Mineralogical composition of the fruits of local eggplant cultivars amended with chicken droppings in congo brazzaville

The local aubergine is a vegetable and fruit rich in mineral elements, but the importance of these elements is unknown to Congolese consumers. The aim of the study was to assess the mineral content of aubergine fruit from plants fertilised with chicken droppings. The fruits of three cultivars (C1, C2, C3) of Solanum aethiopicum L. and cultivar C4 (Solanum macrocarpon L.), harvested from plants fertilised with 100 g, 200 g and 300 g of chicken droppings per bunch, were weighed and dried to obtain the water content. The dried fruits were ground to obtain fine powders. The powders were analysed for mineral elements using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. Water contents of 91.49% and 87.20% were obtained with fruit from cultivars C3 and C4 fertilised with 100 g and 300 g of chicken droppings. A total of 48 mineral elements were identified, with levels varying according to cultivar. For 200g of chicken droppings, the C4 cultivar contained 3.31% potassium, 1.07% calcium and 0.36% magnesium. These levels are higher compared with C1 (2.60%; 0.38%; 0.33%), C2 (2.91%; 0.38%; 0.29%) and C3 (2.86%; 0.40%; 0.31%), fertilised with the same dose. Our results show that consumption of aubergine fruit fertilised with 200g of chicken droppings per packet provides the human body with potassium, phosphorus, calcium and magnesium, thereby toning it.