Assessment of the rates of thiocyanate in treated and untreated red and brown finger millet (Eleusine coracana) cultivated in Mogotio Area, Baringo County, Kenya

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Chebet SJ, Nawiri M, Murungi J. 2018. Assessment of the rates of thiocyanate in treated and untreated red and brown finger millet (Eleusine coracana) cultivated in Mogotio Area, Baringo County, Kenya. Trop Drylands 2: 28-34. Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) is a significant African primary diet plant in the tropics. The plant has a content of cyanogenic glycosides which can be easily altered to thiocyanate by glycosidases and sulfur transferase enzymes found in the plant or in the animal tissues. Thiocyanate impedes the absorption of iodine by the iodide pump of the thyroid gland which is then acted as a goitrogen. This goitrogen gives pressure on thyroid function causing goiter. People of Mogotio usually cultivated the red and brown varieties of finger millet. Therefore, to ascertain the rate of thiocyanate in treated and untreated finger millet in the region to collect information that will be used to address goiter was significant. The rates of thiocyanate were examined from the finger millet in the form of desiccated, germinated or immersed beans, or in the form of fresh, fermented or cooked flour. The green and desiccated leaves of the plant were also examined for thiocyanate. Samples of the red and brown varieties of finger millet were arbitrarily picked out from the cultivators in the area. Thiocyanate content was examined utilizing UV-VIS spectrophotometric detection. ANOVA and independent T-test were utilized to analyzed data. SNK test was utilized to do the separation of means. The rates of thiocyanate content in the red finger millet were between 43.48±1.56 to 4.28±0.5 mg/kg with the highest rates was in fresh desiccated beans followed by germinated ones and the lowest rates was in cooked flour. While in the brown finger millet, it was between 53.30±0.78 to 4.96±0.40 mg/kg with the highest rates was in germinated beans and the lowest rates were in cooked flour. Green leaves hold 31.69±0.71 mg/kg while the desiccated ones hold 8.80±0.14 mg/kg. The results showed significant dissimilarities between the rates in the beans and that of in the flour (p< 0.001). They also showed that the thiocyanate content in finger millet samples was within the recommended rates (100 mg/kg), but the frequency of intake may still give a risk on health. Therefore, it is suggested to encourage the cooking of finger millet before processing as this decreases thiocyanate rates.