Proximate Composition, Mineral Content and Secondary Metabolites of Three Medicinal Wild Fagonia Species

Proximate composition of the aerial parts of three Fagonia species (Fagonia arabica L., F. mollis Delile and F. cretica L.) collected from different habitats were analyzed. Macro- and micro-elements as well as some secondary metabolites were estimated. The obtained results revealed that F. creticus contains appreciable levels of nutritive components considering that its nutritional value (351.06 kcal/100g dry wt.) was remarkably higher than that of F. arabica and F. mollis (327.99 and 293.07 kcal/100g dry wt., respectively). The concentration of Na was relatively the highest among the other estimated macroelements in the studied species followed by K, Ca and Mg, respectively while Fe was the highest microelement followed by Cu, Mn and Zn, respectively. The phytochemical composition revealed that methanolic extract of F. creticus was the richest in total alkaloids and flavonoids, while F. arabica found to be the richest in total phenolics and tannins.

COATING OF GUAVA (PSIDIUM GUAJAVA L.) FRUITS WITH BOTANICAL EDIBLE OILS FOR SHELF LIFE AND FRUIT FLIES

Guava (Psidium guajava L.) fruit is a popular nutritious dessert in Sudan. It is famous for its medicinal values as a prompt cure for digestive disorders and respiratory ailness this besides being a rich source of C vitamin. This fruit is highly amenable to fruit fly attack and it is a harbor of eggs of five different species [Ceratitis capitata Wied.; Ceratitis quinaria Bez.; Ceratitis cosyra Wlk.; Bactrocera invadens De Trusta and White and Bactrocera zonata (Saunders)] in Sudan. This is stimulating to a chain of endless research to combat these notorious pests which account for huge losses in this crop that reach up to 80% or even more. This research aimed at evaluating the effect of oil coating on fruit fly infestation and the quality indexes in guava fruit using five different botanical edible oils. The results showed that groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) (GNO), sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) (SO), baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) (BO), olive (Olea europaea L.) (OO) and neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) (NO) oils effected a corrected disinfestation of 80, 72, 56, 52 and 28% in test fruits brought from Kadaro orchards North Khartoum, respectively. The corresponding average readings of maggots in infested fruits were 4, 17, 11, 5, 7 and [10 (for the first 4) and 26 for NO] in the control. Two essential quality indexes were checked in test fruits which included fruit color (FC) and firmness (FF). The corrected test readings reflected 64, 80, 44, 52,-4 and [8 (for the first 4) and 20 for NO] in the control sustained FC for GNO, SO, BO, OO, NO and the control, respectively. However, the corresponding readings for FF were 3 (medium) for all oils and 4 (soft) for the controls. These results reflect a potent and the best efficacy of peanut and sesame oils, of the five test oils, in controlling fruit flies in guava and extending its shelf life.

UTILIZATION OF FOUR SUDANESE WILD FRUITS TO PRODUCE NECTARS

Doum (Hyphaene thebaica L), kirkir (Randia geipaeflora), karmadoda (Naucleae latifolia) and godeim (Grewia tenax) are some of the indigenous fruits in Sudan. The aim of this investigation is to process nectars from the edible part of these fruits. Doum and kirkir fruits were soaked in water in variable ratios for different durations of time to obtain the highest total soluble solids, total solids and total extractable matter. The pulps of karmadoda and godeim fruits were obtained mechanically by adding water, blanching and pulping with pulper machine. Results showed that soaking of doum and kirkir fruits at ratios 1: 4/2 h and 1: 4/8 h, respectively, were the most appropriate methods for extraction. The total solids (TS) obtained were 10.61 and 10.32 %, total soluble solids (TSS) 10.50 and 9.50%, and the total extractable matters (TEM) were 26.06 and 23.69%, respectively. However, blanching karmadoda fruit in water at a ratio of 1: 2/10 min gave total solids of 5.63% and total soluble solids of 5.00%. The nectars made were subjected to organoleptic evaluation. The results suggested that processing of nectars from forest fruits by direct extraction gave excellent sensory characteristics for human consumption.

Phenolic Content and Antimicrobial activities of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Fruits and Leaves

<p>This study aimed to investigate total phenolic content (TPC) and antibacterial activities of different extracts recovered from Date Palm fruit and leaves using various solvents, including methanol, ethanol and water. The results showed that the highest phenolic content was found in Leaf Methanol extract, followed by Leaf Ethanol extract, and then followed by Seed Methanol extract (74.4 mg/g, 67.3 mg/g, and 64.7 mg/g respectively). Whereas, the date methanol extract had the lowest phenolic content (5 mg/g). The study was also scrutinized to find the antibacterial inhibitory property in the leaves and fruits of date palm against four bacterial species (<em>E.coli</em>, <em>Staphylococcus aureus</em>, <em>Bacillus subtilis</em>, and <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</em>) by using the well diffusion method and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Date leaves extracts showed inhibitory effect on the growth of <em>Staphylococcus aureu</em>s and <em>Bacillus subtilis</em> and resistance to <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</em> and <em>E.coli</em>. MIC of methanol and ethanol (70%) leaves extract were 100 mg/ml and 250mg/ml for <em>S. aureus</em> and <em>B. subtilis</em> respectively, however, all the bacteria have resistance to date fruits extracts.</p>

Aflatoxins in roasted peanut in Khartoum a hidden and notorious risk to children

Aflatoxins are secondary metabolites of about twenty species of the genus Aspergillus. The most important of these species is Aspergillus flavus which was reported for the first time and referred as responsible for the X – turkey disease in 1960 in Great Britain which later on named aflatoxicosis. These toxins pose a limitless risk to man and his domestics by causing a number of diseases and carcinomas. However, since the production of these toxins is rather inevitable accordingly an interdisciplinary management is the answer for managing them. The management of these toxins includes preharvest and postharvest measures such as good agricultural practices (GAP), check of imports, exports, food and feed stuffs, specifying tolerable and action limits and curing by suitable methods.This experiment aimed at having a rapid check for the total aflatoxins in roasted peanut in samples (five groups and 25 in total) collected from the three main cities of the triangular capital Khartoum (Khartoum proper, Khartoum North and Omdurman).Rapid check of aflatoxins has a lot of merits and edge over the other laboratory methods. Twenty five samples of roasted peanut were checked using Aflacheck® test kids (the method used enabled checking 10 ppb total aflatoxins in test samples). Readings revealed that the contamination percentage was 60% for each of the sample groups collected from the two sites in Khartoum proper and 100% for the sample groups collected from two sites in Khartoum north and Omdurman, separately. Statistical analysis showed a significant difference in contamination (at 5% confidence level) between the results from Khartoum proper from one side and the samples collected from Khartoum North and Omdurman areas in the other side. However, the overall contamination percentage was 84%.These results,collectively, are alarming (0 tolerance) fora deadly health risk of this roasted peanut contaminated with aflatoxins to consumers of who the majority are children.

Nutritional profiling and value addition of products from Hypsizygus tessellatus

<p class="Default"><em>Hypsizygus tessellatus</em> is a popular wild edible culinary mushroom commonly cultivated in Japan, East Asia and North Europe. It is rich in micro nutrients and has great anti-tumorous, anti-cancerous rich polysaccharide fractions i.e. β-glucan, thus making it a good source of nutraceuticals. The present study was undertaken to investigate the nutritional as well as medicinal profile of this mushroom. Freeze dried and hot air dried samples were taken for the analysis. HPLC-RID investigations were carried out to estimate the content of β-glucan. The results revealed that it contains high proportions of protein (33.89g/100g), fiber (13.20g/100g), carbohydrates (50.10g/100g), potassium (1575mg/100g), calcium (98mg/100g) and phosphorus (568mg100g). The fat content was found to be 2.80gm/100g. Iron (18mg/100g) and zinc (5mg/100g) were present in trace amounts. Freeze dried fruit bodies showed better results than hot air dried samples pertaining to all nutritional and nutraceutical parameters. Value added products i.e. biscuits and salted crackers were made by incorporating 5 and 10% mushroom powder in refined wheat flour and their proximate, organoleptic and bioactive constituents were analyzed. Sensory evaluation based on hedonic scale resulted in high sensory ratings of all the products. The present study suggested that incorporation of 5% mushroom powder in salted crackers (<em>Mathri)</em> and 10% in biscuits not only increased concentration of protein, dietary fiber and β-glucan but also improved its flavor, texture and acceptability.</p><p class="Default"><strong>Keywords: </strong><em>Hypsizygus tesellatus</em>; lyophilization; hot air drying; salted cracker; biscuits; β-glucan</p>

Induced mutagenic effectiveness and efficiency studies on Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp).

<p>The present investigation was carried out to study mutagenic effectiveness and efficiency of gamma rays and EMS treatments in Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp) Var CO-7. The relative effectiveness and efficiency of the both mutagen used was assessed from the data on biological damage in M1 generation and frequency of chlorophyll and viable mutants in M2 generation. The spectrum of chlorophyll mutants such as xantha, albino, chlorina and viridis, viable mutants like tall, dwarf, early flower, early maturity, late maturity, bushy, high yield and seed mutants were observed in both the mutagenic treatments. Among the chlorophyll mutants xantha was found more in number. The mutagenic effectiveness and efficiency were found to be higher at 20KR of gamma irradiation and 25mM of EMS. The mutation rate of gamma rays was higher in terms of effectiveness than that of EMS. More number of chlorophyll and viable mutants was induced in gamma rays treatment when compared EMS treatment.</p>

An Epidemiological Study of Sheep and Goat pox Outbreaks in the Sudan

Sheep and goat pox Outbreaks occurred in different geographic areas of Sudan and most strikingly, were highly species specific. Two outbreaks in Gedarif State in June. 2013 affected no goats and outbreak in Khartoum state in March. 2015 affected no sheep despite communal herding; affected goats were vaccinated with 0240 strain. Clinically, the disease was characterized by fever, depression and eruption of generalized pox lesions. Mortality rate ranged between 5.2 and 6.7% with a mean of 6.1%. Isolation of viruses succeed on Lamb testes cell culture at passage four, the diseases were diagnosed using virus neutralisation test and polymerase chain reaction. Sheeppox and goatpox isolates grew well in lamb testes and Vero cells. In MDBK however, both viruses induced slight CPE that reached 60% in 9 days. On the other hand, both isolates induced no CPE in chick embryo fibroblast cells. Virus isolation attempts failed on chorioallantoic membrane of embryonated chicken eggs.

Development of Ketchup from Sudanese Red karkade (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) byproduct

The aim of this study is to use of karkede (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) byproduct as raw material to make ketchup instead of tomato. Ketchup is making of various pulps, but the best type made from tomatoes. Roselle having adequate amounts of macro and micro elements, and it is rich in source of anthocyanine. The ketchup made from pulped of waste of soaked karkede, and homogenized with starch, salt, sugar, ginger (Zingiber officinale), kusbara (Coriandrum sativum) and gum Arabic. Then processed and filled in glass bottles and stored at two different temperatures, ambient and refrigeration. The total solids, total soluble solids, pH, ash, total titratable acidity and vitamin C of ketchup were determined. As well as, total sugars, reducing sugars, colour density, and sodium chloride percentage were evaluated. The sensory quality of developed product was determined immediately and after processing, which included colour, taste, odour, consistency and overall acceptability. The suitability during storage included microbial growth, physico-chemical properties and sensory quality. The karkede ketchup was found free of contaminants throughout storage period at both storage temperatures. Physico-chemical properties were found to be significantly differences at p?0.05 level during storage. There were no differences between karkade ketchup and market tomato ketchup concerning odour, taste, odour, consistency and overall acceptability. These results are encouraging for use of roselle cycle as a raw material to make acceptable karkade ketchup.