACT: The study reported was based on the chemical evaluation of the egg shells of guinea fowl. The egg shell percentage was 16.7; proximate levels were (g/100 g): protein 3.34, fat 1.50, ash 8.33, soluble carbohydrate 90.0 and gross energy 1489 (kJ/100 g) and the utilisable energy due to protein was 34.1 %. Sample was high in Na, K, Ca, Mg, Zn but low in Mn, Fe, P and Ca/Mg. Many essential acids were of high concentration: Lys, His, Arg (the most concentrated acids, 52.0 mg/g), Thr, Val, Leu, Ile and Phe. Limiting amino acid score showed that Ser shared the position with Tyr (0.14) in hen’s egg composition, it was Met+Cys (0.26) in the provisional score comparison and Leu (0.31) in the comparison with pre-school child requirement.

KEYWORDS: Guinea fowl; egg shells; chemical composition

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