• Energy Research

Spider plant (Cleome gynandra) is predominantly used as a traditional leafy vegetable throughout Africa and is considered a rich natural source of essential nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and proteins. With the increase in malnutrition, diet related non-communicable diseases and poverty across the continent of Africa, the spider plant is a bona fide alternative healthy food crop to alleviate these challenges. Spider plant is an erect annual herb that could grow up to 150 cm tall, strongly branched, with a long taproot and few secondary roots. It is commonly consumed in resource-poor communities especially during times of major food scarcity. It is a drought-tolerant and resilient annual vegetable crop capable of growing well in a wide range of climatic and edaphic conditions. Despite the potential benefits and wide adaptability, progressive attempts towards the development of C. gynandra as a crop have been impeded by issues like low investment in research and development resulting in poor seed quality, relatively low yields and susceptibility to pests and diseases. In this paper, we reviewed the research that has been done regarding its morphology, growing conditions, production and utilisation (i.e., nutrition). The current review highlighted the status of the science in advancing the domestication of C. gynandra as a potential power crop for several African countries. The review concluded that with the advancement of modern biotechnology techniques and genome sequencing, there is a compelling case for investment and development in C. gynandra as a candidate for managing micronutrient deficiencies during the post-pandemic era. Finally, the existing knowledge gaps (e.g., breeding) that necessitate explorations were identified and recommendations that could enhance its development and potential commercialisation were made.

Prescribed fire frequencies have been widely used to reduce the risk of severe wildfire occurrences. In addition, several studies have been conducted to assess the impact of fire frequencies on vegetation, vertebrate, and invertebrate species, as well as soil physical and chemical properties. However, there is a lack of empirically based knowledge concerning the impact of fire frequency on soil microorganisms. This study assessed the effect of different fire frequencies on the diversity and composition of soil fungal communities in a semi-arid savanna rangeland. Soil samples were collected from an ongoing long-term trial at the University of Fort Hare (South Africa) on the following treatments: (i) no burning; (ii) annual burning (burned once every year); (iii) biennial burning (burned once every 2 years); (iv) triennial burning (burned once every 3 years); (v) quadrennial burning (burned once every 4 years); and (vi) sexennial burning (burned once every 6 years). Fungi were identified using high-throughput sequencing, with Shannon-Wiener and Inverse Simpson diversity indexes being used for diversity and network analysis. Principal coordinate analysis was used for Bray-Curtis distance matrices to visualise the relationships between treatments. The highest diversity was found in biennial burning, which was significantly different (p < 0.05) from the sexennial, quadrennial, and no burning treatments but was not different from the triennial and annual burning treatments. Regarding the taxa, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were the phyla with the highest relative abundance, followed by Mortierellomycota, Chytridiomycota, and Rozellomycota. The different fire frequencies had an influence on soil fungi diversity and taxonomic composition in semi-arid savanna rangelands.