The role of nutraceutical- implied empirical grades of plant foods in eliciting plant biodiversity on women small holder farms

Abstract

A range of plant biodiversity species, produced for household food and nutrition security, characterize women small - holder farms of the Lake Victoria Basin. The usefulness of nutraceutical - implied grades computed from micro - nutrient mineral concentrations of plant germplasm in eliciting plant biodiversity is presented. Plant foods were sampled from women small - holder farms in Iganga (Ugan da) and Vihiga (Kenya) districts. Mineral concentrations were measured using Energy dispersive X - ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), converted to nutrametric scores (1 - 10) and grades (low, medium and high). Six minerals were consistently found in a decre asing concentration order (p>0.05) viz.: potassium, calcium, iron, Zinc, manganese and strontium and used to elicit plant biodiversity variation on the farms. The nutrametric grades computed using the If logic function have been coined as units of biodive rsity. A single mineral exhibited a wide plant biodiversity on the farms. Similarly, a combination of the six minerals exhibited wide plant biodiversity. Plant foods were from Acanthaceae, Amaranthaceae, Asteraceae, Basellaccae, Cucurbitaceae, Dioscoreac cae, Moraceae, Musaceae and Solanacea families. The plant foods captured on these farms with medium to high nutraceutical grades have been identified for phyto - chemical profiling to further qualify their nutraceutical value to in order to conserve the see d and share among farmers