+44 330 818 7254Fagbohun, E. D., Lawal, O.U. and Hassan O.A.
The chemical composition and the mycoflora of shelled melon seeds were investigated during twenty weeks storage. Seven fungi were isolated namely Fusarium sp. Rhizopus sp., Mucor sp., Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus tamari and two species of Penicillium. The fungal count was found to increase as the storage time increased. The proximate and the mineral composition were found to decrease as the storage time increased. The fat content was found to decrease from 45.95% in the freshly shelled melon seeds to 39.49% in the stored seeds. The ash content decreased from 4.05% to 3.46% in the stored melon seeds while the fibre content decreased from 7.18% to 5.75% in the stored seeds. The mineral composition in mg/100g also decreased during the storage. The sodium content decreased from 2.71 to 2.47, calcium from 0.59 to 0.24, magnesium from 5.91 to 5.75, zinc from 0.75 to 0.63, iron from 1.11 to 0.63, copper from 0.26 to 0.19 and manganese was not detected.
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