Several authors have published about baobab food products. Data on macronutrients, micronutrients, amino acids, and fatty acids were collected from literature for pulp, leaves, seeds, and kernels of the baobab tree. The results show that baobab pulp is particularly rich in vitamin C; consumption of 40 g covers 84 to more than 100% of the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) of pregnant women (19-30 years). The leaves are particularly rich in calcium (307 to 2640 mg/100 g dw), and they are known to contain good quality proteins with a chemical score of 0.81. The whole seeds and the kernels have a relatively high lipid content, 11.6 to 33.3 g/100 g dw and 18.9 to 34.7 g/100 g dw, respectively. The pulp and leaves exhibit antioxidant properties with a higher activity in the pulp than in the leaves. Reported nutrient contents of different baobab parts show a large variation, which may have arisen from various factors. Three recommendations are given for future research: 1. More attention should be given to accuracy and precision of analytical methods, 2. Research about digestibility and bioavailability of baobab products is needed, 3. The effect of storage and processing on the nutritional value of baobab products needs to be assessed.

Folk Classification, Perception, and Preferences of Baobab Products in West Africa: Consequences for Species Conservation and Improvement. The present study is a component of a baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) domestication research program being undertaken in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Senegal. Surveys conducted on a total of 129 women and 281 men of different ages included questions on perceptions and human/cultural meaning of morphological variation, use forms, preferences (desirable/ undesirable traits), and links between traits. Local people in the four countries use 21 criteria to differentiate baobab individuals in situ. According to them, the easier the bark harvesting, the tastier the pulp and leaves; the slimier the pulp, the less tasty it is; the more closely longitudinally marked the fruit capsules, the tastier the pulp. This study shows that farmers are able to use preferred combinations of traits as a guide in collecting germplasm from trees. This can allow the selection of trees that would be candidates for propagation, and planning for a domestication program based on the indigenous knowledge.

Food fortification is an important nutrition intervention to fight micronutrient deficiencies and to reduce their incidence in many low‐ and middle‐income countries. Food fortification approaches experienced a significant rise in the recent years and have generated a lot of criticism. The present review aimed to shed light on the actual effect of food fortification approaches on the reduction of malnutrition. A set of 100 articles and reports, which have dealt with the impact of food fortification on malnutrition, were included in this review. This review identified a broad selection of local raw materials suitable for a food‐to‐food fortification approach.

This publication is made publicly available in the institutional repository of Wageningen University and Research, under the terms of article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, also known as the Amendment Taverne. This has been done with explicit consent by the author.Article 25fa states that the author of a short scientific work funded either wholly or partially by Dutch public funds is entitled to make that work publicly available for no consideration following a reasonable period of time after the work was first published, provided that clear reference is made to the source of the first publication of the work.This publication is distributed under The Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) 'Article 25fa implementation' project. In this project research outputs of researchers employed by Dutch Universities that comply with the legal requirements of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act are distributed online and free of cost or other barriers in institutional repositories. Research outputs are distributed six months after their first online publication in the original published version and with proper attribution to the source of the original publication.

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Baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) is one of the predominant tree species in West African agroforestry systems. A local morphological classification system is used by farmers, identifying trees with desired or undesired combinations of traits. This study evaluates the genetic significance of these morphotypes by comparing local identification with AFLP marker information. Eight morphotypes were recognized by seven ethnic groups from Benin, Ghana and Senegal, among 182 sampled baobab trees. Five primer pairs were used for DNA fingerprinting, resulting in a total of 254 scored bands, of which between 94.1% and 100% was polymorphic within morphotypes. Generally, genetic fingerprinting did not correlate with the traditional morphological identification of Adansonia digitata. Probably, AFLP markers are not directly linked to the differences in phenotype or the traits used for the traditional classification are largely dependent on environmental factors. Since no genetic differentiation is found between the morphotypes, a morphotype-based approach in the collection of genetic variation for conservation programs is not advisable.

RESUMEBeaucoup de connaissances se perdent en Afrique faute de transmission, ce qui ne favorise pas la conservation des ressources par les populations locales. Il urge donc d'évaluer les connaissances des populations sur l'importance des ressources en vue d'élaborer des stratégies de conservation et de gestion durable. Le but de la présente étude est de documenter les connaissances des populations locales sur la valeur d'usage de Picralima nitida au Sud-Bénin. Pour y parvenir, 240 enquêtés, choisis de façon aléatoire dans 4 groupes socio-culturels au Sud-Bénin à savoir Fon, Goun, Nago et Aïzo ont été interviewés. Les enquêtés étaient soumis à un entretien dans la langue locale. Des paramètres ethnobotaniques ont été calculés. L'analyse en composante principale a été effectuée à partir d'une matrice conçue. Les résultats ont révélé que les populations locales des 4 groupes socio-culturels utilisent les différentes parties de P. nitida pour 21 traitements. P. nitida est assez important pour les populations locales. Les graines sont les organes les plus utilisés suivies des racines, feuilles et écorce. Le groupe socio-culturel Goun a une meilleure connaissance des usages de l'espèce comparé aux Nago, Fon, et Aïzo. Existence de mauvaise transmission horizontale et verticale des connaissances endogènes disponibles sur l'espèce. © 2017 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved.Mots clés : Connaissances endogènes, usage, Picralima nitida, groupe socio-culturel. Ethnobotanic importance and use value of Picralima nitida (stapf) inSouth -Benin (West Africa) ABSTRACT African continent rich in biodiversity loses its resources due to the ignorance of their uses by the local populations. It becomes important to assess the knowledge of populations on the importance of resources to elaborate their conservation strategy and their sustainable management. The purpose of the present study is to document the knowledge of the local populations on the use value of P. nitida in South-Benin. To reach this G. C. AKABASSI et al. / Int. J. Biol. Chem. Sci. 11(5): 1979-1993, 2017 1980 objective, 240 persons were randomly selected among 4 socio-cultural groups in South-Benin namely Fon, Goun, Nago and Aïzo were interviewed. The interview was performed in local language. Ethnobotanic parameters were calculated. A principal component analysis was performed to link socio-cultural groups with ownership, the used part and the species recognition. Results revealed that local populations belonging to the 04 socio-cultural groups use the different parts of P. nitida for 21 treatments. P. nitida is rather important for the local populations. The seeds of the species are the most used organs followed by roots, leaves and bark. The socio-cultural group Goun has a better knowledge of the uses of the species compared with Nago, Fon, and Aïzo. Existence of bad horizontal transmission and vertical line of endogenous knowledge available on the species.