ABSTRACT

Radish (Raphanus sativus) contains essential nutrients for human health. The current study thus assessed the proximate contents of the leaf, stem, root and tuber of three varieties of radish. Seeds of Cherry Red, Cherry Belle and White Icicle varieties of radish were grown in a 4 kg hydroponics trough containing cocopeat substrate.  At 4 weeks after planting (harvest), the tuber, root, leaf and stem parts of each of the three radish varieties were sampled, oven-dried and analyzed for their proximate contents at the Central Research Laboratory, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. The experiment was a 2-way factorial: 3 varieties x 4 explants (tuber, root, leaf and stem) in a CRBD (r=3). The proximate data were analyzed using ANOVA, and means were separated using LSD_(0.05). Results obtained showed that the proximate contents (Moisture, Crude Protein (CP), Crude Fat (CF), Crude Fibre (CFi), Ash and Carbohydrate) were significant among the explants. The moisture ranged from 7.59±0.01 (stem) to 11.34±0.01 (tuber), CP ranged from 18.00±0.04 (root) to 30.84±0.04 (leaf), CF ranged from 0.54±0.01 (root) to 1.88±0.01 (leaf), CFi ranged from 19.26±0.02 (leaf) to 34.58 (tuber), ash ranged from 19.94±0.02 (tuber) to 23.25±0.02 (leaf) and carbohydrate ranged from 36.31±0.06 (leaf) to 51.27±0.06 (tuber). Also, the interaction between varieties and explants was significant. This shows that radish contain vital nutrients necessary for normal working of the body when utilized.