No abstract

The seed powder of Moringa oleifera was analysed for its phytochemical, proximate and elemental composition using Folin-Denis spectrophotometric method, gravimetric method and energy dispersing X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) transmission emission technique respectively. The seed powder had the following proximate composition: nitrogen (2.98%), crude protein (18.63%), tannins (322.9 mg/100g), alkaloids (8.24 mg/100g) and saponins (9.13%). The predominant mineral elements in the seed powder were: Al (144 ± 4 ppm), Ca (602 ± 122 ppm), K (732 ± 164 ppm), P (0.619 mg/kg), Na (86.2 ± 4.9 ppm), Mn (17.5 ± 0.4 ppm), Br (0.62 ± 0.09 ppm), La (0.73 ± 0.13 ppm), Sm (0.14 ± 0.01 ppm), Rb (37.5 ± 6.7 ppm) and Sc (0.17 ± 0.03 ppm) while Mg, Fe, Cr, As, Th and Zn were all beyond detection limits. The results of the study suggest the pharmacological and nutritional potentials of M. oleifera seeds for human and other animal uses.

This study was conducted with 600, seven day-old mixed Japanese quail chicks to investigate the effects of varying levels of turmeric rhizome powder (TRP) on growth parameters, carcass traits and organoleptic properties of the breast muscles. The chicks were randomly assigned to five dietary groups containing 0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.00% TRP of sorghum-soybean based diet in a completely randomized design. Each treatment had six replicates of 20 birds each and was studied from 7-42 days of age. Growth performance (body weight, weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio and mortality), carcass characteristics (dressed weight, dressing percent, breast and gastrointestinal weights) and organoleptic properties (colour, flavor, juiciness, texture, number of chews, remains after and overall acceptability) were measured. One-way ANOVA was used for data analysis and significant means separated using the least significant difference methods. Inclusion of TRP in the diet increased (P<0.05) all growth parameters, especially at 0.50% inclusion without any adverse effect (P>0.05) on carcass traits. Mean scores for organoleptic evaluation of meat showed that TRP had no influence (P>0.05) quail breast muscle. This study concludes that TRP significantly improved growth without altering the carcass and organoleptic properties of breast muscle of Japanese quails. Dietary supplementation with 0.50% TRP is thus recommended for quails fed sorghum-soybean based diet.

Genetic divergence of baobab (Adansonia digitata) in the North East and West of Nigeria was investigated. The seeds collected from 36 populations of Adansonia digitata were thoroughly washed from the pulp, dried and sown in polyethylene pots and arranged in completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications in the nursery of Savanna Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, (FRIN), Zaria Station. The leaves of the seedlings were assessed at 16 weeks after sowing (WAS) for nutritional traits such as carbohydrate, crude protein, fat, moisture content, fiber and ash. Highly significant differences were observed in all the traits assessed showing that high variability exists among the populations. Mean separation and comparisons were also consistent with the observed variability in all the traits of the genotypes in the 36 populations. Mahalanobis D² statistic and wards minimum variance grouped the 36 populations into four clusters: I (25), II (3), III (7) and IV (1). Clusters IV and I had the highest inter-clusters value and intra-cluster distance. Clusters II and I had the least values of D 2 and D 2 of the inter cluster and intra cluster distance. Furthermore, cluster I had the highest population (25) and cluster IV was observed to be an isolated cluster with only one population and 0 intra-cluster values. Crosses can be made among the genetically divergent populations of baobab to develop genotypes for higher nutritional quality in the leaves as well as withstand both biotic and abiotic stress arising from the environment.

Forty-four (44) samples of clams were obtained from three locations between Cross River and Akwa Ibom States. Genomic DNA was extracted from tissues of the clams using cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). Following DNA extraction from the tissues, ultraviolet radiation spectroscopy was used to get the concentration of the DNA isolated from the tissue. From the study, the mean gene diversity obtained was 0.8950 while polymorphic information content was 0.8860. A dendogram of the 44 samples using Weighted Neighbour -Joining (WNJ) procedure clustered them into four major groups. Group I had 78% bootstrap value, group II had 85% bootstrap value, group III had 74% bootstrap value, while group IV had 80% bootstrap. The results of genetic study of the three populations of Egeria radiata showed that they were diverse. Similarly, Original Research Articlethe principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that the four(4) clusters had samples across all the populations of clams studied, showing that there was an active migration of the clams among the three populations leading to a high genetic diversity of the clams. The implication of the results taking together showed that further genotyping should be carried out using other DNA markers that could add further understanding to the genetic diversity of clams.