BACKGROUND In Uganda, the chaff remaining from threshed panicles of millet and sorghum is a low value, lignocellulose-rich agricultural by-product. Currently, it is used as a substrate for the cultivation of edible Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus). The aim of this study was to assess the potential to exploit the residual post-harvest compost for saccharification and fermentation to produc...

Freeze-drying is a well-known dehydration method widely used to preserve microorganisms. In order to produce freeze-dried yeast starter culture for the brewing purpose of African sorghum beer, we tested protective agents (sucrose, glucose, glycerol) in combination with support materials (millet, maize, sorghum, and cassava flours) at 1:1 ratio (v/v). The yeast strains Saccharomyces cerevisiae F...

Foxtail millet (Setariaitalica L.) is a tractable experimental model crop for studying functional genomics of millets and bioenergy grasses. But the limited availability of genomic resources, particularly expressed sequence-based genic markers is significantly impeding its genetic improvement. Considering this, we attempted to develop EST-derived-SSR (eSSR) markers and utilize them in germplasm...

Pearl millet is one of the most important subsistence crops grown in India and sub-Saharan Africa. In many cereal crops, reduced height is a key trait for enhancing yield, and dwarf mutants have been extensively used in breeding to reduce yield loss due to lodging under intense management. In pearl millet, the recessive d2 dwarfing gene has been deployed widely in commercial germplasm grown in ...

Sorghum and millet grains were assessed as single treatments and combined in various proportions to determine their suitability for production of spawns and carpophores of Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq. Ex. Fr) Kummer. The mycelia growth rates on the grains, one of the parameters assessed, were measured from the third to the ninth day of incubation. In addition, for each replicate of the various tr...

Over the past several decades, donors, multilateral organizations and governments have invested substantial resources in developing and disseminating improved varieties of sorghum and millet in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Sorghum and the millets, a group of small-seeded grasses indigenous to SSA, are two of the most important staple foods in this region. Primarily cultivated by smallholder farmer...

The capability to utilize different forms of nitrogen (N) by sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), rice (Oryza sativa), maize (Zea mays), and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) was determined in pot experiments. Seedlings were grown for 21 d without N, or with 500 mg N kg(-1) soil applied as ammonium nitrate, rice bran or a mixture of rice bran and straw. No treatment-dependent changes of root length, surf...

Sorghum and millet are a very important source of food and farm income for smallholder farmers, which can be enhanced especially if linked to new markets. These two crops have been widely viewed as minor traditional crops in the Zambian food systems. The two crops were displaced by maize in the 1900s with the opening of the copper mines. However, they remain important food crops for semi-arid a...

Uganda is dominated by agriculture with over 80 percent of the 24.6 million people involved in subsistence farming. The most important cereals are maize, finger millet and sorghum in that order. Finger millet is the second most important cereal in Uganda after maize and exceeding sorghum both in area and production. It is the staple food for over 50% of the country’s 24.6 million people and inc...

Allelopathic potential of aqueous extracts of lantana (Lantana camara L.) leaf on germination and growth of three agricultural crops: Maize, Finger millet and Tef, commonly cultivated in Ethiopia were studied under laboratory condition. The aqueous extracts were assayed at 5, 10, 25, 50 and 75% and their allelopathic effects were compared with distilled water (control). All the aqueous extracts...