Nutritional value of selected wild edible plants in Teso-Karamoja Region, Uganda

The use of wild plants for food in the rural communities of Uganda is widespread. This is attributed to food scarcity, perceived nutritional value,  medicinal and health benefits and cultural preservation. However, the claims on the nutritional value of some wild edible plant species have not  been fully validated. In cognizance of this, the macroelement, beta-carotene and ascorbic acid profile of five wild plants commonly used for food in and around eight forest reserves of Teso-Karamoja region, Uganda, were analysed. The plants prioritized for analysis were Vigna kirkii (Baker) J.B. Gillett, Maerua angolensis D.C., Leptadenia hastata (Schumach. & Thonn.) Decne, Senna obtusifolia (L.) H.S. Irwin & Barneby and Dioscorea sp.). The  macro-element, ascorbic acid and beta-carotene composition of these plants was analyzed in triplicate. The variance in parameter means was  analysed using one-way Analysis of Variance in SPSS ver. 16.0. The results showed that all the means of species were significantly different at the p=0.05 level. The highest macro-nutrient means were 80.74±0.34 %/100 g moisture content in V. kirkii, 3.95±0.23 g/100 g ash content in M.  angolensis, 19.04±0.37 Kcal gross energy in M. angolensis, 27.93±0.85 g/100 g dietary fibre in L. hastata, 3.40±0.13 g/100 g crude fat in L. hastata, 65.43±2.91 g/100 g carbohydrate in Dioscorea sp., 36.37±0.42 g/100 g crude protein in M. angolensis. The highest ascorbic acid mean was 14.71±3.56 mg/100 g in M. angolensis while beta-carotene was 1082.1±0.08 μg/100 g in S. obtusifolia. These results show that these wild edible plants have a significantly variable nutritional value. Some of the macro elements can sufficiently meet the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) and Adequate Intakes (AI) for certain life stages and groups if consumed in ideal quantities. This information is vital in enhancing food and nutrition security awareness in the community and uplifting the social appeal and acceptability of these plants. This can be enhanced by investigating the micro-nutrients of public health significance, anti-nutrient factors, and toxic compounds in these plants. Key words: Nutritional value, wild edible plants, macro-nutrient, ascorbic acid, betacarotene,Teso-Karamoja, Ugand

ASSESSMENT OF COMMON BEAN CULTIVAR DIVERSITY IN SELECTED COMMUNITIES OFCENTRAL UGANDA

Common bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris ) L. diversity has been nurtured by Uganda\u2019s farming communities and in return it has sustained their livelihoods for over 40 decades. Despite the farmers\u2019 invaluable effort in perpetuating this diversity, there is limited overall understanding of its status and dynamics on-farm. This study assessed the amount and status of the cultivar diversity in selected rural and peri-urban communities of central Uganda. Data were purposefully collected from 120 households through household surveys, focus group discussions and direct field observations. Diversity measures, status of the cultivars and morphological distinctiveness were estimated by Simpson\u2019s index of diversity (1-D), four cell analysis and cluster analysis, respectively. A total of 24 cultivars were observed in the whole study, and both communities had equal cultivar richness.There were no significant differences in the number of cultivars maintained by the farmers in the rural and those in the peri-urban communities. Both communities had substantial cultivar evenness (0.81 and 0.82 in rural and peri-urban, respectively), although only 19% of cultivars were grown on relatively larger areas and by many households. Impressively, at least 30% of the households in each community nurtured different sets of cultivars. We thus recommend the need to put in place incentive mechanisms that can encourage a section of the community to continue conserving P. vulgaris diversity on-farm to ensure its continued evolution and adaptation to changing biotic and abiotic factors.La diversit\ue9 du haricot commun ( Phaseolus vulgaris ) L. a \ue9t\ue9 d\ue9velopp\ue9 par des communaut\ue9s de fermiers en Ouganda et, en retour, la culture a durablement contribu\ue9 au bien \ueatre familial pendant plus de quarante ans. Malgr\ue9 des efforts consid\ue9rables des fermiers dans la perp\ue9tuation de cette diversit\ue9, la compr\ue9hension de sa situation et dynamique en champ reste limit\ue9e. Cette \ue9tude a \ue9valu\ue9 le nombre et la situation de la diversit\ue9 des cultivars dans des communaut\ue9s s\ue9lectionn\ue9es en milieux rural et p\ue9ri-urbain de l\u2019Ouganda central. Les donn\ue9es d\u2019\ue9taient collect\ue9es de fa\ue7on raisonn\ue9e dans 120 m\ue9nages \ue0 travers une enqu\ueate de m\ue9nage, les groupes de discussions et des observations directes sur terrain. Des mesures de diversit\ue9, la situation des cultivars et la diff\ue9renciation morphologique \ue9taient estim\ue9es par l\u2019index de diversit\ue9 de Simpson (1-D), quatre analyses de cellules et l\u2019analyse de groupes, respectivement. Un total de 24 cultivars \ue9tait observ\ue9 dans toute l\u2019\ue9tude, et toutes les deux communaut\ue9s avaient une richesse \ue9gale de cultivars. Aucune diff\ue9rence significative n\u2019\ue9tait trouv\ue9e dans le nombre de cultivars maintenu par les fermiers ruraux et p\ue9ri-urbains. Les deux communaut\ue9s avaient un nombre substantiellement invariant de cultivars (0.81 et 0.82 en milieu rural et p\ue9ri-urbain, respectivement), malgr\ue9 que 19% seulement des cultivars \ue9taient cultiv\ue9s relativement sur des vastes \ue9tendues et par plusieurs m\ue9nages. De fa\ue7on impressionnante, au moins 30% des m\ue9nages dans chaque communaut\ue9 avaient d\ue9velopp\ue9 diff\ue9rents types de cultivars. Ceci d\ue9montre le besoin de mettre en place des m\ue9canismes d\u2019encouragement des communaut\ue9s afin de continuer la conservation en milieux paysan de la diversit\ue9 du P. vulgaris pour assurer son \ue9volution continue et l\u2019adaptation au changement des facteurs biotiques et abiotiques

Next-generation sequencing of the soil nematode community enables the sustainability of banana plantations to be monitored

Uganda faces a considerable challenge to match its food production to an annual population growth rate of 3%. Cooking bananas are the country's most produced staple crop but the annual national harvest is not increasing. The crop grows on infertile soils that are normally fertilised organically and often susceptible to erosion. Soil nematodes are well-established as bioindicators of soil quality that can support environmental monitoring and assessment of the sustainability of agricultural systems. These invertebrates are a highly ranked indicator of biodiversity with molecular approaches available. Consequently, we have applied next-generation DNA sequencing of soil nematodes to evaluate soil quality of Ugandan banana plantations. The aim is to establish a method for constructing an aspect of an environmental biosafety dossier with the future aim of assessing the impact of transgenic crops and improving current cropping systems. The soil samples did not differ significantly in any of the measured soil chemistry factors, soil texture or percentage of organic matter. Thirty taxons of soil nematodes other than the plant parasites were recovered from soil supporting nine banana plantations plus three each from coffee and banana-coffee interplants from East and West Uganda. Cluster analysis correctly allocated each plantation to the crop/intercrop being grown when based on the abundance of taxa rather than taxa presence or absence. This indicates that the host has considerable effects on the abundance of specific nematode species within the soil. Overall, nematodes were more abundant in soil from coffee plantations than from banana-coffee interplants with the lowest values being from fields supporting just banana. Only the basal and trophic diversity indices and the percentage of nematodes that are rapid colonisers varied between the three plantation types. The soil of all fifteen plantations can be classified as having a mature soil web condition with low physical disturbance, limited chemical stressors, moderately high nutrient enrichment and balanced decomposition channels