Processing of Oilseeds in the Tropics: Prospects and Challenges

Oilseeds have been cultivated from antiquity with increasing demand in agricultural industries world trade. Many economies such as Malaysia depend largely on oilseed crops which are grown primarily for the edible oil production; and for additional meal fraction arising from the seed. The meal is rich in protein and used for animal feed. Recent developments in research have posited oilseeds as a viable source for the production of biodiesel. In the tropics, most of the oilseeds are underutilized; and interest in its mass production and utilization are lacking. Some other seed such as neem seeds, pawpaw seeds, Jatropha curcas L. seeds, etc. have not been put to use in tropical countries leading to subsistence production and their applications in other areas. The oilseed crops could be used either for human, animal or for industrial purposes. There is need to increase the volume of production of these oils in tropical countries through improved quality farming techniques that would encourage breeding in other to meet up with increasing demands. Notably, there are many conventional methods that have been used to increase oilseeds yields. However, the adoption of each technology improvement should be sustainable, while other unknown oilseeds should be discovered for increased utilization

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Effect of Thermal Processing Conditions on the Physicochemical and Moisture-Sorption Characteristics of Two Cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta) Varieties

Two cocoyam varieties (Colocasia esculenta) known as taro grown in Cross-River State and Bendel were subjected to different processing conditions (boiling and drying) and the effect of boiling temperature, boiling time and drying temperatures were investigated. They were processed into flour using standard methods, packaged in low-density polyethylene bags and kept in the laboratory for analysis. The results obtained showed that crude fat, crude protein, ash, moisture, crude fibre and carbohydrate contents ranged from 0.42-0.92%, 6.03-9.01%, 2.13-3.90%, 5.20-12.07%, 0.43-0.77% and 73.32-81.73%, respectively. The anti-nutrients contents of the samples showed that oxalate ranged from 0.01-0.99 mg/g, alkaloids (0.12-0.73 mg/g), flavonoids (0.00-0.83 mg/g), phytate (0.01-1.90 mg/g), saponin (0.00-0.83 mg/g) and tannin (0.00-0.01 mg/g). The investigation revealed that there were significant (p<0.05) variations in the functional properties of the cocoyam samples with the water absorption capacity ranging from (1.56-3.01 mg/g), bulk density(0.58-0.82 mg/g), swelling index (1.54-2.91 mg/g), Oil absorption capacity (1.32-1.67 mg/g), while porosity ranged from 0.30-0.76 mg/g. There were also significant (p<0.05) variations in the thermal diffusivity of the samples with the samples of Cross River Cocoyam having higher thermal diffusivity compared to sample of Bendel Cocoyam. The higher thermal diffusivity observed in the cross river cocoyam could be due to the lower moisture content of the samples. The result of the pasting properties showed that the peak viscosity, peak time, final viscosity, breakdown and set back viscosities ranged from 10.88-15.81 N/m2, 7.87-20.87 mins, 8.00-9.97 N/m2, 15.10-17.90 N/m2, 6.0-7.5 N/m2 and 2.3-3.8 N/m2. The research discovered that sample with less pasting temperatures and high peak viscosity had better thickening effect as seen in sample of Cross River Cocoyam. The moisture sorption isotherms had sigmoid-shaped profiles for all of the three temperatures. The hysteresis effect at the three temperatures was distinctly expressed. The increasing temperatures resulted in less hysteresis effect on taro flour which meant the adsorption and desorption curves were closer