scholarly journals Amino Acids and Minerals in a Tropical Nut, Hyphaene coriacea (The Turkana Doum Palm)

Author(s):  
Michael Lokuruka ◽  

The Turkana doum palm is an important indigenous plant from an economic standpoint in the Turkana District of Kenya. The various parts of the tree are used for a variety of social, cultural and domestic uses with the nut being an important indigenous wild fruit. However, despite the central place it occupies in the diets of those living along the banks of the major rivers, its nutritional profile is lacking in literature. This study was therefore conducted to document its nutritive composition. In this regard, the protein content of ngapocho and lookot, and the nonessential and essential amino acids in ngapocho were determined. Al so, six minerals were determined in the mesocarp products (apinet and ngapocho) of the nut of the Turkana doum palm, Hyphaene coriacea . The results showed that ngapocho and lookot contained 1.8 and 4.7% protein, respectively. The mesocarp of the nut contains substantial amounts of both the nonessential and essential amino acids and has a chemical score of 66. Threonine is the limiting amino acid. Unlike most plant foods, the nut is an excellent source of the sulphur amino acids methio nine and cystine; it is a good source of isoleucine, leucine, histidine, phenylalanine and tyrosine, and a fair source of tryptophan, lysine, valine and threonine. Ngapocho/lookot contained 17.0/17.4 mg Ca, 4.8/4.2 mg Mg, 0.2/0.2 mg K, 0.5/0.1 mg Na, 13.9/29.8 mg Fe, and 3.4/4.3 mg Zn/100 g. The nut of the Turkana doum palm is quantitatively an excellent dietary source of iron, a good source of zinc, but is a poor source of calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium. The addition of bovine blood to apinet to make lookot raises the protein, iron and zinc content by more than 160, 100 and 25%, respectively, thus enhancing the nutritional quality of the lookot. Knowledge of the nutrient composition of indigenous food plants such as the Turkana doum palm is important for the purpose of educating the public on the nutritional value of indigenous food plants available in their immediate environments and for conservation efforts.

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Ivan Carvalho ◽  
José Antonio Gonzalez da Silva ◽  
Murilo Vieira Loro ◽  
Marlon Vinícius Rosa Sarturi ◽  
Danieli Jacoboski Hutra ◽  
...  

The increase in the world population, the need to increase food production, both in quantity and quality, becomes increasingly prominent. The objective of this work was to identify the canonical correlations between yield components, morphological characters, micronutrients, bioactive compounds and amino acids in corn. The experimental design used was a randomized block containing 11 treatments arranged in three replications. The treatments consisted of 11 Top Crosses hybrid genotypes, these being made through crosses directed between a narrow genetic base tester hybrid for specific combining ability with 11 S5 inbred lines. It is inferred that groups considered yield components, secondary traits, bioactive compounds, micronutrients and amino acids are dependent. Promising characters are identified for the corn breeding for high yields, nutritional and energetic quality of corn grains. The indirect selection of grains with additions in essential amino acids can be directed to plants with superiority in height, mass and width of grains, phenols, flavonoids, soluble solids and zinc content.


1960 ◽  
Vol 38 (11) ◽  
pp. 1229-1234 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Kasting ◽  
A. J. McGinnis

The production of C14O2 by third-instar larvae of the blow fly, Phormia regina Meig., after it was injected with glutamic acid-U-C14, indicates that this substrate was metabolized under these conditions. However, the nutritionally essential amino acids lysine, phenylalanine, valine, isoleucine, leucine, and threonine, isolated from the injected larvae, contained little radioactivity. A low level of radioactivity in arginine, histidine, and methionine suggests that they were slowly synthesized. The nutritionally non-essential amino acids alanine, serine, aspartic acid, and proline contained large quantities of radioactivity; tyrosine and glycine were exceptions. These results, in agreement with earlier work that used glucose-U-C14, show that radioactivity data are useful for determining certain of the nutritionally essential amino acids.


2010 ◽  
Vol 56 (No. 12) ◽  
pp. 574-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Lošák ◽  
J. Hlušek ◽  
R. Filipčík ◽  
L. Pospíšilová ◽  
J. Maňásek ◽  
...  

In two-year field experiments, nitrogen (N) in the form of urea (0, 120 and 240 kg N/ha) was applied to grain maize (Zea mays L.) hybrid KWS 2376. The two-year mean content of total grain N at harvest was 1.54%. The highest N dose reduced most of the 17 amino acids (AA) analysed in the grain compared with the other treatments. Possible reasons for this could be an adverse effect on the tricarboxylic acid cycle or deficiency of carbon skeletons for the assimilation of NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup> into amides and amino acids. The content of the limiting amino acid lysine was not influenced by N fertilisation, with a mean two-year content of 2.02 mg/g DM. Taking into account the differences in fertilisation, the effect of the year was seen in the maximal accumulation of amino acids serine, proline, methionine, threonine, arginine and lysine. Increasing rates of nitrogen reduced the accumulation of asparagine and glycine, and, on the contrary, increased the accumulation of tyrosine. Nitrogen rates have a significant effect on the maximal accumulation of valine, isoleucine, leucine, phenylalanine, histidine, cysteine and alanine and appeared as early as after the first increased rate of nitrogen (120 kg N/ha).


1970 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 723 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Leibholz

Crossbred wethers were given a control diet (8 g nitrogen, 730 g dry matter daily) or a low nitrogen diet (0.5 g nitrogen, 520 g dry matter daily) or starved, for a 12 or 20 day experimental period. The concentrations of free serine, glutamine, glycine, alanine, histidine, and arginine in the plasma of the starved sheep decreased significantly while the concentrations of lysine, 3-methylhistidine, and isoleucine increased significantly. The ratio of essential to non-essential amino acids increased from 0.35 to 0.56 in the starved sheep. In sheep on the low nitrogen diet, the ratio of essential to non-essential amino acids in the plasma decreased from 0.40 to 0.27, with significant increases in the concentrations of glutanlic acid, glutamine, glycine, isoleucine, leucine, and 3-methylhistidine. Starvation and the low nitrogen diet both resulted in a reduction of the plasma urea concentrations. Starvation and the low nitrogen diet resulted in a 20-50 % reduction in the flow of saliva and a 40-78% increase in the concentration of total nitrogen. This resulted in no significant change in the daily secretion of nitrogen in the saliva. The concentration of urea in the saliva was increased by 3-54%. The concentrations of individual free amino acids in saliva are reported. The nitrogen content of the rumen was reduced, and after 7 days of starvation or on the low nitrogen diet all rumen nitrogen could be attributed to ammonia and free �-amino nitrogen.


Insects ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Christine Venjakob ◽  
Sara Leonhardt ◽  
Alexandra-Maria Klein

Nectar is crucial to maintain plant-pollinator mutualism. Nectar quality (nutritional composition) can vary strongly between individuals of the same plant species. The factors driving such inter-individual variation have however not been investigated closer. We investigated nectar quality of field scabious, Knautia arvensis in different grassland plant communities varying in species composition and richness to assess whether nectar quality can be affected by the surrounding plant community. We analyzed (with high performance liquid chromatography) the content of carbohydrates, overall amino acids, and essential amino acids. Amino acid and carbohydrate concentrations and proportions varied among plant individuals and with the surrounding plant community but were not related to the surrounding plant species richness. Total and individual carbohydrate concentrations were lowest, while proportions of the essential amino acids, valine, isoleucine, leucine (all phagostimulatory), and lysine were highest in plant species communities of the highest diversity. Our results show that K. arvensis nectar chemistry varies with the composition of the surrounding plant community, which may alter the taste and nutritional value and thus affect the plant’s visitor spectrum and visitation rate. However, the strong inter-individual variation in nectar quality requires additional studies (e.g., in semi-field studies) to disentangle different biotic and abiotic factors contributing to inter-individual nectar chemistry in a plant-community context.


1960 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 1229-1234 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Kasting ◽  
A. J. McGinnis

The production of C14O2 by third-instar larvae of the blow fly, Phormia regina Meig., after it was injected with glutamic acid-U-C14, indicates that this substrate was metabolized under these conditions. However, the nutritionally essential amino acids lysine, phenylalanine, valine, isoleucine, leucine, and threonine, isolated from the injected larvae, contained little radioactivity. A low level of radioactivity in arginine, histidine, and methionine suggests that they were slowly synthesized. The nutritionally non-essential amino acids alanine, serine, aspartic acid, and proline contained large quantities of radioactivity; tyrosine and glycine were exceptions. These results, in agreement with earlier work that used glucose-U-C14, show that radioactivity data are useful for determining certain of the nutritionally essential amino acids.


1964 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip G Ackermann ◽  
Teofil Kheim

Abstract Nineteen amino acids were determined in the plasma of young and older individuals by the chromatographic procedure of Moore, Spackman, and Stein (7,8). Of the essential amino acids, valine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine, phenylalanine, and lysine were found to be lower in older subjects. In all, 11 of the 19 amino acids studied showed lower values in these individuals, indicating some differences in protein metabolism between the elderly and younger adults.


1970 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. G. MILNER

SUMMARY Pieces of rabbit pancreas were incubated in vitro in an incubation medium containing no glucose or 1·5 mg. glucose/ml. In each of these conditions the effect on insulin release of each of the essential amino acids at 5 mm concentration was studied. Leucine was the only essential amino acid that stimulated insulin release to a level which reached statistical significance in an incubation medium containing no glucose. In medium containing 1·5 mg. glucose/ml., arginine, isoleucine, leucine and lysine stimulated insulin release and phenylalanine inhibited insulin release. Glucagon, theophylline or dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate stimulated insulin release significantly in the presence of leucine but not in the presence of arginine. Arginine stimulated insulin release in the presence of leucine. The results of these experiments characterize further the difference in the mechanism of action of leucine and arginine on the pancreatic β-cell and indicate possible explanations for results obtained in other species in vivo.


1949 ◽  
Vol 7c (9) ◽  
pp. 513-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine P. Deas ◽  
H. L. A. Tarr

Fish flesh and certain waste materials were hydrolysed by tryptic enzymes of fish pyloric caeca. Fractionation of the resulting hydrolysates showed that they contained largely peptone, sub-peptone and residual (small peptides and amino acids) nitrogen, and little or no protein or proteose nitrogen. Fish flesh, milts, roes, meal, stickwater and a muscle myosin preparation were extracted to remove the fat, then dried and hydrolysed with acid or alkali. The essential amino acids arginine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, valine, tryptophane and tyrosine were determined in these enzyme-, acid- and alkali-hydrolysed materials by microbiological methods. The results have been summarized.


2012 ◽  
Vol 108 (S2) ◽  
pp. S59-S68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane M. Rutherfurd ◽  
Kiran Bains ◽  
Paul J. Moughan

Cereals and legumes are staple foods in India and are limiting in lysine and sulphur amino acids, respectively. Available lysine loss, due to Maillard-type reactions that may occur during food preparation, exacerbates the problem of lysine deficiency particularly in cereals. Consequently, determining the contents of digestible essential amino acids, particularly lysine, is important. True ileal digestibilities of most amino acids (including total and reactive lysine) were determined for ten food ingredients and eleven foods commonly consumed in India. Semi-synthetic diets each containing either an ingredient or the prepared food as the sole protein source were formulated to contain 100 g kg− 1protein (75 g kg− 1for rice-based diets) and fed to growing rats. Titanium dioxide was included as an indigestible marker. Digesta were collected and the amino acid content (including reactive lysine) of diets and ileal digesta determined. Available (digestible reactive) lysine content ranged from 1·9–15·4 g kg− 1and 1·8–12·7 g kg− 1across the ingredients and prepared foods respectively. True ileal amino acid digestibility varied widely both across ingredients and prepared foods for each amino acid (on average 60–92 %) and across amino acids within each ingredient and prepared food (overall digestibility 31–96 %). Amino acid digestibility was low for many of the ingredients and prepared foods and consequently digestibility must be considered when assessing the protein quality of poorer quality foods. Given commonly encountered daily energy intakes for members of the Indian population, it is estimated that lysine is limiting for adults in many Indian diets.


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