Sugar and alkaloid profiles of serendipity berry (Dioscoreophyllum cumminsii)

The study evaluates the chemical and physico-chemical composition of serendipity berry (Dioscoreophyllum cumminsii). The berries were separated into seed coat, gel and seed. The sugar and alkaloid profiles of the three components of these berries were analyzed. The predominant sugars were fructose and glucose. Fructose and glucose ranged from 0.61 to 3.47 mg/100g and 0.35 to 3.15 mg/100g respectively. The gel had higher sugar contents than the seed and the peel. Soladulcine was the predominant alkaloid in the seed and peel. Total alkaloids were 1.09 mg/100g in seed, 0.18 mg/100g in peel and traces of emetine in the gel. The alkaloid contents of the seeds were higher than the peels and the gel. Generally, the alkaloid contents in the three components of the berry were very low and could not cause any health problem when consumed. Serendipity berry is a promising fruit which could find its use in the production of juice and wine in the food industry. Keywords: Alkaloid, Fructose, Glucose, Serendipity berry, Suga

THE INFLUENCE OF TYPE OF CUTTING AND GROWING MEDIUM ON GROWTH AND FLOWERING OF SCORPION ORCHID (Arachnis maingayi) Hook.f. Schltr

Orchids are of importance primarily for their horticultural appeal and accounts for 8% of the world floricultural trade. Scorpion orchid (Arachnis maingayi Hook) is highly prized for its beautiful long lasting flowers, but it is under-exploited in many countries including Nigeria. There is the need to determine the best type of cutting and growing medium protocols for commercial production of this species. Seven homogenous growing media (sawdust, topsoil, charcoal, coconut husk, wood shavings, maize cobs and rice husk) and two types of cutting (apical and non-apical) were compared in a factorial experiment laid out in Completely Randomized Design with six replications at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria between 2010 and 2012. Data collected on plant height, number of leaves, leaf area, shoot dry weight, days to spiking, length and number of spike, size and number of florets were subjected to analysis of variance and Tukey’s HSD at p ≤ 0.05 to separate treatment means. Apical cuttings were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) superior to non-apical cuttings in terms of all parameters assessed except floret diameter which was statistically similar. For growing medium, dry matter accumulation and spike yield were in the order of charcoal > rice husk > maize cob > topsoil > wood shavings > coconut husk. Apical cuttings planted in charcoal or rice husk gave the best results relative to other media. Thus, apical cutting is the best propagating technique and charcoal or rice husk is the best growing medium for scorpion orchid cultivation. &nbsp

Phenotypic variation and simultaneous selection of number of leaves/plant and seed mass in jute mallow (Corchorus olitorius)

Corchorus olitorius is a leafy vegetable cultivated for the mucilage in its leaves. Leaf greenness, leaf number, leaf length, and leaf width are popular market traits for this vegetable. Little is known about the direct and indirect contribution of traits to leaf number and seed yield. Forty-two accessions were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with four replications during the 2017 and 2018 cropping seasons. The findings showed that accessions 25, 19, and 28 performed best for leaf length, accessions 31, 22, and 23 for the number of leaves/plant, accessions 4, 18, and 27 for the number of seeds/capsule and accessions 8, 11, and 7 for seed mass. The seed mass was positively related to leaf length, leaf width, and plant height at maturity, the number of seeds/capsule, the number of seeds/capsule and 100-seed mass. The number of leaves/plant was influenced by leaf length, leaf width, and branch length. The path analysis for seed mass showed that the number of branches/plant, seed mass/capsule, the number of seeds/capsule and capsule mass made a large contribution to seed yield. The indirect contribution of traits to the number of leaves/plant was small compared to the direct effect. The leaf length had the largest direct effect on the number of leaves/plant with its largest indirect effect by reducing seed mass. The direct contribution of leaf length to the number of leaves/plant was masked by the phenotypic expression of petal width. The number of branches/plant is a reliable index of seed yield improvement. Hybridization among the best-performing accessions for leaf number, leaf chlorophyll and seed yield will produce new varieties through selection

Health system readiness and the implementation of rectal artesunate for severe malaria in sub-Saharan Africa: an analysis of real-world costs and constraints

BACKGROUND: Rectal artesunate, an efficacious pre-referral treatment for severe malaria in children, was deployed at scale in Uganda, Nigeria, and DR Congo. In addition to distributing rectal artesunate, implementation required additional investments in crucial but neglected components in the care for severe malaria. We examined the real-world costs and constraints to rectal artesunate implementation. METHODS: We collected primary data on baseline health system constraints and subsequent rectal artesunate implementation expenditures. We calculated the equivalent annual cost of rectal artesunate implementation per child younger than 5 years at risk of severe malaria, from a health system perspective, separating neglected routine health system components from incremental costs of rectal artesunate introduction. FINDINGS: The largest baseline constraints were irregular health worker supervisions, inadequate referral facility worker training, and inadequate malaria commodity supplies. Health worker training and behaviour change campaigns were the largest startup costs, while supervision and supply chain management accounted for most annual routine costs. The equivalent annual costs of preparing the health system for managing severe malaria with rectal artesunate were US$2.63,$2.20, and $4.19 per child at risk and$322, $219, and$464 per child treated in Uganda, Nigeria, and DR Congo, respectively. Strengthening the neglected, routine health system components accounted for the majority of these costs at 71.5%, 65.4%, and 76.4% of per-child costs, respectively. Incremental rectal artesunate costs accounted for the minority remainder. INTERPRETATION: Although rectal artesunate has been touted as a cost-effective pre-referral treatment for severe malaria in children, its real-world potential is limited by weak and under-financed health system components. Scaling up rectal artesunate or other interventions relying on community health-care providers only makes sense alongside additional, essential health system investments sustained over the long term. FUNDING: Unitaid. TRANSLATION: For the French translation of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section

Effect of Drying Conditions on the Drying Kinetics and Colour Changes of Plantain (Musa X Paradisiaca) Slices using Combined Heated Air and Infrared Dryers

Most agricultural crops with high moisture content are difficult to preserve. The most common method of preservation is drying. Thus, drying operation where a combination of two or more modes is used, could speed-up drying process. However, the scalability of combined heated air and infrared drying (CHAID) for rural consumers have not been investigated. This study was conducted to examine the effect of drying conditions (temperature and infrared intensity) on the drying kinetics and total colour changes (∆E) of plantain slices using a CHAID dryer. Matured unripe plantain samples were sourced from a market, peeled, washed in running water and then sliced into 4 × 20 × 20 mm dimension. Initial moisture content (MCi) determined using oven drying method. 2.0 g of the sliced sample were weighed and dried in a combined heated air and infrared dryer (IR) operated at 800 W/m2 alone till the mass (bone dry mass) did not vary after repeated weighing. Also, samples ∆E was monitored using colorimeter within the drying period. The same procedure was repeated using heated air-drying mode (HAD) operated at 65 ± 2 °C; IR-800 W/m2 plus HAD at 65 ± 2 °C, and IR-1000 W/m2 plus HAD at 65 ± 2 °C.  The moisture content (MC) and drying rate were computed from duplicate data using Microsoft Excel programme. The variation of % MC with drying time, drying rate against MC and ∆E versus drying time were made and ∆E compared using Tukey Honest Significant Difference. Results showed that the samples’ MCi by oven dried method was 55.84%wb whereas those dried using IR-800 W/m2 alone, HAD (65 ± 2 °C) alone, IR-800 W/m2 plus HAD (65 ± 2 °C) and IR-1000 W/m2 plus HAD (65 ± 2 °C) modes were 57.43, 52.13, 57.41 and 57.03% wb, respectively, and their corresponding critical or equilibrium moisture content were 5.62, 5.03, 12.45 and 5.95%wb, respectively. Similarly, a shortest drying time (30 mins) and minimal total colour changes (ΔE = 12.42) were found when IR (1000 W/m2) plus HAD (65 ± 2 °C) was used. It also observed that, plantain slices dried using HAD (65 ± 2 °C) mode showed statistically significant mean difference in ΔE when compared with other three drying modes within 10 to 30 minutes drying time. Since, IR (1000 W/m2) plus HAD (65 ± 2 °C) mode gave shortest drying time and minimal ΔE, it is recommended for use in drying plantain slices by restaurant, hotels operators and food processors. &nbsp

Determination of Optimum Moisture Content of Palm Nut Cracking for Efficient Production of Whole Kernel

After processing the palm fruit for oil, the nut is usually dried in order to loosen the kernel from the shell. The drying is necessary to enhance the release of whole kernel when the nut is cracked. A study was carried out to determine the optimum moisture content of nuts for high yield of whole kernels during cracking. Thirteen identical groups of fresh palm nuts with 240 nuts per group were subjected to oven drying at a temperature of 105 oC. Before starting, the initial mass of each nut was noted and at 2 h-intervals, a group was randomly selected and each of the 240 nuts cracked by impact after weighing for the determination of the nut moisture content. The nuts in the last group were cracked after a drying time of 26 h. The percentage of cracked nuts yielding whole kernels after impact cracking was used to determine the optimum moisture content the average value of which was 2.5% wet basis or 2.57% dry basis. At this moisture content the proportion of evaporable water retained in the intact nuts was estimated to be about of 11.2%. At the optimum moisture content, 84.2% of the cracked nuts yielded whole kernels. The optimum moisture content was obtained after a drying time of about 18 h

Determination of Optimum Moisture Content of Palm Nut Cracking for Efficient Production of Whole Kernel

After processing the palm fruit for oil, the nut is usually dried in order to loosen the kernel from the shell. The drying is necessary to enhance the release of whole kernel when the nut is cracked. A study was carried out to determine the optimum moisture content of nuts for high yield of whole kernels during cracking. Thirteen identical groups of fresh palm nuts with 240 nuts per group were subjected to oven drying at a temperature of 105 oC. Before starting, the initial mass of each nut was noted and at 2 h-intervals, a group was randomly selected and each of the 240 nuts cracked by impact after weighing for the determination of the nut moisture content. The nuts in the last group were cracked after a drying time of 26 h. The percentage of cracked nuts yielding whole kernels after impact cracking was used to determine the optimum moisture content the average value of which was 2.5% wet basis or 2.57% dry basis. At this moisture content the proportion of evaporable water retained in the intact nuts was estimated to be about of 11.2%. At the optimum moisture content, 84.2% of the cracked nuts yielded whole kernels. The optimum moisture content was obtained after a drying time of about 18 h

DETERMINATION OF INDICES FOR RANKING THE POTENTIAL FOR HERBICIDES CONTAMINATION OF GROUNDWATER

A soil-herbicides index for ranking the potential for herbicides contamination for groundwater known as Groundwater Contamination Potential (GCP) was evaluated by combining Soil Leaching Potential Index (SLPI) and Herbicide Leaching Potential Index (HLPI) using soil parameters and herbicides chemical characteristics data. Soils were rated based on their vulnerability to leaching of herbicides. Herbicides were rated based on their potential for moving through soil medium to groundwater by combining their physicochemical properties of Organic Partition Coefficient Koc, Half life T1/2, Application Method F. Soil properties considered were Organic Matter Content, Soil pH and Soil Textural class. These derived indices were used to rank 16 analyzed soil samples thereby allowing soil-herbicide combination to be ranked as being "Very low", "Low", "Moderate", "High" and "Very high Risks" in relation to their pollution potential to the groundwater. Consequently, the herbicide chemical information and knowledge of soil characteristics together with soil processes provide a means of guiding herbicides users in selecting herbicides least prone to leaching into groundwater and as a means of making environmentally correct decisions in herbicides selection and application

Effect of Roasted Soybean Flour Substitution on the Chemical and Sensory Properties of Maize Flour Snack (Aadun)

Aims: To determine the effect of roasted soybean flour substitution on the chemical and sensory properties of maize flour snack (Aadun). Study Design: Multiple comparison test was performed on the data obtained using Duncan test Place and Duration of Study: Samples were prepared in Department of Food Science and Technology, Osun State Polytechnic, between August 2020 and November 2020. Methodology: Composite flours were developed from roasted maize and soybean to produce snacks (Aadun). Proximate, mineral, amino acid profile and sensory properties of the samples were determined using standard procedure. Results: The protein content of the sample ranged between 8.94–16.43% with sample with 40% soybeans having the highest value. The mineral content of the samples increased with increased addition of soybean. Total amino acid of the Aadun samples ranged between 64.81 and 83.42 g/100 g showing an increase as fortification with soybean flour increased. The sensory evaluation showed no significant differences (p>0.05) in the overall acceptability of all the snacks. Conclusion: The chemical properties of Aadun increased with addition of soybean flour. Addition of 10 % soybeans to the maize snack did not have significant effect on the taste, texture and overall acceptability

Reproductive performance of rabbits fed combinations of Moringa oleifera and Moringa stenopetala leaves.

In a 12-week trial, thirty five cross bred does (New Zealand White, Chinchilla, Californian breeds) weighing 1.5 – 2.0kg and aged 1- 2 years were allotted into five treatments in a completely randomized design. Fresh Moringa oleifera (MO) and Moringa stenopetala (MS) leaves were harvested and air dried. Five concentrate diets were compounded with theinclusion of the air dried Moringa oleifera (MO) and Moringa stenopetala (MS) leaves in ratios 100%: 0 (T1), 75%: 25% (T2), 50%: 50% (T3), 25%: 75% (T4) and 0: 100% (T5) respectively. The reproductive parameters evaluated were weight before parturition, parturition weight, gestation length, litter size at birth and at weaning, litter weight at birthand weaning, total milk yield and average daily weight gain per kit. The chemical composition of the experimental diet indicated that the basal diet (concentrate) had higher dry matter (92.64%) compared to MO (14.61%) and MS (18.48%) while MO and MS had higher crude protein content (24.45 and 27.20% respectively) than concentrate (17.20%).There was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the total dry matter intake (g/day) of the rabbits fed basal, MO and MS diets. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the reproductive performance parameters such as gestation length, weight at birth, litter size at weaning, weight gain, milk yield and survival rate (%). However, there was significant difference (p<0.05) in the parturition weight wherein T1 (1.82kg) and T2 (1.97kg) were significantly higher (p<0.05) than T3 (1.72kg), T4 (1.65kg) and T5 (1.76kg) which were significantly similar (p>0.05). It could be concluded that Moringa oleifera and Moringa stenopetala leaves are suitable for feeding rabbits does at any level of inclusion without any deleterious effect on their reproductive performance.Keywords: Rabbit, reproductive, performance, Moringa oleifera, Moringa stenopetal