Phytochemicals, Nutritional Value, and Antimicrobial Properties of Xanthosoma mafaffa

Background and Objective: Xanthosoma mafaffa is a food plant used in traditional medicine in Togo to treat anemia and several infectious pathologies. The present study aims to valorize this species through the study of its biochemical compounds and their antimicrobial activities. Materials and Methods: The powders of young or mature leaves of X. mafaffa were macerated at a solid/liquid ratio (10% w/v) at ambient temperature for 72 hrs in a hydroethanolic solvent with an ethanol/water ratio of 50/50 v/v. The biochemical compounds of nutritional interest of young or mature leaves of X. mafaffa were determined by the usual AOAC methods. The antimicrobial activity of the extracts was carried out against Gram⁺ and Gram‾ bacteria using the agar diffusion method. All biochemical and antimicrobial experiments were conducted in triplicate, with results expressed as Mean±SEM. Statistical significance (p<0.05) was analyzed using DMRT in SPSS 11.5. Results: The contents of biochemical compounds were 38.8±0.4 and 30.7±0.7% for digestible carbohydrates; 24.3±1.3 and 30.4±2.2% for fibers; 17.1±1.7 and 15.8±0.6% for proteins; 3.2±0.4 and 3.4±0.6% for lipids for young and mature leaves, respectively. The presence of Na, K, Ca, Mg, P, and Fe in the leaf samples, at levels deemed significant, is confirmed by spectrophotometric analysis, which also revealed Na/K ratios <1 and Ca/Mg and Ca/P ratios >1. Conclusion: The results underscore that the nutritional composition of X. mafaffa leaves is comparable to that of vegetables and legumes frequently included in daily meals. The young leaves extract obtained with the 50% v/v ethanol/water ratio showed an appreciable inhibitory activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae.