1. PROJECT PROPOSAL PRESENTATION NAME: GLADYS MAKAA SAMMY REG NO: A22/4085/2009 TITLE: EFFECT OF DIFFERENT PRESERVATION METHODS ON THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF COWPEA ( Vigna unguiculata) LEAVES SUPERVISOR: DR. M. J. HUTCHINSON

3. BACKGROUND INFORMATION • Originated in Africa and widely grown in Africa, South East Asia, Latin America and Southern United States • Available mainly during the rainy season especially in the dry areas • Drought tolerant varieties available for the dry areas. • Used as a vegetable and proven to be a good source of vitamins and minerals e.g vitamins A and C, Ca, K and Fe (Imungi,1983) • Little done on the crop-research on nutritive value of the leaves not given lots of emphasis compared to the seeds

4. PROBLEM STATEMENT AND JUSTIFICATION • Little research on value addition of this leafy vegetable to provide food during the dry season of scarcity. • Emphasis only given to cowpea seeds yet demand for leaves is still on the rise –in both urban and rural areas • Little information on the impact of different value addition options on vitamins and micronutrients content. • Leaves highly nutritious and can be preserved using locally available methods-cheap and easy to practice (sun-drying, blanching and freezing etcetera) (Evelyn, 2006)

5. Overall objective To determine the effect of different preservation methods on the amounts of vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, calcium and iron. Specific objectives • To determine the effect of sun drying on the amounts of Vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, calcium and iron. • To determine the effect of blanching and freezing on the amounts of vitamin A, vitamin B, potassium, calcium and iron. • To determine the effect of blanching and sun drying on the amounts of vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, calcium and iron.

6. METHODS AND MATERIALS Experimental site: Will be carried out in a farmer’s field Ndumbuini- Kabete between February and April 2013. Planting material: California Black-eyed pea Experimental design: Completely Randomized Design (CRD) on ground with no replications and 3 replications for each of the four treatments in the laboratories. Data collection technique: Primary- collection of cowpea leaves from the field for analysis in the Food Science and Soil Chemistry laboratories

7. CONT’D Treatments: Fresh leaves(control) Blanching and sun drying Blanching and freezing Sun drying (fresh leaves) Total treatments: 60 (12 for each treatment) Determination of the various components • Vitamin A- Spectrophotmetrically as β-carotene according to AOAC (1984) • Vitamin C- visual titration using 2, 6-dichlorophelindophenol dye according to AOAC (1984) • Calcium and Iron- FLAME AAS • Potassium-FLAMEPHOTOMETRE Data analysis: Data obtained will be subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) using GENSTAT statistical package and the means will be compared and tested at 5% level of significance.

8. REFERENCES • Imungi, J.K and N.N. Potter, 1983. Nutrition content of raw and cooked cowpea leaves. Journal of food science 48(4):1254-1254 • Evelyn, C. 2006. Blanching is a must when freezing vegetables. Journal on Extension Foods and Nutrition (344):844-2224

9. WORKPLAN

10. THE END – THANK YOU