Food shortage in Zimbabwe: Can wild cereal grains be an alternative source of nutrition?
Journal Title: JOURNAL OF ADVANCES IN CHEMISTRY - Year 2014, Vol 7, Issue 2
Abstract
Cereals are used as staple food in most countries all over the world including Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, poor rainfall patterns have hampered the production of traditional cereals like maize and wheat leading to poverty especially in third world countries. Five wild cereal grains namely; Amaranthus hybridus, Brachiaria brizantha, Panicum maximum, Rottiboellea cochinchinensis and Sorghum arundinaceum were studied to determine their nutritional value because of their drought tolerance. Two domesticated cereals were used for comparison. The macro nutrients determined were proteins, carbohydrates, fats and minerals. Amaranthus hybridus, a wild cereal, had the highest protein and fat content of 21.44% and 11.50% respectively, compared to all the other cereal grains. Brachiaria brizantha had the highest fibre content of 30.34% while the red variety of Sorghum bicolor had the least fibre content of 2.51%. Phosphorus was detected in all the cereal grains studied. Calcium was detected in all the cereal grains except in red variety of Sorghum bicolor. The nutritional composition of the cereal grains makes them potential alternative food sources.
Authors and Affiliations
K. Chitindingu, M. A. N Benhura, M. Muchuweti
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP652624
- DOI 10.24297/jac.v7i2.2358
- Views 202
- Downloads 0
Kinetic Study of Aluminum Sulphate and Ammonium Aluminum Sulphate Coagulants in Wastewater Treatment
An investigation into the kinetics of two inorganic coagulant namely: aluminum sulphate octadecahydrate (Al2(SO4)3.18H2O) an ammonium aluminum sulphate dodecahydrate (NH4Al(SO4)2.12H2O) was studied to determine the effec...
STRUCTURAL BEHAVIOR OF HYBRID FIBER REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAM USING STEEL AND POLYVINYL ALCOHOL FIBER
      Fiber reinforcement is commonly used to provide toughness and ductility to cementitious matrix which is brittle in nature. Reinforcement of concrete with a single type of fiber may improve the desired pr...
Synthesis of Spirooxoindole Derivatives
This review summarizes the methods for preparing spirocyclic oxoindole derivatives in the past years until 2012 which are divided into several groups according to ring size of the fused spiroindoles.
BANDGAP ANALYSIS OF NANO CRYSTALLINE L0.1ZY0.9BCCO CERAMICS
Crystalline Ceramic Lanthanum Zirconium Yttrium barium Calcium Copper oxide(L0.1ZY0.9BCCO)Â was prepared by a high-energy ball milling process through mechanically assisted synthesis at a high temperature to acquire the...
STABILITY-INDICATING METHODS FOR THE DERTERMINATION OF GEMIFLOXACIN IN PRESENCE OF ITS ACID DEGRADATION PRODUCT(S)
Brilliant, valid and simple five UV spectrophotometric stability indicating techniques are adopted for the determination of Gemifloxacin (GEM) in presence of its acid degradation products over a concentration range of 2-...