The nutritional benefits of grain legumes such as cowpea and soybean in sub-Saharan Africa have not been fully utilized to alleviate problem of protein-malnutrition in this region. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the nutritional properties and sensory evaluation of snack food made from high-quality cassava flour (HQCF) and soybeans (50:50), and HQCF and cowpea (50:50). Sensory evaluati...

Three sisters with cassava poisoning are described. A review of the toxic properties of cassava is presented together with discussion on the methods of its preparation, its adverse effects on man, its detoxification in the body, and the treatment of its poisoning.

The crystal structures of hydroxynitrile lyase from Manihot esculenta (MeHNL) complexed with the native substrate acetone and substrate analogue chloroacetone have been determined and refined at 2.2 A resolution. The substrates are positioned in the active site by hydrogen-bond interactions of the carbonyl O atom with Thr11 OG, Ser80 OG and, to a lesser extent, Cys81 SG. These studies support a...

Among the pests of cassava, the shoot fly, Neosilba perezi (Romero & Ruppell), is one of the most prevalent. It attacks mainly the terminal shoots and causes infested plants to produce lateral shoots. Reports on this species are rare or inexistent; thus, the purpose of this study was to assess three different areas for N. perezi infestation. The survey began in March 2008 and finished in Februa...

Genetic variation at five microsatellite loci was used to investigate the evolutionary and geographical origins of cassava (Manihot esculenta subsp. esculenta) and the population structure of cassava's wild relatives. Two hundred and twelve individuals were sampled, representing 20 crop accessions, 27 populations of cassava's closest wild relative (M. esculenta subsp. flabellifolia), and six po...

Applications of carbon-TiO2 materials have attracted attention in nanotechnology due to their synergic effects. We report the immobilization of TiO2 on carbon prepared from residues of the plant Manihot, commercial TiO2 and glycerol. The objective was to obtain a moderate loading of the anatase phase by preserving the carbonaceous external surface and micropores of the composite. Two preparatio...

13 Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz), a key carbohydrate dietary source for millions of people in 14 Africa, faces severe yield loses due to two viral diseases: cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) 15 and cassava mosaic disease (CMD). The completion of the cassava genome sequence and the 16 whole genome marker profiling of clones from African breeding programs 17 (www.nextgencassava.org) provid...

Apomixis means production seed without fertilization. It perpetuates genotypes adapted to a certain environment. Genes of apomixis were detected in wild cassava and transferred to the cultivate by the senior author. A new species of Manihot species has evolved in our Living collection, at the Universidade de Brasília. Multiembryonic sacs were noted in its ovules. It bred true for four generatio...

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is an important staple food in sub-Saharan Africa. Breeding experiments were conducted at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in cassava to select elite parents. Taking into account the heterogeneity in the field while evaluating these trials can increase the accuracy in estimation of breeding values. We used an exploratory approach using the p...