Abstract
The leaf, stem and flowers of Luffa aegyptiaca were screened for their phytochemical and physicochemical properties. The phytochemical evaluation of the leaf, stem and flowers revealed the presence of saponins, tannins and cardiac glycosides. Alkaloids were only present in the flowers. Cyanogenetic glycosides and phlobatannin were absent in the leaf and stem respectively. The nutrient value shows that the leaves contain 10.01% of moisture, 0.78% of crude protein, 2.40% of lipids, 14.61% of crude fibre, 3.65%of ash and 48.02% of carbohydrate. The stem contain7.02% of moisture, 3.01% of crude protein, 4.50% of lipids, 8.10% of crude fibre, 2.50% of ash and 61% of carbohydrate. While the flowers contain4.01% of moisture, 0.5% of crude protein, 5.1% of lipids, 7.01% of crude fibre, 1.5% of ash and 45.1% of carbohydrate. These findings prove that Luffa aegyptiaca contains bioactive compounds that may be useful in nutrition and explains its popular use in traditional medicine in Nigeria.
Highlights
In Ethiopia a majority of the rural livelihoods depends on subsistence farming based on low external input systems
Identification of crop productivity constraints and relevant opportunities are very important to design interventions aiming at improved agricultural productivity and related to that improved livelihoods
The Government of Ethiopia is committed to scaling up best practices through its Agricultural Growth Programme (AGP-II)
Summary
In Ethiopia a majority of the rural livelihoods depends on subsistence farming based on low external input systems. In most households no surplus of food will be available and even during normal rainfall years around 40% of the farm households structurally depend on food aid (pers.com staff Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development) Food aid in such cases might have become part of the livelihood strategy of farmers in Ethiopia [2]. To address the various community problems, it is imperative to design technically sound, economically feasible and culturally acceptable research, extension and development strategies. To this end, Fadis agricultural research center initiated a participatory rural appraisal (PRA) study in Harari Region, eastern Ethiopia. The main objectives of the study were to assess the farming systems, determine major biophysical and crop production constraints and opportunities for farming communities and identifying, documenting best practices and innovations with respect to environmental, socio-economic and agricultural production constraint conditions for further testing and possible scaling up
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