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A Research on Moringa Oleifera

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Research on Moringa Oleifera
Home » Issue 18 » Moringa: the science behind the miracle tree
Moringa: the science behind the miracle tree
Submitted by rau on 03 March 2011 A flower from a moringa tree
© WEDC, Loughborough University | Moringas have long been known as miracle trees. Now scientists are investigating their properties in depth, as Sue Nelson andMarlene Rau report.In the foothills of the Himalayas grow trees, five to ten metres tall, with clusters of small oval leaves and delicately perfumed cream-coloured flowers. These are Moringa oleifera – the most widely cultivated of the 14 species of the genusMoringa, known as ‘miracle trees’.“It is called a miracle tree because every part of the tree has benefits,” says Balbir …show more content…

This is then swirled around in the bucket of turbid water, until the fine particles and bacteria clump together with M. oleifera powder, sinking and settling to the bottom. For drinking water though, the water needs to be purified further – by boiling, filtering through sand or placing it in direct sunlight in a clear bottle for a couple of hours (solarising; seeFolkard et al., 1999). You can try a similar technique yourself in class (see box).

The mother of moringa researcher Dr Kwaambwa demonstrates how the seeds are treated for water purification
Images courtesy of Dr Majority Kwaambwa, University of Botswana
Although a successful pilot study was performed at Thyolo water treatment works in Malawi in 1989-1994 (see Folkard & Sutherland, 2002), developing future industrial treatment methods from M. oleifera relies on knowing exactly what processes take place during the purification. Researchers already know that the active ingredient in the seeds is protein, which accounts for 30-40% of the seeds’ weight. There are at least two proteins that may be active: they are water-soluble and quite small, about 6-16 kDa, so they can readily diffuse out of the cloth bags. At higher concentrations, they aggregate even in solution due to their substantial hydrophobic regions. The protein adsorbs onto contaminant particles, which then clump together

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