Nutritional composition and biological activities (antioxidant and antifungal) of Sesbania virgata (Cav.) Pers. seeds

Sesbania virgata (Cav.) Pers. is a Pantropical legume (Fabaceae) able to colonize riverbanks in Brazilian semiarid regions, commonly used to recover degraded soils. Although its seeds have high nutritional value, are little explored for biotechnological and biological applications. In order to begin to fill the void existing in this theme, the present research described the nutritional composition of the S. virgata seeds, in addition to its antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. The energy value of S. virgata seeds was 366.6 kcal 100g-1, and among the investigated macronutrients, the protein content stands out (60.8%). However, the carbohydrate and crude fat contents are also promising, highlighting the abundance in polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially linoleic acid and linolenic acid. S. virgata seeds are an excellent source of essential (leucine, lysine and valine) and non-essential amino acids (glutamic acid, aspartic acid and arginine). Under the assay conditions, lectins and trypsin inhibitors were not demarcated. Additionally, S. virgata seeds confer antifungal activity against Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, Aspergillus flavus and Penicillium citrinum, and antioxidant activity, for ABTS•+ and DPPH• scavenging methods. In view of these findings, the nutritional composition of S. virgata seeds encourages its use as natural source of functional products, and its biological activities stimulate its biotechnological and pharmacological application as exogenous antifungal and antioxidant agent.