@article{ObidiegwuLyonsChilaka2020,
  author    = {Obidiegwu, Jude E. and Lyons, Jessica B. and Chilaka, Cynthia A.},
  title     = {The Dioscorea genus (yam) — an appraisal of nutritional and therapeutic potentials},
  series = {Foods},
  volume    = {9},
  journal   = {Foods},
  number    = {9},
  issn      = {2304-8158},
  doi       = {10.3390/foods9091304},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-213102},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {The quest for a food secure and safe world has led to continuous effort toward improvements of global food and health systems. While the developed countries seem to have these systems stabilized, some parts of the world still face enormous challenges. Yam (Dioscorea species) is an orphan crop, widely distributed globally; and has contributed enormously to food security especially in sub-Saharan Africa because of its role in providing nutritional benefits and income. Additionally, yam has non-nutritional components called bioactive compounds, which offer numerous health benefits ranging from prevention to treatment of degenerative diseases. Pharmaceutical application of diosgenin and dioscorin, among other compounds isolated from yam, has shown more prospects recently. Despite the benefits embedded in yam, reports on the nutritional and therapeutic potentials of yam have been fragmented and the diversity within the genus has led to much confusion. An overview of the nutritional and health importance of yam will harness the crop to meet its potential towards combating hunger and malnutrition, while improving global health. This review makes a conscious attempt to provide an overview regarding the nutritional, bioactive compositions and therapeutic potentials of yam diversity. Insights on how to increase its utilization for a greater impact are elucidated.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{NwoghaAbtewRaveendranetal.2023,
  author    = {Nwogha, Jeremiah S. and Abtew, Wosene G. and Raveendran, Muthurajan and Oselebe, Happiness O. and Obidiegwu, Jude E. and Chilaka, Cynthia A. and Amirtham, Damodarasamy D.},
  title     = {Role of non-structural sugar metabolism in regulating tuber dormancy in white yam (Dioscorea rotundata)},
  series = {Agriculture},
  volume    = {13},
  journal   = {Agriculture},
  number    = {2},
  issn      = {2077-0472},
  doi       = {10.3390/agriculture13020343},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-304486},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {Changes in sugar composition occur continuously in plant tissues at different developmental stages. Tuber dormancy induction, stability, and breaking are very critical developmental transitions in yam crop production. Prolonged tuber dormancy after physiological maturity has constituted a great challenge in yam genetic improvement and productivity. In the present study, biochemical profiling of non-structural sugar in yam tubers during dormancy was performed to determine the role of non-structural sugar in yam tuber dormancy regulation. Two genotypes of the white yam species, one local genotype (Obiaoturugo) and one improved genotype (TDr1100873), were used for this study. Tubers were sampled at 42, 56, 87, 101, 115, and 143 days after physiological maturity (DAPM). Obiaoturugo exhibited a short dormant phenotype and sprouted at 101-DAPM, whereas TDr1100873 exhibited a long dormant phenotype and sprouted at 143-DAPM. Significant metabolic changes were observed in non-structural sugar parameters, dry matter, and moisture content in Obiaoturugo from 56-DAPM, whereas in TDr1100873, significant metabolic changes were observed from 101-DAPM. It was observed that the onset of these metabolic changes occurred at a point when the tubers of both genotypes exhibited a dry matter content of 60\%, indicating that a dry matter content of 60\% might be a critical threshold for white yam tuber sprouting. Non-reducing sugars increased by 9-10-fold during sprouting in both genotypes, which indicates their key role in tuber dormancy regulation in white yam. This result implicates that some key sugar metabolites can be targeted for dormancy manipulation of the yam crop.},
  language  = {en}
}