Background: Studies on the nutritional and mineral compositions of staple foods will provide evidence to regulate intake of certain common foods for optimal health condition. Aim: To estimate the proximate, mineral and starch characteristics of five local varieties, D. purpurea, D. atropurpurea, D. liliopsida (purple yam), D. vilgaris, and D. villosa of Dioscorea alata grown in Izzi Area of Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Methodology: Five (5) commonly cultivated varieties of D. alata were sampled, each variety in triplicates, and prepared for analysis by peeling, dicing, drying and milling into flour. The proximate, nutritional and starch characteristics were determined by standard methods. Minerals were quantified by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometric Method.

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The Choice of rice varieties by farmers and consumers and the rate at which farmers in Ebonyi state go for new rice varieties at the expense of indigenous varieties have become a source of worry to scientists in Nigeria. We assessed the cooking quality and physico-chemical characteristics of 15 selected indigenous and five newly introduced hybrid rice varieties grown in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Significant variation (P<0.05) was detected among the 20 rice varieties for all the traits evaluated. The results showed that all the five newly introduced hybrid rice varieties do not swell appreciably during cooking. The grains of Cv."China" had the highest elongation values of 3.2 ± 0.00 mm. "E4197" has the best physical appearance but easily dissolves in water during cooking. Most of the physico-chemical characteristic such as amylose, amylopectin, gel consistency and gelatinization temperature were significantly correlated (positively or negatively) with some of the cooking quality traits (elongation during cooking, solids in cooking water and optimum cooking time), indicating that efforts aimed at selecting rice varieties with improved cooking quality traits would warrant a consideration of the physico-chemical attributes of the rice grain. The overall cooking quality and physico-chemical attributes of some of the indigenous rice varieties were even relatively better than the newly introduced hybrid varieties. Farmers should, therefore, be critical in accepting new varieties that may not be comparably outstanding in cooking quality and physico-chemical characteristics, in order to preserve the integrity of the all-cherished indigenous rice varieties of Ebonyi State, Nigeria.

We investigated the chemical nutrient composition of 15 selected indigenous and five of the newly introduced hybrid rice varieties in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The rice cultivars were field-grown, processed, and analyzed for proximate and mineral composition. The results showed that cv. "Canada" had the highest ash content (2.0 %). High percentage carbohydrate was found in all the genotypes (51.5 -86.9 %). Cv."E4212" had the highest crude protein (7.94 %), while "Sipi" had the least (1.58 %). Cv."E4197" had the least energy value of 262.94 J/Kg, while "Canada" had the highest value of 398.82 J/Kg. "Canada" had the highest fat content (3.5 %), while "Sipi" and "Faro14 (I)" both contained the least fat (0.5 %). "China" and "Mass (II)" similarly had the highest percentage of crude fibre (2.5 %), while "E4334", "Faro 25 (II)" and "Mass (I)" all had the least value of 1.0 % for crude fibre. Cv."E4197" had a very high moisture content of 9.6 % as against "E4212" which had the least moisture content of 5.0 %. In relation to mineral content, "Chinyereugo" was highest in calcium (0.13 %), "Faro1(I)" had the highest amount of Magnesium (0.26 %), "E4197" and "E4212" had the highest percentage of phosphorus (0.55 %),"E4197" and "E4212" had the highest concentration of potassium (0.23 %), while "Canada", "Faro15 (II)" and "Chinyereugo" possessed the highest percentage of sodium (0.17 %). One of the newly introduced hybrid varieties "E4212" had relatively higher protein and mineral contents, but less fat content. "Sipi" variety has no special quality attributes over the other existing local rice varieties apart from the fact that it is among the varieties that contain relatively low fat percentage just as "Faro 14". The "Faro" varieties showed good proximate and mineral composition values which consumers would desire. The high premium presently placed on "Mass" varieties is uncalled for, since it has got no special characteristics over most other varieties. Consumers and farmers should therefore be better informed on the choice of rice varieties based on their nutritional quality attributes.

We studied the effects of substitution of Palm kernel cake (PKC), Fishmeal and Soyabean Cake (SBC) with crude extract of Mucuna poggei on the performances of broilers. A total of forty broiler chicks of a day old each were bought and shared into four groups of ten broilers each, allowed to acclimatize for two weeks and then reared for eight weeks. Palm kernel Cake (PKC), Fishmeal and Soyabean Cake (SBC) were given to broilers in groups 1, 2 and 3 respectively with similar quantities of crude extract of Mucuna poggei fresh leaves. The fourth group served as a control and was fed normal feed (Fishmeal and Soyabean Cake). The weekly body weights of the broilers were taken for eight weeks, after which they were slaughtered for the determination of their carcass characteristics, breast meats' drip loss and cook loss. The results showed significant differences (P<0.05) in the weights of the broilers at the end of the experiment. The "control" had the highest mean body weight of 1233.33±76.38g followed by "group 2" with mean body weight of 1150.00±50.00g while "group 3" had the least mean body weight of 950±40.82g followed by "group 1" with mean body weight of 1000.00±40.82g. There was no significant variation (P<0.05) in the cooking losses among the breast meats of the four groups. However, the results showed significant variation (P<0.05) in the drip losses among the breast meats of the broilers. On the whole, the results revealed that the control which had no crude extract of Mucuna poggei fresh leaves performed better than other groups which were given the extract as feed substitute. The crude extract should therefore be given to broilers as feed supplement not as feed substitute for optimal performance.

The chemical nutrient composition and the phytochemical content of the leaves of Mucuna poggei, an underutilized leafy vegetable were analyzed using standard methods. The result of the proximate compositions analysis showed that the leaves contained moisture (8.25%), crude fibre (30.55%), crude fat (9.45%), ash (7.78%), crude protein (32.38%) and carbohydrate (11.55%). Results of the mineral analysis showed that it contains the following essential minerals: Sodium (68.10mg/100g), potassium (43.21mg/100g), calcium ISSN 2157-6076 2012 www.macrothink.org/jbls 233 (71.71mg/100g), iron (10.56mg/100g), manganese (0.65mg/100g), copper (0.47mg/100g), magnesium (56.05mg/100g), zinc (0.25mg/100g), phosphorus (5.72mg/100g), lead (0.01mg/100g), cobalt (nil) and cadmium (nil). The high protein and fibre contents as well as other proximate components are a desirable attribute. The concentration of iron shows that Mucuna poggei leaves could help in boosting of blood level in anaemic conditions. The phytochemical screening of the leaves revealed the presence of alkaloids, tannins, carbohydrates, terpenoids, balsams and triterpenoids. These results rank the leaves of Mucuna poggei among the best in terms of essential nutrients composition when compared with those of other edible leaves in literature. Journal of Biology and Life Science

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The Choice of rice varieties by farmers and the rate at which farmers in Ebonyi state go for new rice varieties at the expense of indigenous varieties have become a source of worry to scientists. We assessed the agronomic characteristics of 15 selected indigenous and newly introduced hybrid rice varieties in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The Rice cultivars were grown under the same conditions and screened for morpho-agronomic traits. Significant variation (P<0.05) was detected among the 20 rice varieties for all the traits evaluated. The results showed that plant height ranged between 144.01 cm in "Mass (I)" and 76.00 cm in "Chinyeugo". Cv. "E4197" had the highest value of 38±0.02 cm for panicle length and "Chinyereugo" had the highest value of 6.3g ± 0.03 for panicle weight. Leaf area showed the highest value of 63.8cm 2 ± 0.01 in "Mass (I)". Flowering time ranged from 138 ± 0.1days in "Mass (I)" to 68 ± 0.04 days in "Chinyereugo" while "Mass (II)" and "E4077" took the shortest period of 14 days after flowering to mature. Cv. "Co-operative" had high number of seeds per panicle (139 ± 0.19). "Chinyereugo" had the highest value of 25.9g ±1.4 for 1000-grains weight. The grain of "E4314" was the longest (8.00 mm ± 0.89) of the varieties studied. The grains of "Awilo" had a grain width of 2.62mm ± 0.04, while "E4197" had the highest value for grain width of 4.1 mm. Farmers should, therefore, be critical in accepting new varieties that may not be comparably outstanding in a holistic sense, in order to preserve the integrity of the all-cherished indigenous rice varieties .