In compositional studies on the structural components of the A. vera plant leaf portions, the rind was found to be 20e30% and the pulp 70e80% of the whole leaf weight. On a dry weight basis, the percentages of the rind and pulp represented as lipids (2.7% and 4.2%) and that as proteins (6.3% and 7.3%) only accounted for a minor fraction.5 However, the nonstarch polysaccharides and lignin represented the bulk of each leaf fraction and were found to be 62.3 % and 57.6% of the dry weight of the rind and pulp, respectively.