Eleusine

Parthenin (19) has at a concentration of 50 ppm no effect on the germination of the bean Phaseolus vulgaris but inhibits the development of radicles and hypocotyls (41). Similar effects were observed by Kanchan for Parthenlum hysteropherus and Eleusine coracana coleoptiles (42) and it was shown that besides parthenin (19), caffeic acid, vanillic acid, ferulic acid, chlorogenic acid an3 anisic acid were major constituents in P. hysteropherus (43). 

Abstract Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) is a grass crop grown in Africa,... 

Liu et al. (2007) using both floral morphology and sequences of the trnL intron and that of the rpsl6 intron from nine chloridoid grasses found that they formed three clades. Clade I consists of plants with one fertile floret per spikelet, while clade II (Cynodon, Dactyloctenium, and Eleusine) consists of plants with two to many fertile florets per spikelet. 

FIGURE 6.1 Leaf, inflorescence, and grain of Eleusine coracana depicted. 1, Stem part with leaves 2, Inflorescence 3, Part of inflorescence branch 4, Spikelet 5, Floret without lemma and palea 6, Grain within lemma and palea 7, Grain (de Wet, 2006 Reproduced with permission from PROSEA). 

The genus Eleusine belonging to the family Poaceae and subfamily Chloridoideae comprises nine species. E. indica is found now in many places of the world and is treated as a weed and has been found in various archeological sites in the United States. Only E. tristachya is found in South America, the rest being endogenous to Africa. The domestication of E. coracana is discussed in Hilu and De Wet (1976). They reported that the occurrence of . africana and E. indica overlaps in Africa. The two "species" interbreed and the hybrids are weed-like. 

FIGURE 6.2 Maps of Africa and India showing modern distribution of races on Eleusine coracana (taken from Fuller 2003). There are differences between the Eleusines grown in the plains and in the hills in both Africa and India. The Indian plain Eleusines may have been derived from those of the African plains and the Indian Hill Eleusines from the hills of Africa (Dida et al., 2008 2008. Reproduced with permission from Springer). 

TABLE 6.1 Synteny of genes on chromosomes of Eleusine and Orzya (Srinivasachary et al. 2007)... 

Walshaw (2006) in a posting reported the presence of three grains of Eleusine in excavations in an Island off the coast of Africa (Tanzania) and this was dated to a rather recent period. 

FIGURE 6.3 (A) Figurative indication of archeological finds of Eleusine in India. 

FIGURE 6.5 Scanning electron micrograph of starch granules isolated from Eleusine (Jideani et al., 1996. Reproduced with permission from Cereal Chemistry). 

TABLE 6.3 Amino acid composition of Eleusine flour and prolamin... 

Beckles et al. (2001) showed the presence of a soluble cytosolic ADPG glucophosphorylase in barley. They then measured the ratio of the levels of ADPG to that of UDPG in the endosperm of many cereal endosperms including that of E. coracana, tomato seeds, bean cotyledon, and roots of yam and taro. The ratio varied from 0.30 to 0.64 (0.38 in the endosperm of Eleusine) and varied from 0.01 to 0.04 in the others. The higher ratio in the cereal endosperm was taken as an index of greater activity of the enzyme in these tissues. 

Admassu, S., Teamir, M., and Dawit Alemu, D. (2009). Chemical composition of local and improved finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaetrtn) varieties grown in Ethiopia. Ethiop.. Health Sci. 19(1). 

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