Status of conservation of the indigenous leaf vegetables and fruits of Africa

The diversity of indigenous leaf vegetables and fruits of Africa is being seriously eroded as a result of multiplicity of environmental, political and socio-economic factors. This paper discusses some new development-related and crises factors that have interacted in concert to amplify the spate of loss of the indigenous leaf vegetables and fruits genetic resources in Africa. The paper also suggests urgent steps that nations individually and Africa in general can take to arrest the wave of loss of plant genetic resources and therefore ensure the conservation of our remaining indigenous leaf vegetables and fruits heritage. Key Words: Conservation, indigenous vegetables and fruits, Africa, genetic erosion. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol.3(12) 2004: 700-70

Effect of organic and inorganic fertilizer on yield and chlorophyll content of maize (Zea mays L.) and sorghum Sorghum bicolour (L.) Moench)

The effects of amending soil with organic (poultry manure) and inorganic fertilizer on yield and chlorophyll content of maize (Zea mays L.) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolour (L.) Moench) was carried out at the Teaching and Research (T&R) Farm of the Obafemi Awolowo University, (O.A.U.) Ile - Ife, Nigeria. The experiment was a randomised complete block design (RCBD), laid out in a split-plot arrangement in the second cropping season of year 2001 and 2002. There were four sources of fertilizer for soil amendment: inorganic fertilizer (IF), mixture of inorganic fertilizer and poultry manure (IFPM), poultry manure (PM) and control (C) (no fertilizer or manure treatment). Each fertilizer source supplied 54 kg N plus 25 kg P2O5 and 25 kg K2O5/ha. There were significant variability and diversity observed on the two crops due to treatments. Grain yield was highest in sorghum (3.55 kg/ha) and maize (2.89 kg/ha) under IFPM followed by IF treatment for maize (2.33 kg/ha) and PM treatment for sorghum ((3.37 kg/ha). Sorghum and maize had the highest dry matter of 72.3 g/plant and 71.0 g/plant under IFPM at harvest. The effects of PM on the dry matter of sorghum (68.1 g/plant) and maize (61.7 g/plant) were not significantly different (p = 0.05) from that of IF (sorghum 66.1 g/plant, maize 58.7 g/plant). Sorghum also had the highest leaf area (LA) (2752.9 cm2/plant) and total chlorophyll content of 3.28 mg/g under PM while maize on the other hand had the highest LA (1969.5 cm2/plant) and total chlorophyll content of 2.63 mg/g under IFPM. In both maize and sorghum, the lowest chlorophyll content occurred in control plot. Drought tolerance measured as percentage chlorophyll stability index (CSI%) was highest under control plots in both crops

Seed constraint to cultivation and productivity of African indigenous leaf vegetables

Non-availability of improved seeds constitutes a major constraint to the cultivation and productivity of the indigenous leaf vegetables (ILVs) of Africa. Research on African ILVs has focused mainly on the ethnobotany, collection, preservation, and the assessment of food value and chemical composition ofthe ILVs. No serious breeding and seed production research has been done on the ILVs. This paper examines some factors underlying the lack of interest in the production of ILVs seeds, the problem associated with local seed processing and the way to organize a seed production programme for theILVs

Nodulation, chlorophyll content and nitrogen yield of two woody legumes at Ile-Ife, Southwestern Nigeria

Two field studies were conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria between 2000 and 2002 to compare the growth, nodulation, chlorophyll content and nitrogen accumulation of Leucaena leucocephala (Lam) de Wit cv. 28 and Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Walp cv. ILG50 at the early stages of growth (2-16 months after planting) (MAP) without inputs. A randomized complete block design with three replications and the species as treatments was used. Between 8 and 16 MAP, the biomass yield of G. sepium (5.10 kg/plant) was higher than that of L. leucocephala (1.35 kg/plant). The number of nodules produced by G. sepium (96.0/plant) was higher than in L. leucocephala (44.0/plant). Fresh weight of nodules of G. sepium (41.30 g/plant) was higher than in L. leucocephala (18.9 g/plant). Similarly, dry weight of G.sepium (18.5 g/plant) was greater than that of L.leucocephala (7.6g/plant) throughout the period of study. Nodulation index of G. sepium (5.5%) was higher than that of L. leucocephala (3.7%) at 4 and 8 MAP. At 12 and 16 MAP, leaf total chlorophyll content of G. sepium was 6.12 µM/g and significantly (

Shoot tip regeneration and optimization of Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation of Broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica) cv. Green Marvel

A protocol of plant regeneration from shoot tips and optimization of Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation of broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica) cv. Green Marvel have been developed. Shoot tip response was assessed on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with different concentrations of zeatin. The highest regeneration with a maximum of 13 shoots per explant was obtained on MS medium containing 1.5 mg l-1 zeatin. Primary selection of putative transformed explants was performed on the optimized regeneration medium (MS medium containing 1.5 mg l-1 zeatin and 80 mg l-1 kanamycin) for 60 days. The effects of preculture, acetosyringone and growth of bacterial culture were studied. Explants precultured on callus induction medium for 4 days prior to inoculation with A. tumefaciens with 200 lM acetosyringone resulted in improved transformation frequency. The Agrobacterium culture dilution of 1:5 and inoculation time of 30 min increased the efficiency of transformation of shoot tip explants. The results also indicated that 150 mg l-1 ampicillin alone was adequate to eradicate Agrobacterium growth in the SRM incorporated with the respective minimum inhibitory concentration of 80 mg l-1 kanamycin. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern blot assays confirmed the transgenic status of the broccoli cv. Green Marvel regenerants. A transformation efficiency of 5 % was achieved based on the positive PCR results using the optimized procedure. The expression of luciferase reporter gene in the transformed cells and the transcription of AtHSP101 using RT-PCR further confirmed the transgenic status of the regenerated plants