Effect of storage on leaf bromatology and seed quality of Moringa oleifera Lam

Moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.) leaves are harvested and stored prior to marketing. There are doubts about the bromatological quality after storing the leaves. The aim of this research was to compare the bromatological properties of the leaves of this species stored in a period of time to verify if there are biochemical changes in the evaluated period. There were collected mature moringa leaves in successive samples in the orchard "Kio-Komukai" in Escuintla, Chiapas, Mexico. It was determined the content of humidity, protein, fat, crude fiber and ash in each sample for each one of the harvest dates. The results of the analysis of the Student t-test indicate that there is no difference in the nutritional quality (P > 0.05) of the leaves on the harvest dates with respect to the storage time. The values obtained from the leaf crops in the bromatological analysis are similar to those reported in previous works; fat (%): 9.36 ± 1.05, crude fiber (%): 19.94 ± 4.2, protein: 20.35 ± 2.26, humidity (%): 7.22 ± 9.79 and ash (%): 10.14 ± 1.68