The period from mid-February to May marks the celebration of the Amarula fruit har-vest, vital for producing Amarula Cream liqueur, an alcoholic beverage made from sugar, cream, and fruits. The fruits of the Amarula plant are rich in ascorbic acid, con-taining three times the vitamin C found in orange juice, along with various minerals and antioxidants. Despite these nutritional benefits, research indicates that the full potential of Amarula fruit still needs to be explored, posing a risk to the plant's sus-tainability. In Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN), there is a growing trend of utilising Amarula fruits in producing "utshwala bamaganu," a locally favoured alcoholic beverage fer-mented from fruits and sweetened with sugar. However, households with limited al-cohol consumption often do not partake in this beverage. In KZN, most non-alcoholic fermented drinks are maize-based, raising concerns about potential vitamin A defi-ciencies in rural areas where excessive consumption of these beverages may displace more nutritious food options. This study addresses these issues by developing non-alcoholic fermented beverages incorporating Amarula fruits and Provitamin A biofortified maize. Using an experimental design, recipes sourced from key informants were combined, standardised, and modified by substituting traditional white maize meals with 100% Provitamin A biofortified maize to enhance the nutritional profile of the beverages. At full concentration, Amarula juices served as both the sugar source and fermenting agent, while other ingredients remained unchanged. Various fermen-tation techniques—including roasting, milling, and boiling—were employed to assess differences in nutrient composition. The beverage samples were analysed for nutri-tional content, focusing on vitamin A, amino acids, and mineral compositions. Fol-lowing analysis, 60 consumers participated in sensory evaluations using a 5-point he-donic scale to provide feedback. Descriptive statistics were employed for data analysis, including means and standard deviations. The results revealed significant nutritional improvements, particularly in essential minerals like zinc and iron; Sample 2 exhibited the highest iron content at 53 ppm. Roasting significantly enhanced flavour and over-all acceptability, with consumers rating Sample 1 the highest. However, vitamin A levels across all samples were below detection limits, likely due to degradation from heat exposure. This study highlights the potential of incorporating Amarula and bio-fortified maize into fermented beverages to enhance food and nutrition security. The findings suggest that optimizing fermentation and processing methods could improve nutritional benefits, although retaining vitamin A remains challenging. Future research should focus on re-fining fermentation techniques to preserve heat-sensitive nutrients, conducting micro-bial analyses to explore probiotic properties, and educating consumers about the nutri-tional advantages of biofortified products. Expanding market research could enhance product acceptability and facilitate the commercialization of nutritionally fortified beverages.

Biofortification is a promising, cost effective and sustainable strategy to mitigate micronutrient deficiencies and related health complications. The principal aims of the study encompassed the quantification of the carotenoid content of 147 maize inbred lines, the identification of variable regions within the ZEP1 gene, the correlation of these observed variances in the presence of this gene with carotenoid content, and to identify lines harboring the favorable alleles for the crtRB1 gene. The correlations observed among the carotenoids synthesized by specific branch of the biosynthetic pathway were both significant and positive. Utilizing gel-based genotyping, 24 lines with contrasting carotenoid profiles were selected, evaluated and sequenced. Analysis of the variation in the sequence classified these lines into distinct groups. The findings highlight that inbred lines both group 1 and group 8 exhibited significant associations with the carotenoid content of the lines. Specifically, ZEP1_7852, a discernible variation belonging to group 8, was significantly associated with zeaxanthin content and total carotenoid content. Twenty-five inbred lines with provitamin A content surpassing 15 μg/g that harbor the favorable alleles of the crtRB1 gene were identified using KASP SNP zm0016. These lines can be used as donor parents for further enhancement of provitamin A in maize.

This study aimed to assess the variations in the nutritional attributes of thirteen Moringa oleifera cultivars. Leaves from six-month-old plants were harvested and tested for various nutritional attributes. There were significant (p ≤ 0.05) differences in the carbohydrates, energy, some of the sugars and fibre amongst the cultivars. The levels of moisture in the cultivars ranged from 7.10% to 8.20%. Additionally, there were significant (p ≤ 0.05) differences across the cultivars in microelements studied except for zinc (Zn). These data revealed that plants from different geographical provenances differed in their adapting to varied environments. In general, under the same cultivation, management and environmental conditions, the main reasons for these differences occurred in cultivars could be associated with the genetic background of each M. oleifera germplasm. However, the study cautions on the differences of nutritional properties, as some of the cultivars have been reported not to be pharmacological potent.