Groundbreaking science is happening at Prairie View A&M University in the form of plant research. The Plant Systems group from the College of Agriculture and Human Sciences teamed up with scientists from Imo State Polytechnic in Owerri, Nigeria to create medicinal plants that can be used as a healthy alternative for flavoring food.
“There are hundreds of essential medicinal plants in use by indigenous peoples living in the rainforests of Africa. This memorandum of understanding, or MOU, between PVAMU and Imo State Polytechnic was formed in part to provide PVAMU research scientists access to those uncharacterized medicinal plant species. Thus far, PVAMU has started to make what looks like a treasure trove collection of these hitherto undocumented tropical, medicinal plant species,” said Principal Investigator and PVAMU Research Scientist Dr. Godson Osuji.
The teams began their research in 2016. So far, they’ve determined five medicinal plant spices that are ideal for use in packaged tropical food.
“Medicinal plants are the most commercially important vegetable specialty crops for limited resources stakeholders and plant producers that PVAMU serves,” said Osuji. “In addition, the uses of terpene-rich spices as flavor, food additives, vitamins, sweeteners, pharmaceuticals, medicines, and folklore spices in aromatherapy products have been proven to benefit humankind. As an example, glucose, which is a very common flavoring for food and beverages, is a carcinogen. These tropical herbs can be potential sugar replacement flavors in the food-beverage processing industries.”
Pictured left to right: Drs. Godson O. Osuji, Laura Carson, Aruna Weerasooriya, and Peter Ampim.
You can read more about PVAMU’s medicinal plant research in the American Journal of Plant Sciences, Volume 10, Pages 572-577. Along with Osuji, PVAMU Research Scientists Drs. Aruna Weeresooriya, Peter Ampim, and Laura Carson researched for this study with Appolonia Obiloma and Wenceslaus C. Madu assisting at Imo State Polytechnic.
By Marchita Shilo