Browsing by Author "Kuria, DM."

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The potential of beetle and termite fibre hydrolytic crude extracts in the pretreatment of maize stover for ruminant production
(2013) Siamba, Donald N.; Simbaya, J.; Kuria, DM.
It is increasingly understood that 1 st-generation biofuels (produced primarily from food crops such as grains, sugar beet and oil seeds) are limited in their ability to achieve targets for oil-product substitution, climate change mitigation, and economic growth. Their sustainable production is under review, as is the possibility of creating undue competition for land and water used for food and fibre production. A possible exception that appears to meet many of the acceptable criteria is ethanol produced from sugar cane. The cumulative impacts of these concerns have increased the interest in developing biofuels produced from non-food biomass. Feedstocks from ligno-cellulosic materials include cereal straw, bagasse, forest residues, and purpose-grown energy crops such as vegetative grasses and short rotation forests. These “2nd-generation biofuels” could avoid many of the concerns facing 1stgeneration biofuels and potentially offer greater cost reduction potential in the longer term. This report looks at the technical challenges facing 2nd-generation biofuels, evaluates their costs and examines related current policies to support their development and deployment. The potential for production of more advanced biofuels is also discussed. Although significant progress continues to be made to overcome the technical and economic challenges, 2nd-generation biofuels still face major constraints to their commercial deployment. Policy recommendations are given as to how these constraints might best be overcome in the future.
The potential role of endophytes in the conservation of endangered medicinal plants
(Masinde muliro university of science and technology, 2011) Siamba, Donald N.; Tsingalia, HM.; Kuria, DM.; Osogo, A.; Nyongesa, P.
Enumeration of the endophytic fungi from the red listed, critically endangered medicinal plant, Coscinium fenestratum was investigated for the first time. The ubiquitous presence of 41 endophytic fungi belonging to sixteen different taxa was identified from 195 samples of healthy leaves and stem using traditional morphological methods. The overall colonization rate of endophytes in both the leaf and the stem was found to be 21.02%.The stem showed low percentage frequency of colonization of the endophytic fungi when compared to leaf segments. Among the endophytic flora, Phomopsis jacquiniana was found to be the core-group fungus with a colonization frequency of 4.6%.
Preliminary isolation and characterization of bacterial endophytes from selected medicinal plants for anthelmntic metabolites
(Springer Netherlands, 2011) Siamba, Donald N.; Tsingalia, HM.; Kuria, DM.; Osogo, A.; Nyongesa, P.
Endophytic fungi have been creating a considerable interest and curiosity among researchers since past three decades globally, owing to their recognition as an inexhaustible source of structurally and biologically novel compounds, alternative source of metabolites functionally identical to plant produced metabolites and their ability to impart resistance in host plants against various biotic and abiotic stresses. In this review, we have earnestly attempted to compile a vast array of endophytic fungi assemblages harbored inside Indian medicinal plants which have been reported during last decade from India.