Abstract
Food and nutritional security are the major concerns in many countries of the world and may have potential to contribute to sustainable food systems under climate change. To address the food and nutritional insecurity, it has become extremely important to diversify the present-day agricultural system as well as to search for alternative food and feed ingredients. Some wild root and tuber crops occupy a remarkable position toward food security of the developing world due to their high calorific value and superior carbohydrate content. Yam (Dioscorea spp.) provides food and medicines to millions of people in the world especially in the tropics and sub tropics. It is recognized as the fourth most important tuber crop after potatoes, cassava, and sweet potatoes. It contributes about 10% of the total root and tubers production around the world. Yams also considered as famine food and plays a prime role in the food habit of small and marginal rural families and forest-dwelling communities during the food scarcity periods. These species are unique for their food, medicinal and economic values but their wider utilization is limited due to the presence of anti-nutritional compositions. This paper describes the ethnobotany of yam species in relation to their nutritional, anti-nutritional and pharmacological properties and highlights the potentiality for food and nutritional security for combating the “hidden hunger” caused by micronutrient deficiencies.
Highlights
Yam (Dioscorea spp.) is considered as a famine food and plays a prime role in the food habit of small and marginal rural families and forest-dwelling communities during the food scarcity periods (Ngo Ngwe et al, 2015)
Yams regarded as an energy contributor provide a number of desirable nutritional components and health benefits such as antioxidative, hypoglycemic, hypocholesterolemic, antimicrobial, and immunomodulatory activities
These wild yam tubers may serve as functional food and nutraceuticals for treatment of chronic diseases
Summary
Yam (Dioscorea spp.) is considered as a famine food and plays a prime role in the food habit of small and marginal rural families and forest-dwelling communities during the food scarcity periods (Ngo Ngwe et al, 2015). Several researchers have been validated the traditional knowledge by reporting the antimicrobial and anti fungal activities of wild yam D. pentaphylla against both gram positive and gram negative bacterias such as Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus mutans, TABLE 1 | Ethno-medicinal information of different Dioscorea species. The tuber of yams are reported to have good source of essential nutritional components such as starch, proteins, lipids, vitamins, and minerals, etc.
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