The effects of incorporation of Moringa leaf fibre (a by-product of leaf processing which contains 24% Crude Fibre by dry weight at 0, 5 and 10 % substitution of wheat flour in cookies was investigated. Three products containing wheat flour: Moringa leaf fibre ratios of 100:0, 95:5, and 90:10 respectively were prepared, and a commercial cookie was used as a standard. Proximate composition of each of the products was determined and sensory evaluation of the cookies was performed on a 7-point hedonic scale (with the standard commercial cookie as control) using a 20man sensory panel. There was no significant (P< 0.05) difference in the dry matter content of the four samples. The 10% Moringa leaf fibre cookie blend had the highest moisture, fat and crude fibre content (0.57 % CF, relative to 0.44 and 0.54% CF observed in the 0:100 and 5:95 recipes respectively), while the commercial cookie had the lowest values for these parameters (0.36% CF) but with highest value for protein. The 100% wheat flour cookie ranked best in sensory evaluation, followed by the 5% fibre substituted cookie. All the cookies were acceptable; scoring above 4 on the 7-point hedonic scale. Addition of moringa leaf waste up to 10 % in cookies is feasible, though better at 5%. Cookies with Moringa leaf by-product have the advantage of being good sources of some of the daily requirements of dietary fibre.

Background and Objective: Vachellia karroo is widely used in folk medicine in the Eastern Cape Province South Africa, however, the pods are usually discarded as waste. This study evaluated the toxicity of acetone, hexane, aqueous and methanol extracts of Vachellia karroo pods using brine shrimp model. Materials and Methods: Different concentrations (0.0625-1 mg/mL) of the extracts were used to incubate the cysts and nauplii of brine shrimp (Artemia salina) to evaluate their effects on the hatching of the cyst and mortality of the nauplii respectively. The percentage of hatched cysts and Lethal Concentration (LC 50 ) needed to kill 50% of the nauplii were recorded. Results: Successful hatching of the cysts was in order: Aqueous extract> methanol extract> hexane extract> acetone extract. The hatching of nauplii was in a concentration dependent fashion, with hatching success decreasing with increase in concentration of extracts. Conclusion: Lethality of extracts determined based on Meyers' index of toxicity, revealed that acetone and hexane extracts of V. karroo were moderately toxic.

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