ABSTRACT Fish farming in Kenya is faced with the challenge of high cost of feeds because of the high cost of fish meal, an important protein ingredient incorporated into feeds. Thus, there is the urgent need for cheaper alternative protein sources that have similar or higher protein quality to partially or completely substitute fish meal in feeds. The effects of substituting fresh water shrimps meal (FWSM) with black soldier fly larvae meal (Hermetia illucens – BSFM) or adult cricket meal ...
ABSTRACT Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) is a tropical disease caused by two subspecies of Trypanosoma brucei: T. b. rhodesiense and T. b. gambiense. Melarsoprol, an organic arsenical is the only drug used to treat late stage T. b. rhodesiense infection in spite of its toxic side effects. A mouse model was adapted to study the effects of melarsoprol which was apparently toxic at normal intravenous doses of 3.6mg/kg body weight. Results from this study show that melarsoprol markedly reduc...
ABSTRACT Sorghum is one of the major cereals malted for the brewing of beer. The conditions of transport and storage of this cereal predispose it to contamination by microbes thus affecting the quality of the end products. The contamination is usually controlled by treating the sorghum with chemicals, which however alter the chemical constituents of the sorghum. Therefore, the need to seek alternative functional methods of control of microbial contaminants becomes imperative. This study was ...
ABSTRACT Chemically, the Rutaceae family is probably the most versatile of all higher family of plants. Three main groups of compounds, namely, limonoids, coumarins and quinoline alkaloids have been obtained from this family. The LLtroductory part of this work reviews very briefly the chemistry of each of these groups. In the main work, three plants of the West African genera of the Rutaceae were investigated. The wood of Afraegle paniculata (Schum and Thonn) yielded the furocoumarLD, imJ£er...
ABSTRACT There is an increasing prevalence of lifestyle diseases in developing countries. The rise in these diseases reflects a significant change in dietary habits, physical activity levels and socio-economic status among other lifestyle factors. The study aimed at determining the association between selected risk factors for lifestyle diseases and the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes and hypertension among the Swahili community of Old Town and Kisauni districts in Mombasa County. Old Town ...
ABSTRACT Application of chemicals on weed has been an effective method of weed control. However, this is with problems of persistence and hazardous effects on non-target organisms like arthropods. Common herbicides used in maize fields in Ogbomoso include atrazine, primextra, Lasso/atrazine, diuron pendimethalin, and S-metolachlor. Information on S-metolachlor and Pendimethalin persistence under field situations is inadequate. Therefore, persistence of S-metolachlor and Pendimethalin in maiz...
ABSTRACT Malaria is a serious health problem in many African countries. The Anopheles gambiae mosquito, which is the major vector for this disease, has developed resistance against synthetic pyrethroids, which are the main stay of insecticide treated bed nets. The development of insecticide resistance and side effects associated with synthetic pesticides has triggered intense research efforts towards natural products (for vector control) such as essential oils and the nonvolatiles because o...
ABSTRACT The milk marketed in Kenya has been reported to be of poor quality and does not meet national and international standards due to high bacterial load, high somatic cell count, adulteration and antibiotic residues. The study investigates the raw milk quality, adherence to hygienic code of practice and identifies the critical control points for improved raw milk quality in the smallholder supply chain. Compliance to hygienic code of practice was assessed using questionnaires. The facto...
Abstract The development of antibiotic-resistant pathogens due to the indiscriminate use of antibiotics has led to advocacy for the use of natural products in the treatment of fish diseases. The antimicrobial activity of methanolic and ethanolic extracts of walnut leaves and onion bulbs were evaluated against six pathogenic bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphyloccocus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Escherichia coli, Samonella typhi) using the cup – plate method. Min...
ABSTRACT Software reliability is defined as the probability of failure free operation of a software in a specified environment during a specified period. Software reliability has been the focus of several researches over the last four decades. One of the earliest software reliability models is the exponential nonhomogeneous Poisson process developed by Goel and Okumoto in 1979. Most research works have considered fitting different software reliability models to different software reliability...
ABSTRACT The thermodynamics of the azide binding reactions of the hybrids of human and canine hemoglobin as well as the isolated a and ß polypeptide chains of human and canine hemoglobin have been studied at various pH's and temperatures. Plots of -AH° against pH, for all the species, show a distinct maximum. The pH at which the maximum value of -M° occurs is termed the 'characteristic pH' (pH From the results, it is concluded that the value of pH , for the hemoglobin tetramer is an avera...
Abstract The hatchability of Schistosoma mansoni eggs exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation and the activity of die hatched miracidia were examined. Hatchability decreased with die increasing exposure to irradiation. The difference in hatchability of eggs irradiated for 15 and 30 minutes were highly significant (P < 0.01. da = 3.07 and 3.24) compared with hatchability of the non-irradiated eggs. The mean motility rates of the hatched m iracidia were found to be radiation dose-dependent. There...
Abstract The postharvest losses in fruits and vegetables in developing countries vary between 15-90%. Many organizations are actively promoting the processing of fruits and vegetables to find a solution to the difficulties encountered in storing large quantities of fresh produce without incurring heavy losses. This study evaluated the chemical, microbiological and sensory properties of leather blends produced from 'Ogbomoso' mango and carrot. Purees of mango (Mangifera indica 'Ogbomoso') and...
ABSTRACT The Russian wheat aphid (RWA) Diuraphis noxia (Kurdjumov) is a serious pest of wheat in Kenya. Development and use of RWA resistant wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties, has been constrained by variations in the resident RWA populations and evolution of virulent biotypes. To fully exploit host plant resistance (HPR) in management of RWA, resident populations of RWA were evaluated for biotypes in order to develop and deploy cultivars that exhibit cross biotype resistance. Three exp...
ABSTRACT Malaria is a global disease prevalent in the tropics caused by Plasmodium species. It affects 300-500 million people and kills 1.5-2.7 million people annually. To date, a large number of herbal remedies are used to treat malaria and manage related fever; nevertheless, in most of these cases of plant therapies, efficacies have not been proven nor have their active components been identified. Most malaria episodes are accompanied by clinical complications attributable to radical oxyge...