CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Fonio (Digitaria exilis) also sometimes called findi or acha, is an annual tropical grass grown in West Africa for its starch-rich, tiny seeds. In this region, fonio grain plays a major role in food security, preventing food shortages as it ripens outstandingly faster than other crops and can be harvested one month before other cereals like maize or millet. Fonio grain is a high-quality cereal, with a particularly good nutty taste, and a favourable amino acid profile (Vodouhè et al., 2006; NRC, 1996). An important trait of fonio is its resistance to drought and its adaptation to climate change (Cruz et al., 2016). Fonio grain, once dehulled and polished to remove the hulls and bran, is primarily used for food rather than for feed though it can be very valuable for monogastric animals (Clottey et al., 2006).
Fonio is an ascending, free-tillering annual cereal grass. It has slender, kneed stems growing up to 80 cm in height. The leaves are alternate, simple. The leaf blade is glabrous, linear to lanceolate in shape, 515 cm long × 0.30.9 cm broad. The inflorescence, a terminal digitate panicle, bears 25 slender, spike-like racemes, up to 15 cm long. The spikelet is stalked, narrowly ellipsoid, surrounded by lemma, palea, and glumes. The fruit is a minute caryopsis (grain), oblong to globose-ellipsoid in shape, about 0.5 mm long, white to pale brown or purplish in colour (Vodouhè et al., 2006). The 1000-grain weight is only about 0.5 g, making fonio the smallest cereal grain worldwide (Jideani et al., 1993).
It is used to make special couscous types in the Hausa parts of Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana. It is cooked with beans to prepare a dish for special occasions in southern Togo. In Nigeria, fonio grain is milled to yield a flour that is used for porridges (thick, unfermented porridge named "tuwo acha", and thin, fermented porridges: "kunu acha") or for bread, in mixture with other flours. Boiled whole grains can be cooked with vegetables, fish or meat to make what is called "fat fonio" in Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso. Fonio grain can be fermented to prepare the beer "tchapalo" (Cruz et al., 2016). Fonio production and consumption are highly linked to the social and cultural lives of the populations. In Mali, Dogon cosmology refers to fonio as the original atom of the universe. In the Dominican Republic, fonio is used in religious festivities inherited from African slaves. Many ethnomedicinal properties are attributed to this grain (Vodouhè et al., 2006; Adoukonou-Sagbadja et al., 2006).
It must be noted that fonio harvest and particularly its post-harvest operations are traditionally done manually and are extremely tedious and time-consuming, leading many observers to consider that these issues are a major bottleneck in the processing and utilization of fonio (Philip et al., 2006; Cruz et al., 2016). In fonio-producing regions of Togo, for instance, it was reported in 2006 that younger generations of farmers were less and less taking an interest in this grain due to the tediousness of its processing (Adoukonou-Sagbadja et al., 2006).
While primarily used for food, fonio grain could be a valuable feed for farm animals due to its high energy and methionine content (NRC, 1996). Its use has been noted in Togo for poultry feeding (Adoukonou-Sagbadja et al., 2006).
1.1 KIDNEY FUNCTION
The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs that are roughly the size of a fist. A tough, fibrous renal capsule surrounds each kidney and provides support for the soft tissue inside. Beyond that, two layers of fat serve as further protection. The adrenal glands lie on top of the kidneys.
Inside the kidneys are a number of pyramid-shaped lobes. Each consists of an outer renal cortex and an inner renal medulla. Nephrons flow between these sections. Each nephron includes a filter, called the glomerulus, and a tubule. The glomerulus filters blood, which enters the kidneys through the renal arteries and leaves through the renal veins. The kidneys are relatively small organs, but they receive 2025% of the hearts output. The tubule returns necessary substances to the blood and removes waste that then becomes urine. The kidneys excrete urine through the ureter, a tube that leads to the bladder.
The main role of the kidneys is maintaining homeostasis. They manage fluid levels, electrolyte balance, and other factors that keep the internal environment of the body consistent and comfortable.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The increasing problem of food insecurity in Africa and the recognition of fonio as a potential buffer against famine is expected to stimulate the expansion of land area devoted to fonio cultivation in the continent. However, available statistics demonstrates the reduction of fonio harvest area in several countries, except in Nigeria, Cote DIvoire, and Guinea. In year 2002, a total area of 347,380 hectares was devoted to fonio production in Africa (FAOSTAT, 2003), with Nigeria alone providing almost half of that area (150,000 ha).
Several factors are responsible for the general decline in fonio production. Some of the major disadvantages of fonio are lodging, small grain size, lower yields than other cereals, and shattering (Vietnameyer et al., 1996; Misari et al., 1996; Kwon-Ndung and Misari, 1999; Anonymous 2003). A survey of farmers fonio husbandry activities in Nigeria demonstrates the lack of improved agronomic practices in fonio production, especially in the area of weed control. Apart from the general poor husbandry, the husking process of fonio grains is very tedius and time-consuming (Vietnameyer et al., 1996; Kwon-Ndung and Misari, 1999), constituting a major bottleneck in its processing and utilization.
Years of research by NGOs and research institutions have contributed immensely in addressing the husking problem of fonio (Aslafy, 2003; Diakite, 2003). The breakthrough in fonio processing may enhance fonio production to meet local demands in Africa and even for export (Aslafy, 2003). This might be responsible for the increased interest in fonio production in Africa in recent years. The scientific challenge now is to develop new improved high-yielding and non-shattering
varieties of fonio with larger grain size (Vietnameyer et al., 1996), shorter and culms (Kwon-Ndung and Misari, 1999) and with good grain quality. diversity in fonio, broadening the fonio gene pool and facilitating the development of improved fonio varieties. The recent progress in the application of biotechnology tools for genetic improvement of cereals (Repellin et al., 2001) constitutes the major prospect for fonio genetic improvement in Africa.
1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This project work is limited to books and journals.
1.4 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
TO determine the effect of the fonio seed on kidney function indices of wister rats.
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 FONIO SEED: DESCRIPTION
Fonio (Digitaria exilis Stapf) is an annual tropical grass grown in West Africa for its starch-rich, tiny seeds. In this region, fonio grain plays a major role in food security, preventing food shortages as it ripens outstandingly faster than other crops and can be harvested one month before other cereals like maize or millet. Fonio grain is a high quality cereal, with a particularly good nutty taste, and a favourable amino acid profile (Vodouhè et al., 2006; NRC, 1996). An important trait of fonio is its resistance to drought and its adaptation to climate change (Cruz et al., 2016). Fonio grain, once dehulled and polished to removed the hulls and bran, is primarily used for food rather than for feed though it can be very valuable for monogastric animals (Clottey et al., 2006).
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