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Cucumeropsis Mannii
''Cucumeropsis mannii'' is a species of melon native to tropical Africa west of the East African Rift, where it is grown for food and as a source of oil. Its common names include egusi in Yoruba ‘‘‘Egwusi’’’ in Igbo and agushi in Hausa. In English it is known as Mann's cucumeropsis and white-seed melon. It produces climbing vines up to 4 meters long which are covered in stiff hairs. The heart-shaped or roughly palmate leaves are up to 12 centimeters long and 14 wide. It bears small yellow male and female flowers with petals under a centimeter in length. The fruit is egg-shaped or an elongated ovate shape, up to about 19 centimeters long and 8 wide, and cream in color with green streaks. The fruit and white seeds are edible. The plant is grown more often for the seed oil than for the fruit. Description ''Cucumeropsis mannii'' is a member of the family Cucurbitaceae. Vernacular names for this crop include egusi-itoo and white seed melon.[ Egunjobi, J.K. & Adebisi, A. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclude the fungi and some algae, as well as the prokaryotes (the archaea and bacteria). By one definition, plants form the clade Viridiplantae (Latin name for "green plants") which is sister of the Glaucophyta, and consists of the green algae and Embryophyta (land plants). The latter includes the flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns and their allies, hornworts, liverworts, and mosses. Most plants are multicellular organisms. Green plants obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts that are derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria. Their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and b, which gives them their green color. Some plants are parasitic or mycotrophic and have lost the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo, as well as Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha ( United Kingdom Overseas Territory).Paul R. Masson, Catherine Anne Pattillo, "Monetary union in West Africa (ECOWAS): is it desirable and how could it be achieved?" (Introduction). International Monetary Fund, 2001. The population of West Africa is estimated at about million people as of , and at 381,981,000 as of 2017, of which 189,672,000 are female and 192,309,000 male. The region is demographically and economically one of the fastest growing on the African continent. Early history in West Africa included a number of prominent regional powers that dominated different parts of both the coastal and internal trade networks, suc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palmitic Acid
Palmitic acid (hexadecanoic acid in IUPAC nomenclature) is a fatty acid with a 16-carbon chain. It is the most common saturated fatty acid found in animals, plants and microorganisms.Gunstone, F. D., John L. Harwood, and Albert J. Dijkstra. The Lipid Handbook, 3rd ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2007. , Its chemical formula is CH3(CH2)14COOH, and its C:D (the total number of carbon atoms to the number of carbon-carbon double-bonds) is 16:0. It is a major component of the oil from the fruit of oil palms ( palm oil), making up to 44% of total fats. Meats, cheeses, butter, and other dairy products also contain palmitic acid, amounting to 50–60% of total fats. Palmitates are the salts and esters of palmitic acid. The palmitate anion is the observed form of palmitic acid at physiologic pH (7.4). Occurrence and production Palmitic acid was discovered by Edmond Frémy in 1840, in saponified palm oil. This remains the primary industrial route for its production, with the triglycerides (fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stearic Acid
Stearic acid ( , ) is a saturated fatty acid with an 18-carbon chain. The IUPAC name is octadecanoic acid. It is a waxy solid and its chemical formula is C17H35CO2H. Its name comes from the Greek word στέαρ "''stéar''", which means tallow. The salts and esters of stearic acid are called stearates. As its ester, stearic acid is one of the most common saturated fatty acids found in nature following palmitic acid.Gunstone, F. D., John L. Harwood, and Albert J. Dijkstra "The Lipid Handbook with Cd-Rom. 3rd ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2007. , The triglyceride derived from three molecules of stearic acid is called stearin. Occurrence and production Stearic acid is more abundant in animal fat (up to 30%) than in vegetable fat (typically <5%). The important exceptions are the foods (34%) and [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oleic Acid
Oleic acid is a fatty acid that occurs naturally in various animal and vegetable fats and oils. It is an odorless, colorless oil, although commercial samples may be yellowish. In chemical terms, oleic acid is classified as a monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acid, abbreviated with a lipid number of 18:1 ''cis''-9, and a main product of Δ9 desaturase. It has the formula CH3(CH2)7CH=CH(CH2)7COOH. The name derives from the Latin word ''oleum'', which means oil. It is the most common fatty acid in nature. The salts and esters of oleic acid are called oleates. Occurrence Fatty acids (or their salts) often do not occur as such in biological systems. Instead fatty acids such as oleic acid occur as their esters, commonly triglycerides, which are the greasy materials in many natural oils. Oleic acid is the most common monounsaturated fatty acid in nature. It is found in fats (triglycerides), the phospholipids that make membranes, cholesterol esters, and wax esters. Triglycerides of oleic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linoleic Acid
Linoleic acid (LA) is an organic compound with the formula COOH(CH2)7CH=CHCH2CH=CH(CH2)4CH3. Both alkene groups are cis-trans isomerism, ''cis''. It is a fatty acid sometimes denoted 18:2 (n-6) or 18:2 ''cis''-9,12. A linoleate is a salt (chemistry), salt or ester of this acid. Linoleic acid is a polyunsaturated fatty acid, polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid. It is a colorless liquid that is virtually insoluble in water but soluble in many organic solvents. It typically occurs in nature as a triglyceride (ester of glycerol, glycerin) rather than as a free fatty acid. It is one of two essential fatty acids for humans, who must obtain it through their diet, and the most essential, because the body uses it as a base to make the others. The word "linoleic" derives from the Latin ''linum'' "flax" + ''oleum'' "oil", reflecting the fact that it was first isolated from linseed oil. History In 1844, F. Sacc, working at the laboratory of Justus von Liebig, isolated linoleic acid from l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiber
Fiber or fibre (from la, fibra, links=no) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorporate fibers, for example carbon fiber and ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene. Synthetic fibers can often be produced very cheaply and in large amounts compared to natural fibers, but for clothing natural fibers can give some benefits, such as comfort, over their synthetic counterparts. Natural fibers Natural fibers develop or occur in the fiber shape, and include those produced by plants, animals, and geological processes. They can be classified according to their origin: *Vegetable fibers are generally based on arrangements of cellulose, often with lignin: examples include cotton, hemp, jute, flax, abaca, piña, ramie, sisal, bagasse, and banana. Plant fibers are employed in the manufacture of paper and textile (cloth), and die ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ash (analytical Chemistry)
In analytical chemistry, ashing or ash content determination is the process of mineralization for preconcentration of trace substances prior to a chemical analysis, such as chromatography, or optical analysis, such as spectroscopy. Overview The ash content of a sample is a measure of the amount of inorganic noncombustible material it contains. The residues after a sample is completely burnt - in contrast to the ash remaining after incomplete combustion - typically consist of oxides of the inorganic elements present in the original sample. Ash is one of the components in the proximate analysis of biological materials, consisting mainly of salty, inorganic constituents. It includes metal salts which are important for processes requiring ions such as Na+ (Sodium), K+ (Potassium), and Ca2+ (Calcium). It also includes trace minerals which are required for unique molecules, such as chlorophyll and hemoglobin. Procedures for ash content determination are similar to procedures for Loss ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carbohydrate
In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or may not be different from ''n''), which does not mean the H has covalent bonds with O (for example with , H has a covalent bond with C but not with O). However, not all carbohydrates conform to this precise stoichiometric definition (e.g., uronic acids, deoxy-sugars such as fucose), nor are all chemicals that do conform to this definition automatically classified as carbohydrates (e.g. formaldehyde and acetic acid). The term is most common in biochemistry, where it is a synonym of saccharide (), a group that includes sugars, starch, and cellulose. The saccharides are divided into four chemical groups: monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides. Monosaccharides and disaccharides, the smallest (lower molecular wei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, responding to stimuli, providing structure to cells and organisms, and transporting molecules from one location to another. Proteins differ from one another primarily in their sequence of amino acids, which is dictated by the nucleotide sequence of their genes, and which usually results in protein folding into a specific 3D structure that determines its activity. A linear chain of amino acid residues is called a polypeptide. A protein contains at least one long polypeptide. Short polypeptides, containing less than 20–30 residues, are rarely considered to be proteins and are commonly called peptides. The individual amino acid residues are bonded together by peptide bonds and adjacent amino acid residues. The sequence of amino acid residue ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cigarette Beetle
''Lasioderma serricorne'', commonly known as the cigarette beetle, cigar beetle, or tobacco beetle, is an insect very similar in appearance to the drugstore beetle (''Stegobium paniceum'') and the common furniture beetle (''Anobium punctatum''). All three species belong to the family Ptinidae. ''L. serricorne'' is around 2–3 mm long, and brown in colour. The beetles, which can fly, live 2–6 weeks and do not feed as adults. They can be distinguished from ''A. punctatum'' by the fact that ''A. punctatum'' has a thorax with a pronounced "humped" shape. ''S. paniceum'' and ''L. serricorne'' have thoraces which have a much less obtuse looking angle when viewed from the side compared to ''A. punctatum'', and thus could be difficult to tell apart. However ''S. paniceum'' has a distinct three-segmented "club" at the end of each antenna whereas ''L. serricorne'' has uniformly serrated antennae of 11 segments. ''L. serricorne'' also has much weaker punctures on the surface of the wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red Flour Beetle
The red flour beetle (''Tribolium castaneum'') is a species of beetle in the family Tenebrionidae, the darkling beetles. It is a worldwide pest of stored products, particularly food grains, and a model organism for ethological and food safety research. Description Adult beetles are small, around 3-4mm long (1/8 inches), of a uniform rust, brown or black color. Head and pronotum are sometimes darker than rest of body. Ecology The red flour beetle attacks stored grain and other food products including flour, cereals, pasta, biscuits, beans, and nuts, causing loss and damage. The United Nations, in a recent post-harvest compendium, estimated that ''Tribolium castaneum'' and ''Tribolium confusum'', the confused flour beetle, are "the two most common secondary pests of all plant commodities in store throughout the world." Distribution and habitat The red flour beetle is of Indo-Australian origin and less able to survive outdoors than the closely related species ''Tribolium confus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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