December 2002
Physiological and molecular insights into drought tolerance
Water is a major limiting factor in world agriculture. In general, most crop plants are highly sensitive to even a mild dehydration stress. There are however, a few genera of plants unique to Southern Africa, called “resurrection plants” which can tolerate extreme water loss or desiccation. We have used Xerophyta viscosa, a representative of the monocotyledonous resurrection plants to isolate...
December 2002
The diagnosis of trypanosome infections: applications of novel technology for reducing disease risk
Reliable DNA based methodologies to determine prevalence of trypanosome species in domestic livestock have been available for over 10 years. Despite this, they are rarely used to generate baseline data for control operations for these diseases in the field. Rather, such operations tend to rely on data which can be generated using low technology methods such as direct observation of parasites...
December 2002
Monoterpenes reduced adducts formation in rats exposed to aflatoxin B1
Perillyl alcohol and d-limonene are naturally occurring plant compounds that exhibited anti-carcinogenic activities in mammary tumor models. The effects of these monoterpenes at the initiation stage of aflatoxin B1-induced hepatocarcinogenesis were investigated. Male F344 rats were fed Control or treatment diets throughout the study and exposed to aflatoxin for 5 days. Three...
December 2002
Estimates of biological nitrogen fixation by Pterocarpus lucens in a semi arid natural forest park in Senegal using 15N natural abundance method
Nitrogen (N2) fixation by Pterocarpus lucens in a natural semi arid ecosystem, in Ferlo, Senegal was estimated using 15N natural abundance (∂15N) procedure. Other non-fixing trees accompanying P. lucens in the same area were also investigated as control. Results showed an important variation of ∂15N in leaves between the nitrogen-fixing tree (P. lucens) and reference plants,...
December 2002
Bio-deterioration of breadfruit (Artocarpus Communis) in storage and its effects on the nutrient composition
The bio-deterioration of breadfruit in storage and its effects on the nutrient composition of the fruit was investigated at Ibadan, Southwestern Nigeria. Freshly dropped fruits were stored under laboratory conditions for a period of 9 days. Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus stolonifer, Botryodiplodia theobromae, Mycovellosiella fulva, Penicillium sp. and Aspergillus flavus, were found associated with...
December 2002
Effect of cold temperature storage on the quality attributes of pawpaw and guava leathers
The effect of cold temperature storage on the quality attributes of pawpaw and guava leathers was evaluated. Pawpaw leather was significantly higher than guava leather in calorific content, water activity, pH and total mould count throughout the duration of storage. However Guava leather was higher in texture. Sensory scores in relation to period of storage showed that Guava leather gave better...
December 2002
Influence of carbon source on the expression of Cochliobolus carbonum xylan-degrading enzyme genes
The expression of four Cochliobolus carbonum endo-1,4-b-xylanase genes (XYL1,XYL2, XYL3, XYL4), and an exo-1,4-b-xylosidase gene (XYP1) was studied following the growth of the fungus in minimal medium containing glucose, sucrose, xylose, xylan, pectin, or cellulose. The XYL1 and XYL2 genes were expressed only when the culture medium contained xylan or...
December 2002
Characterization of potential ethylene-producing rhizosphere bacteria of Striga-infested maize and sorghum
Three rhizosphere bacteria, Pseudomonas sp., Enterobacter sakazakii andKlebsiella oxytoca, were analyzed for genetic variation. DNA fingerprint patterns of the three bacteria were markedly different when amplified with different primers. In total, 68 bands were produced by the three primers, 62 of which where variable. The number of polymorphic RAPD loci per isolate ranged from one to 13....
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