LAUSR

African eggplants, Solanum melongena fruit (SMF) and Solanum aethiopicum fruit (SAF) are widely cultivated in Nigeria and across the Africa. This study is designed to evaluate and compare the proximate and phytochemical components of SMF and SAF. Proximate composition of both fruit samples shows that SMF has higher moisture content than SAF. Protein, fats and ash contents were non-significantly (p < 0.05) higher in SAF compared with SMF. The fibre content was 3.11 ± 0.03 and 2.98 ± 0.08 % for SMF and SAF, respectively. The carbohydrate content of SAF (4.14± 0.11%) was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than that of SMF (2.42 ± 0.12%). The results obtained for the phytochemical composition show that cardiac glycosides, anthocyanins and anthraquinone are low for both fruit samples. The phenolic content of SMF was 5.80 ± 0.4 g and that of SAF was 4.17 ± 0.03 g. In this study, we reported a flavonoid content of 2.80 ± 0.08 and 1.46 ± 0.01 g, as well as saponin content of 1.34 ± 0.31 and 0.81 ± 0.23 g for SMF and SAF, respectively. SAF has a tannin content of 0.82 ± 0.14 g, and 1.28 ± 0.05 g for SMF. Eighteen amino acids were identified (Essential and non-essential amino acids) with glutamine having the highest percentage (94.69%) and the lowest in percentage was Threonine (0.014%). In conclusion, the results of this study show that SMF and SAF have adequate nutritional value could be valuable raw material for health and pharmaceutical industries.