TRADITIONAL SONRU PRODUCTION AS A BIOPROCESS FOR DETOXIFICATION AND NUTRITIONAL ENHANCEMENT OF MUCUNA PRURIENS SEEDS

Mucuna pruriens is a protein rich underutilized legume with considerable potential for food and nutrition security. However, its utilization for human consumption is limited by the presence of high concentrations of antinutritional compounds, particularly L-3,4 dihydroxyphenylalanin e (L-DOPA). This study evaluated the effectiveness of traditional Sonru production as a bioprocess for detoxification and nutritional enhancement of Mucuna pruriens seeds. Seeds were subjected to soaking, dehulling, cooking and fermentation using yanyanku, a traditional starter culture, for 72 h under ambient conditions. Samples collected at 0, 24, 48 and 72 h were analyzed for physicochemical characteristics, antinutritional factors and microbial populations. Pearson correlation analysis, principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) were applied to elucidate relationships among fermentation variables. During fermentation, pH increased significantly from 5.61 to 6.24, whereas moisture, crude protein and crude fat decreased from 75.2 to 63.7%, 38.4 to 33.3 g/100 g, and 4.64 to 2.31 g/100 g, respectively. Ash content increased from 3.87 to 5.78 g/100 g. Fermentation markedly reduced L-DOPA (1905 to 30.3 mg/100 g; 98.4%), phytates (12.3 to 2.67 mg/100 g; 78.3%), oxalates (155 to 41.9 mg/100 g; 73.0%) and trypsin inhibitor activity (6.26 to 3.32 TIU/mg protein; 46.9%), resulting in concentrations below recommended safety thresholds.