The importance of edible wild plants may be traced to antiquity but systematic studies are recent. Anthropologists, botanists, ecologists, food scientists, geographers, nutritionists, physicians and sociologists have investigated cultural aspects and nutrient composition of edible species. Important contributions to the diet from edible wild plants are well documented and numerous studies reveal roles played by`lesser-known' species when meeting macro-and micronutrient needs of groups at risk, whether infants and children, pregnant and/or lactating women, or the elderly. The literature is vast and scattered but information on the macroand micronutrient content of wild plants and their importance to the human diet appear in ®ve kinds of publications: cultural works by social scientists, descriptions and inventories by botanists, dietary assessment studies by nutritionists, intervention programmes managed by epidemiologists and physicians, and composition data generally conducted by food scientists and chemists. Many macro-and micronutrient-dense wild species deserve greater attention but lack of adequate nutrient databases, whether by region or nation, limit educational efforts to improve diets in many Third World areas. Limited and uneven compositional data generally re¯ect factors of cost and personal interest in key nutrients. Whilst edible wild plants are regularly deprecated by policy makers and considered to be the`weeds of agriculture', it would be tragic if this led to loss of ability to identify and consume these important available species. Ethnobotany: Macronutrients: Micronutrients: Nutritional anthropology: Wild plantsAs there is a plenty of common and French sorrel; lamb's quarters, and water cresses, growing about camp; and as these vegetables are very conducive to health, and tend to prevent the scurvy and all putrid disorders . . . the General recommends to the soldiers the constant use of them, as they make an agreeable salad, and have the most salutary effect. The regimental of®cer of the day [is] to send to gather them every morning, and have them distributed among the men.'Washington (1777)

The association between food variety and nutrient intake/health status among rural women was tested in two agro-ecological settings in Vietnam. Special emphasis was placed on the significance of wild vegetables 'Rau Dai' in micronutrient supply and on the usefulness of food variety analysis in determining their current role. Data from 7-day food frequency interviews and a nutrition/health survey with 93 and 103 rural women in the Mekong Delta and the Central Highlands, respectively, were used in the analysis. Energy and nutrient intakes in the groups with the highest food variety score (FVS) (high = > or = 21) in the two regions were compared to those with the lowest food variety score (low = < or = 15). The high FVS groups in both regions also had a more diversified diet in terms of food categories. With the exception of low iron and riboflavin intakes in all groups, the high FVS groups had relatively adequate diets. A large variety of vegetables was used and only approximately half of the vegetable species were cultivated. In both regions the high FVS groups used a significantly greater variety of vegetables than the low FVS groups. Wild vegetables contributed significantly to the overall micronutrient intakes, mostly carotene, vitamin C and calcium intakes, but only the contribution to carotene intake was significantly higher in the high FVS group. Overall, we conclude that a food variety analysis is a useful tool in capturing the dietary role of wild vegetables.

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation of Bacillus, Saccharomyces and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) on performance and nutrient digestibility in grower and finisher pigs. In Exp. 1, 80 pigs (32 females and 48 males), 28.7±0.9 kg body weight (BW), were randomly divided into 4 treatment groups balanced for sex and weight (5 pigs per pen, 4 pens per treatment). They were fed one of four diets: a basal grower (20-50 kg BW) and finisher (>50 kg BW) diet without any addition of probiotic or antibiotic (diet C), the basal diet supplemented with Bacillus subtilis H4 (diet B), diet B supplemented with Saccharomyces boulardi Sb (diet BS) and diet BS supplemented with a LAB complex (diet BSL). The LAB complex consisted of Enterococcus faecium 6H2, Lactobacillus acidophilus C3, Pediococcus pentosaceus D7, and Lactobacillus fermentum NC1. In Exp. 2, 16 male pigs, 29.2±0.8 kg BW, were kept in individual pens and divided into 4 groups (4 pigs in each group). All 4 groups were given exactly the same growing-period diets (diet C, B, BS and BSL) as in Exp 1. The total faeces and urine were collected during 5 days (day 20-24) to determine nitrogen retention and total tract digestibility. In the growing period, average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were not affected by diet B and BS (p>0.05), but ADG increased (+5.9%) (p<0.05) and FCR improved (+5.9%) (p<0.05) on diet BSL compared with the control, although ADFI was not different (p>0.05). Digestibility of crude protein and organic matter was higher (p<0.05) in diet BSL and digestibility of crude fibre was higher (p<0.05) in diet BS and BSL than in diet C. Nitrogen retention was not affected by diet (p>0.05). The faecal LAB counts were increased in grower pigs fed diet BSL (p<0.05) and faecal E. coli counts were decreased in pigs fed diets BS and BSL (p<0.05). In the finishing period, no effects of diet were found in ADFI, ADG, FCR, nutrient digestibility, and nitrogen retention (p>0.05). Faecal LAB and E. coli counts in the finisher pigs were not affected by diet (p>0.05). In conclusion, the current study demonstrates that a mixture of bacteria and yeast has the potential to be used as a probiotic dietary supplement in grower pigs.

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