Striga hermonthica is a widely spread root parasitic weed on cereals in Sub Saharan Africa including Sudan. The most important hosts comprise sorghum, millet and sugar cane. Host specificity and existence of two distinct strains on sorghum and millet were previously reported. Reports on a third strain specific to maize are controversial. The present study was undertaken to investigate anatomica...

Stromatal fruiting bodies of Cordyceps cardinalis were successfully produced in cereals. Brown rice, German millet and standard millet produced the longest-length of stromata, followed by Chinese pearl barley, Indian millet, black rice and standard barley. Oatmeal produced the shortest-length of fruiting bodies. Supplementation of pupa and larva to the grains resulted in a slightly enhanced pro...

Small millets are nutrient-rich food sources traditionally grown and consumed by subsistence farmers in Asia and Africa. They include finger millet (Eleusine coracana), foxtail millet (Setaria italica), kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum), proso millet (Panicum miliaceum), barnyard millet (Echinochloa spp.), and little millet (Panicum sumatrense). Local farmers value the small millets for thei...

We report an Ac-like sequence from pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) and deletion derivative Ac-like sequences from pearl millet and another grass species, Bambusa multiplex. Sequence relationships between the pearl millet and maize Ac elements suggest that Ac/Ds transposable-element family is ancient. Further, the sequence identity between the Bambusa Ac-like sequence and maize Ac implies that...

The influence of four cereals namely, flours of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.)Moench) and maize (Zea mays L.)on the growth and development of T. castaneum was investigated at ambient tropical laboratory conditions of 30±3 ̊C and relative humidity of 75±5%. The antinutrients, mineral profile and proximate compositions of the four flour ...

BACKGROUND "False teeth" (Ebiino) and "Millet disease" (Oburo, Tea-tea) have been reported in Uganda and other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. These two perceived diseases are commonly reported in children under-five years of age. Anecdotal and published evidence suggests that these conditions are associated with moderate to severe childhood diseases such as malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea an...

Nutritional insecurity is a major threat to the world's population that is highly dependent on cereals-based diet, deficient in micronutrients. Next to cereals, millets are the primary sources of energy in the semi-arid tropics and drought-prone regions of Asia and Africa. Millets are nutritionally superior as their grains contain high amount of proteins, essential amino acids, minerals, and vi...

Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) belongs to one of the first cultivated plants. Although the crop is traditionally grown, especially in Asia and from European countries through to Russia, nowadays it has become a new alternative crop and a new raw material for food production in many developed countries. Also changes of climatic conditions can support the growth of this drought-resistant pla...

Whole millet adjusted to 15% moisture was gradually heated to 97'C over 12 min by passing through a steam-jacketed paddle conveyer to inactive lipid enzymes. Both processed and unprocessed millet were milled to 50% and 80% extraction flours. The 80% flour contained germ fractions. which resulted in much higher protein. lipid. thiamine. riboflavin. niacin. iron. zinc. available lysine. and prote...

Mycotoxins in food are of growing health importance due to their association with a number of human and animal diseases. In humans, mycotoxins have been associated with neural tube defects, oesophageal and liver cancer. Additionally, mycotoxins affect productivity and trade with in the affected communities. The incidence and extent of mycotoxins in sorghum and millet is not well established. Th...