December 2012
Soil fertility evaluation: a potential tool for predicting fertilizer requirement for crops in Nigeria
In most developing countries including Nigeria, fertilizers are applied to the soil by uneducated farmers without particularly making reference to the specific need of the plant or soil. Therefore, intended efficiency/replenishment is not maximized and fertilizer use is not rationalized. This paper critically reviews the three basic approaches to soil fertility evaluation: Visual symptoms of nutrient...
December 2012
Dynamics of land use, degradation and sustainability of the Nigerian agricultural systems
Land degradation and persistent decline in agricultural productivity in Nigeria are issues of concern to government since the food production system is adversely affected. This has affected the carrying capacity of available natural resources with many of the rapidly increasing population not able to meet their basic food needs. Policy makers have now realized that for any sustainability of economic growth...
December 2012
Formation and morphological characteristics of special root hairs on nodal roots of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
Formation and characterization of special root hairs on wheat nodal roots were studied under conditions of the field experiments. The results showed that special root hairs formed around the basal portion of a nodal root in the arable layer of soil after jointing stage, and that distribution of special root hairs on a nodal root could be divided into concentrated, moderate, and sparse segment. Occurring...
December 2012
The relationship between root traits and aboveground traits in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.)
Data of 12 peanut varieties were analyzed with a view to investigate the relationship between root traits and aboveground traits. Results showed that root biomass was positively correlated with aboveground biomass and total biomass at three stages of growth and development. Root activity at different growth stages were significantly and positively correlated with yield at the mature stage. However, a...
December 2012
Genotypic variation in coleoptile or mesocotyl lengths of upland rice (Oryza sativa L.) and seedling emergence in deep sowing
Rain-fed upland rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the important crops in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) accounting for over 40% of the area under rice cultivation. In SSA, upland rice is primarily established by dry direct seeding (DS), which saves time and labour, although DS is associated with poor seedling emergence and establishment. It is thought that coleoptile and mesocotyl elongation in rice seedlings...
December 2012
An analysis of farmers’ access to formal credit in the rural areas of Nigeria
This study examines the factors that influence farmers access to formal banking credit in the rural areas of Nigeria. The data used was collected from rural areas of Katsina State. This study used probit modelling approach to analyse the factors that influence farmers’ accessibility to formal credit. This study found that the level of income, collateral, educational attainment and marital status have...
December 2012
Maize market reforms in Zimbabwe: A case study of the implications on maize production viability and household food security of smallholder farmers in Mazowe District, Mashonaland Central Province, Zimbabwe
Cross-sectional data of 2008 from smallholder farmers in the Mazowe District reveals a trend in maize production in the communal areas of Zimbabwe which suggests trade-offs between agricultural production of food crops, mainly maize, which is price regulated and production of non price regulated cash crops. An average maize yield of 1.6 tonnes per hectare, calculated from the households’ production data...
December 2012
Reduction of transaction cost within the South African potato processing industry
Typically, potato production has a high level of asset specificity and uncertainty, which are the major causes of transaction cost. The South African table potato market is associated with the spot market governance whereas the processing potatoes mainly make use of the more hybrid format of contracting. The aim of this study was to assist potato processing companies in South Africa to establish long-term...
December 2012
Storage of crambe fruit subjected to different drying conditions
This study aimed to determine the effect of drying conditions and storage time on crambe seed quality. Crambe fruits with a moisture content of 27.0 ± 1.0% (wet basis; w.b.) were used. These fruits were dried in a forced-air oven and were kept under controlled temperatures of 35, 45, 60, 75 and 90°C at relative humidities of 20.9, 8.7, 6.8, 4.8 and 2.3%, respectively. During the drying process,...
December 2012
Drying of waste grains flour of annatto by using solar energy
This study is aimed at drying annatto seed powders produced from seeds with and without oil used in bixin extraction. Drying was done at night, using a solar energy dryer. The drier consists of a system of solar panels that heat water, which is transferred to a thermal reservoir from where it is used as heat source for drying during the night. The waste grain flour of annatto with initial moisture content of...
December 2012
Cross compatibility of cultivars of Gossypium hirsutum L. and feral Gossypium barbadense L. in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania
Cotton is the second most important cash crop contributing about 15% to the annual foreign earning in Tanzania and is purely from Gossypium hirsutum L. cultivars. Gossypium barbadense L., a textile source in other parts of the world occurs as a feral perennial of ornamental and medicinal value in home gardens. G. barbadense L. is a natural host of the red bollworm, a destructive...
December 2012
Studies on Hollarrhena floribunda (G. Don) Durand & Schinz: Germination and seedling growth, and preliminary investigations on callus induction and plant regeneration
Seed germination, seedling growth and in vitro regeneration studies were conducted on H. floribunda(Apocynaceae), a potential reforestation candidate. The seeds germinated readily with 96.0 ± 2.5% germination in 10 days. The seedlings exhibited a slow growth rate, attaining a shoot height of 35.5 ± 4.46 cm and a leaf area of 23.86 ± 3.89 cm2 in 12 weeks. Murashige and...
December 2012
Short-term effects of dust storm on physiological performance of some wild plants in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
The effects of dust storm were investigated in three wild plants named Ficus nitida, Datura stramonium and Plumeria acutifolia by means of chlorophyll fluorescence measurements, as well as, net photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance after progressive dust deposition extended for 6 days. In the two months leading up to the storm, severe drought conditions in Riyadh, plus above average maximum...
December 2012
Altitudinal variations in soil carbon storage and distribution patterns in cold desert high altitude microclimate of India
A study was conducted to assess the soil carbon distribution in cold desert high altitude region of Ladakh in India at different altitudes and their correlation patterns with the altitude. The role of carbon dynamics in the exchange of CO2 between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere has important implications in this study of global climate change. The present study was done in Ladakh region of...
December 2012
Development of a benthic macroinvertebrate biotic index to evaluate wetland health in Northeastern Thailand
The aim of this study was to identify appropriate biometric candidates for assessing the environmental quality of wetlands in northeastern Thailand. Field sampling was conducted in 13 wetlands during the cool season of 2009 and hot season of 2010. Macroinvertebrates were collected based on the proportion of multi-habitats using a 500 µm D-frame dip net within a 500 m reach. Fourteen physicochemical...
December 2012
Effect of physic-chemical parameters on the infestation of fruits by Ceratitis capitata WIEDDEMANN, 1824 (Diptera: Tephritidae)
To determine the effect of some physic-chemical parameters of fruits such as fruit weight, fruit diameter, thickness and the essential oil content of the peel, we followed the infestation by C. capitata Wied. 1824 (Diptera:Tephritidae), of ten fruit varieties: Oranges Thomson, Hamlin, Double Fine and Valencia late, lemons quatre saisons, apricot Bulida peaches Cardinal and Redhaven and figs...
December 2012
Screening cotton varieties (Gossypium hirsutum L.) for heat tolerance under field conditions
Fifteen upland cotton Gossypium hirsutum L., were evaluated for heat tolerance based on agronomical and physiological characteristics under field conditions where temperature exceeded 40°C in July and August. Genotypes showed statistically significant differences for stomatal conductance, photosynthetic yield, fluorescence, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), seed cotton yield, plant...
December 2012
Molecular cloning of WRKY transcription factor sequences in wild emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccoides)
WRKY transcription factors are one of the largest families of transcriptional regulators in plants and the WRKY gene family is involved in several diverse pathways. WRKY genes contain one or two highly conserved DNA binding domains called WRKY domain interrupted by an intron. In this study, 20 sequence fragments with WRKY genes/proteins were identified by a pair of degenerate primer (WRKY 1 FP + WRKY 2 RP)...
December 2012
Effect of irrigation and fertigation scheduling on growth and yield of guava (Psidium guajava L.) under meadow orcharding
A study was conducted during 2009 to 2010 and 2010 to 2011 to find out the effect of irrigation and fertigation scheduling on growth and yield of guava (Psidium guajava L.). The experiments were laid out in factorial randomized block design with sixteen treatment combinations which included four irrigation levels (basin, 50, 75 and 100% irrigation of irrigation water/cumulative pan...
December 2012
Classification of chosen orchard pests using the self-organizing feature maps neural network
The Kohonen neural networks are modelled on the topological properties of the human brain. These networks are also known as self-organizing feature maps (SOFM). One advantage of suggesting a procedure is the ability of the SOFM neural network to determine the degree of similarity occurring between classes. The SOFM network can also be used to detect regularities occurring in the obtained empirical data. If at...
Advertisement
Advertisement
