The production innovations have been evolving more and more towards organic, sustainable or environmental friendly systems. Contemporarily, the yield and the quality of crops must be assured. The reduction of fertilisers may be obtained by improving the nutrients uptake or their utilisation by the plants. The aim of our work was to verify if the progressive reduction of nutrient solution concen...

Recent studies have shown that vegetables consumption could lower the risk of diabetes mellitus. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the inhibitory effect of Struchium sparganophora (Ewuro Odo) leaf on key enzyme linked to type-2 diabetes (α-amylase and α-glucosidase) as well as assessing the effect of blanching (a commonly practiced food processing technique) of this leafy vegetable on...

Turnip (Brassica rapa var. rapa L.), beetroot (Beta vulgaris L.) and carrot (Daucus carota L.) are common vegetables in South Africa. The allelopathic potential of aqueous leaf and root extracts of Aloe ferox Mill.a highly valued medicinal plantwas evaluated against seed germination and seedling growth of the three vegetables in Petri dish experiments. The extracts were tested at concentrations...

Extracts from leaf sheaths of farmers' varieties of dye sorghum cultivated and used in Benin as a source of biocolorings were analyzed for their anthocyanidin and phenolic contents, as well as their antioxidant capacity. The aim was to identify and quantify the types of anthocyanin and phenolic acids. The total anthocyanin content of the leaf sheaths ranged from 13.7 to 35.5 mg of cyanidin 3-gl...

BACKGROUND Heavy metals are ubiquitous elsewhere in nature and their measurement in environment is necessary to develop health management strategies. In this study, we aimed to find out concentrations and spatial patterns of heavy metals in main farms of Sanandaj in Kurdistan, Iran. METHODS Over May to October 2012, six farms were selected to analyze concentrations and spatial patterns of sev...

Plasma thiocyanate has been reported to be high among cassava-eating populations such as that in Nigeria because of the cyanide content of cassava. Thiocyanate, which is secreted into the stomach contents of animals, has been demonstrated to catalyse the formation of nitrosamines (potent carcinogens) in the stomach from secondary amines and nitrite. The main source of the nitrite precursor in t...