Thread blight caused by Corticium koleroga is a devastating disease that causes severe damage to Coffea arabica in Ethiopia. However, it is one of the least researched diseases in Ethiopia. Therefore, the current work was designed with the objectives to (1) assess the intensity of the disease, (2) identify major factors associated with the disease intensity, (3) identify and characterize C. koleroga isolates and (4) determine the pathogenicity of C. koleroga isolates in southwest Ethiopia. For this purpose, field surveys were conducted on 180 farmers’ fields in 12 districts of southwest Ethiopia during 2017 cropping season. In addition, diseased samples were collected from 11 districts of southwestern Ethiopia during the study. The 11 C. koleroga isolates were characterized using macroscopic and microscopic features. The isolates were cultured on potato dextrose agar and incubated at 25 oC for ten days. The treatments were arranged in a completely randomized design with three replications. The average thread blight incidence varied from 0% to 46% while mean disease severity ranged from 0% to 44%. The thread blight disease incidence and severity were higher at areas representing highland and midland altitudes compared with lowland altitudes. Thread blight severity was positively and strongly associated with rainfall (r = 0.75) and relative humidity (r = 0.85), but the disease severity was negatively and strongly associated with mean temperature (r = -0.79) and shade level (r = -0.50), while it was positively and intermediately correlated to altitude (r = 0.44) and coffee production systems (r = 0.36). The colony color of C. koleroga isolates were from white to floral white, with circular to irregular form and filiform to entire in margin on PDA plates. Growth rate of the isolates varied between 6 and 9 mm/day in diameter. Average basidiospore size ranged from 10 to 13.75 × 3.75 to 5 μ. All isolates were pathogenic to C. arabica with different lesion sizes. The present study revealed the importance of coffee thread blight, identified factors associated with the disease intensity and morphological characteristics of C. koleroga existing in southwestern Ethiopia. Future research should be directed towards surveying more agro-ecologies to have a complete picture on the importance of thread blight disease across the country and molecular characterization of the pathogen to recommend disease management strategies.
There is limited information available describing the clinical and epidemiological features of COVID-19 patients at (HMGH) in Qatar, also there is lack of reporting about temporal association of Malnutrition and severity of COVID-19. This study was aimed to describe the relationship between serum albumin levels and certain nutritional parameter with mortality rate for ICU-COVID-19 patients. The study was conducted retrospectively on a group of adult patients, who were admitted to ICU at HMGH, from 01/04/ 2020 to 30/09/ 2020, who’s discharged from the hospital, whether recovered or expired, if they met the following inclusion criteria: ICU patients, ≥ 18 years of age, laboratory confirmed positive of COVID-19. Data of ICU-COVID-19 patients at HMGH will be extracted from electronic medical record (EMR). Total of 1059 patients, among them 78 (7.4%) patients were females and 981(92.6%) of them were males. Comparing with nationality 93(8.78%) patients were Qatari and 966(91.21%) were non-Qatari, 951 (89.8%) was survived & 108 (10.2%) were non survived, furthermore 12 (11.1 %) patients from the non-survived patients were Qatari & 96 (88.9 %) were non-Qatari. In the results it found that 136 (12.8%) of patients had Hyperlipidemia, 75 (7.1%) had obesity, 577 (54.5%) with diabetes, 513 (48.41%) with hypertension, & 129 (12.2%) had chronic lung disease. 581 patients had albumin value below 35 gm/L on admission and 768 had below 35 gm/L before discharge. 478 patients had albumin level above 35 gm/L on admission and 291 patients had above 35 gm/L albumin level before discharge. Among non-survived patients who 108 (100%) of them had low serum albumin levels before death and 80 (74.1%) of them had below 35 gm/L albumin and 28 (25.9%) patients had 35 gm/L and above albumin levels on admission. In Qatar there were adequate implementation of interventions, protections & management to face COVID-19 prevention. Our study concluded that male patients & hypoalbuminemia were significantly risk of mortality associated with COVID-19.
A fortified fermented local meal was produced from pigeon pea and unripe plantain. 50kg of pigeon pea was subjected to solid state method of fermentation for 72 hrs. Samples of meal were produced from fermented pigeon pea and unripe plantain at different ratios and labeled samples A, B and C. Sample A had 10% fermented pigeon pea and 90% unripe plantain flour, sample B had 20% fermented pigeon pea and 80 % unripe plantain flour while sample C had 30% fermented pigeon pea and 70 % unripe plantain flour. The three samples were subjected to microbial and mineral analysis. Lactobacillus plantarum and Saccharomyces cerevisae were isolated from all the samples. The microbial count ranged from 1.2x106 CfU /g to 1.8 x 106 CfU/g which was not significant. There was no significant difference (p≤ 0.05) in the microbial count of the three samples. Mineral analysis revealed that the samples were rich in sodium, potassium, calcium, iron and phosphorus. However, sample C had the highest sodium, potassium, calcium and phosphorus while sample A had the highest iron value. Sample A had the least value of sodium, potassium, calcium and phosphorus. Keywords: Microbial, Mineral, Fermentation, Pigeon Pea and Plantain. DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/111-02 Publication date: October 31 st 2021
Malnutrition is a persistent problem in developing countries, and protein-energy malnutrition is the worst form of malnutrition associated with lack of energy and proteins. Malnutrition at the early stages of life can lower child resistance to infections, increase child morbidity and mortality, and decrease mental and cognitive achievement. Worldwide the most important step in the treatment of protein energy malnutrition is to correct nutritional imbalances. Increasing the amount of protein in cereal staple foods is the ideal solutions to problem related to malnutrition. Several studies reported that, increased protein content in soybean fortified cereals and tubers, which makes significant contribution towards the alleviation of protein-energy malnutrition. Soybean can be utilized mainly as fermented (e.g., sauce, miso, natto) and non-fermented (e.g., oil, milk, tofu, flour) foods. Therefore, this paper aimed to revise the contribution of home-prepared soy-dishes to combat protein-energy malnutrition.
A fortified fermented local meal was produced from pigeon pea and unripe plantain. 50kg of pigeon pea was subjected to solid state method of fermentation for 72 hrs. Samples of meal were produced from fermented pigeon pea and unripe plantain at different ratios and labeled samples A, B and C. sample A had 10% fermented pigeon pea and 90% unripe plantain flour, sample B had 20% fermented pigeon pea and 80 % unripe plantain flour while sample C had 30% fermented pigeon pea and 70 % unripe plantain flour. The three samples were subjected to proximate and sensory evaluations. There was significant \difference (p≤ 0.05) in the protein contents of the samples. Sample C had the highest protein content while sample A had the least. There was no significant difference (p≤ 0.05) in the moisture, crude fibre, ash contents of the samples. Sample C had the highest fat and least carbohydrate while sample A had the least fat and highest carbohydrate contents. The sensory evaluation result showed that sample C was most preferred while sample A was least preferred. However, there was no significant difference (p≤ 0.05) in the sensory parameters of the samples. Keywords: Proximate, Sensory, Parameters, fermentation, Samples. DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/111-03 Publication date: October 31 st 2021
