No abstract

Background: Most communities in developing countries rely on traditional medicines for the treatment of diseases. In South Africa, the Limpopo province, within the Lebowakgomo district, uses tuberous roots of Kirkia wilmsii, after infusion in water for the treatment of a wide range of diseases by Sotho communities. Materials and Methods:The main objective of the study was to assess the anti-microbial activity of separated aqueous components of the Kirkia wilmsii tuberous roots. The clear aqueous extracts that were obtained after a 0.45 µm membrane filtration (Millipore Millex-HV Hydrophillic PVDF filter), were then injected into a preparative high performance liquid chromatography instrument in which pure components, as shown by peaks, were collected and evaluated for anti-microbial activity against a range of microorganisms. Results: The eight separated components were obtained, out of which four components showed anti-microbial activity (AMA). The freeze dried components were re-dissolved in deionised water and then evaluated for AMA against Vibrio cholerae, Shigella dysenteriae, Aeromonas hydrophilia, Salmonella typhi Proteus mirabilis, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans and Enterobacter aerogenes.Component one exhibited antimicrobial activity against Shigella dysenteriae, Aeromonas hydrophilia, Salmonella typhi, Proteus mirabilis, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), of 3.445 mg/ml. Component five was only active against Proteus mirabilis with a MIC of 0.08 mg/ml. Component 7, was active against Shigella dysenteriae, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli with a MIC of 0.365 mg/ml against both Shigella dysenteriae and Staphylococcus aureus and 0.091 mg/ml against Escherichia coli. Component 8, was active against Shigella, Aeromonas hydrophilia, Salmonella, Proteus mirabilis, Escherichia coli with a MIC of 155 mg/ml. Conclusion: Only four out of eight aqueous extracts showed AMA against both gram negative and positive bacteria and showed no AMA against Candida albicans, Enterobacter aerogenes and Vibrio cholerae. Therefore the Kirkia wilmsii plant root may be used as a broad spectrum antibiotic.

Malnutrition is a medical condition caused by an unbalanced diet, typically characterised by stunting and wasting in children. Malnutrition causes approximately a third of all deaths in children between 0-59 months mostly in developing countries. In Namibia, 24% of children under the age of 5 years are stunted while 6.2% are wasted. Tylosema esculentum, commonly known as marama bean is an underutilised legume of high nutritious value. Indigenous to Namibia, marama bean seeds have comparably high protein and lipid content. Marama bean is an appealing crop to Namibia in particular due to its low cultivation demands as it grows in sandy soils with minimal water requirements and no need for fertilisers. Ten accessions of marama bean seeds were analysed for their nutritional composition. The results indicate that ash content was found ranging between 2.13% and 3.46%. Minerals analysed were calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc. Their range of concentrations were 750.1-2306.2 mgkg-1 , 53.9-322.4 mgkg-1 , 1764.1-7415.0 mgkg-1 , 4300.8-5267.9 mgkg-1 and 32.2-48.8 mgkg-1 respectively with no significant difference in concentration among the ten accessions. Correlation analysis of the minerals within the accessions showed that the correlations between zinc-magnesium and zinc-phosphorus concentrations were significantly different as compared to the rest of the pairs for all accessions. When analysed, the maximum and minimum amounts of crude fat and carbohydrates were 29.9%-44.1% and 19.4%-39.0% respectively which were found to not have a significant difference. However, the protein analysis determined that there was a significant difference with PMBC2 (mean content 34.6%) being the most significant accession. Therefore, PMBC2 was found to be the most suitable accession for crop development and domestication. This study's main contribution with respect to the domestication of marama bean was the identification of the most superior accession based on nutritional composition.