June 2013
Threats, attempts and opportunities of conserving indigenous animal genetic resources in Ethiopia
Loss of genetic diversity among animal populations occurs due to genetic introgression, crossbreeding, inbreeding, climate change and its related factors. Therefore, the objective of the study was to quantify threats, previous conservation attempts and opportunities of conserving indigenous animal genetic resources in Ethiopia. The consequences of genetic introgressions include reduced survival and fitness of the first...
June 2013
Potential impact of climate change in sugarcane and mitigation strategies in Zimbabwe
Sugarcane production is important to the economy of Zimbabwe by contributing to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employment creation and foreign currency generation. However, its production is likely to be affected by climate change due to projected increase in temperature and changing rainfall patterns. This paper reviews the possible effects of climate change in the agronomy of sugarcane. Temperature rise due to climate...
June 2013
Evaluating sifting efficiency of a dewatered cassava mash sifter at different operating speed
Amotorized dewatered cassava mash sifter developed at the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM) was evaluated to determine the effects of operating speed on its sifting efficiency. Four operating speeds were chosen for the study, these are, 450, 500, 600 and 650 rpm. The machine was allowed to run, and the time required completing the sifting of 15 kg dewatered mash sample at all the tested speeds were...
June 2013
Effects of age, breed and sex on the serum biochemical values of Turkeys (Meleagridis gallopova) in South-eastern Nigeria
This study was carried out to establish the serum biochemical values of turkey (Meleagridis gallopova) as well as determine the sex, age and breed effects on these characters. Blood samples collected in the morning from each turkey at 6th and 12th week of age, comprising of 60 black and 45 white breeds were used in this study. Total protein, albumin and alkaline phosphate means were 5.56±0.15,...
June 2013
Field-scale management and evaluation of recycled cattle manure solids from livestock in Nile Delta ecosystem
The aim of this study was to investigate the composting of cattle manure with or without a variety of bulking agents. Four piles formed by cattle manure, blended with rice straw (CP2), banana leaves (CP3), maize straw (CP4). However, the first pile (CP1) composted without a bulking agent. All blends were composted for 60 days. During composting, the piles were monitored for the main physical-chemical characteristics:...
June 2013
Mastits: Prevalence, risk factors and antimicrobial sensitivity patterns of bacterial isolates in dairy cattle at Holeta farm in Ethiopia
The study was conducted at Holeta Agriculture research center over October 2011 to May 2012 to estimate prevalence of mastitis, assess risk factors, isolate bacterial causes and measure antimicrobial sensitivity patterns of isolates in dairy cattle. A total of 272 comprising 130 cross breed (Holstein x Boran), 75 Jersey and 67 Holstein Frisian were examined using California Mastitis Test (CMT) and clinical examination....
June 2013
Investigating the effect of forcing reproduction of lay-off broiler breeders at the middle of production period on economic performance of flock
Lay-off broiler breeders are hens with low or without egg production at the middle of laying period. In order to obtain a better output from the lay-off hens existing in the flock, lay-off broiler breeders are being forced to molt at the middle of laying period. It is done while the laying hens existing in flock continue their production trend. With this method, the lay-off hens in the flock are identified, collected...
June 2013
Varietal selection in sodic soils of Indo-Gangetic plains through farmers’ participatory approach
Participatory varietal screening, selection and testing of a large number of salt tolerant varieties/genotypes of rice were conducted at Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Regional Research Station, Lucknow, India during 2001 to 2007. This is aimed to identify and develop a high yielding, adaptable and acceptable rice variety for sodic soil environment through farmers’ participatory approach. Generally...
June 2013
Morphological variability and character association in diverse collection of garlic germplasm
Analysis of variance (mean square) revealed the existence of highly significant variation for all the traits except leaf width (4th leaf) indicating greater variability in the germplasm. High estimates of heritability were obtained for pseudostem diameter, days to maturity, polar diameter of bulb, equatorial diameter of bulb, average weight of 10 cloves and plant height. Average weight of 10 cloves, number of...
June 2013
Catch per unit effort (CPUE) and water level variations in the lower reaches of the White Volta River (Yapei), Ghana
Catch per unit effort (CPUE) and water level variations in the lower reaches of the White Volta River were studied at three landing sites namely, Pataplapei (upstream), Porturto (midstream), and Aglassipei (downstream) from October 2011 to March 2012 to provide relevant information for further and future studies. The water depths were measured monthly with speedtech hand eco sounder. Fishing effort was measured as the...
June 2013
Diallel analysis of turcicum leaf blight resistance in Kenyan maize lines
Exserohilum turcicum is a major constraint to maize production in the humid highlands of sub-Saharan Africa. To develop efficient cultivars, the gene action involved and genetic stability across target ecologies must be understood. A half diallel study of 12 inbred lines was conducted to assess the types of gene action involved in turcicum resistance and genetic stability across 5 locations in central and western...
June 2013
Assessment of the contribution of urban agriculture to employment, income and food security in Kenya: A case of Kisumu municipality
Kenya’s long – term development strategy (Vision 2030) has prioritised agricultural sector to drive the growth, although it does not mention urban agriculture. In 2009, the Kenya government prepared and approved National Land Policy. Prior to the passage of the National Land Policy, urban agriculture was not designated as an urban land use. Therefore, the National Land Policy creates a basis for systematic...
June 2013
Profitability of coffee production in Kabba/Bunu local government area of Kogi State Nigeria
The study surveyed economics of coffee production in Kabba/Bunu local government area of Kogi state. 100 farmers were purposively selected from the villages considered based on the predominance of coffee production. The tools used for data analysis were descriptive statistics, net farm income and multiple regression analysis. The study revealed that 74% of the farmers are male while 26% are female and the mean age of...
June 2013
Effects of climate change on rice production: The case of Turkey
The scope of this study is rice scarcity and the increase of rice prices as a result of the drought in Turkey. It is obvious that drought is occurring in the world and producer countries are suffering smaller crops as a result. Therefore, rice exporters have partially limited their exports. Rice production per capita in Turkey is 6 to 6.5 kg. Rice per capita in 2005 was 5.3 kg, and it was 6.2 kg in 2006. There was a...
June 2013
Monetary impacts and overshooting of agricultural prices in a transition economy: The case of Hungary
This research focused on the time adjustment paths of the exchange rate and prices in response to unanticipated monetary shocks. Johansen’s cointegration test along with a vector error correction model was employed, to investigate whether agricultural prices overshoot in a transition economy. The empirical results indicate that agricultural prices adjust faster than industrial prices to innovations in the money...
June 2013
Residents and urban green spaces: A case study in Rasht (North of Iran)
One of the most important and effective factors of human life is urban forests and green spaces. These urban green infrastructures may have different effects, at different levels: Some physiological and others socio - economical. Sometimes it may be hard to see by which mechanisms the urban green spaces affect people's health. However, we will focus on the "health effects" of green spaces on the urban...
June 2013
The policy environment of conservation agriculture with trees (CAWT) in Eastern Kenya: Do small scale farmers benefit from existing policy incentives?
Conservation agriculture with trees (CAWT) is an approach that combines conservation agriculture (CA) practices with those of agroforestry. One of the knowledge gaps that must be addressed to fully exploit the potential of CAWT pertains to policies favouring or discouraging its adoption among small scale farmers. The study hypothesized that disincentives exist more than incentives in existing policies for the promotion...
June 2013
Effectiveness of selected ‘advanced training programmes’ for agricultural faculty in India and implicative strategies
The Centre for Advanced Faculty Training (CAFT) programmes aim at building the academic competency of faculty of State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) in India. There was a felt need to assess the effectiveness of these training programmes. Hence, a study was conducted during August 2012 to assess the effectiveness of selected training programmes and to draw implications for improving the programme mode in terms of...
June 2013
Employment generation potential of watershed development programmes in semi-arid tropics of India
This paper examines the employment generation potential of watershed development programmes and identifies the factors that contribute to the shift in labour absorption in farming activities over control situation. Analysis of secondary data collected from the watershed implementing agencies revealed that on an average watershed programmes helped to generate one time employment ranged between 26 and 76 mandays per...
June 2013
Impact assessment of front line demonstrations on Brown Sarson: Experience from temperate north-western Himalayan region of India
This study investigates an impact of Frontline Demonstrations (FLDs) conducted by Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) on Brown Sarson through Krishi Vigyan Kendra’s (Farm Science Centre’s) from Rabi 2005 to 2011 in the Anantnag and Kulgam districts of north-western temperate Himalayan region of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) India, in which 120 participant farmers and 120 non-participant farmers...
June 2013
Removal of phenol from aqueous solution by adsorption using zeolite
The adsorption of phenol by sodium zeolite was investigated to assess its possible use as an adsorbent. The adsorption of phenol is found to be the most important problem being faced by many industries like textiles, pharmaceuticals, petrochemical industries etc. The optimum conditions for maximum adsorption in terms of pH (3 to 6), contact time, amount of the adsorbent and adsorbent equilibrium were identified. The...
June 2013
Acaricide effect of some extracts and fractions on Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae)
The acaricidal potential of Melia azedarach, Peganum harmala, Nigella sativa and Trigonella foenum-graecumseeds was investigated on adult Tetranychus urticae under laboratory conditions. After the treatment of foliar discs using dichloromethane and ethanol extracts of these seeds, the statistical analysis of the mortality percentage revealed that N. sativa was the most potent...
June 2013
Superovulation and embryo quality with porcine follicle stimulation hormone (pFSH) in Katahdin hair sheep during breeding season
Estrus synchronization of 21 ewes was carried out using intravaginal sponges (60 mg of medroxyprogesterone acetate, Sincrogest®-Sanfer, Mexico) for 14 days. 7 ewes were randomly assigned to one of the three treatments: T1, 80 mg; T2, 120 mg; T3, 140 mg of porcine follicle stimulating (pFSH) (Folltropin-p®-Bioniche, Canada) administered on day 12 after sponge insertion. The dose was divided in decreasing doses;...
June 2013
Inheritance studies and quantitative trait loci (QTLs) linked to fibre strength in upland cotton
Field experiment was conducted during 2005 to 2008 at Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi to study genetics of fibre strength in Gossypium hirsutum L cotton. Genotypes ‘P 56-4’ and ‘RS 2013’ were used to develop 6 generations. Additive × dominance epistasis was found significant. The F2 of this contrasting cross showed wide range of variation from...
June 2013
Narrowing yield-gap of rice through soil fertility management in the Lake Victoria Crescent agro-ecological zone, Uganda
Rice farming is increasingly being encouraged in Uganda because of its potential to double as an income as well as food security crop. However, existing data shows that current farmer’ yields are less than half of the expected average, partly due to inadequate soil fertility management interventions. Using a survey of rice farmers in the Lake Victoria Crescent Agro-ecological zone (LVC-AEZ) of Uganda, we assessed...
June 2013
Fluoroquinolones and sulfonamides in sewage sludge compost and their uptake from soil into food plants
Sewage sludge compost can be a source of nutrients for plants and contamination by pharmaceutical products. In this study the presence of some widely used pharmaceuticals in sewage sludge and its compost –namely ciprofloxacin C17H18FN3O3, ofloxacin C18H20FN3O4, norfloxacin C16H18FN3O3, sulfadimethoxine C12H14N4O4S and sulfamethoxazole C10H11N3O3S – was shown. In several sewage sludge samples their...
June 2013
Effect of saline soil levels stresses on agronomic parameters and fodder value of the halophyte Atriplex leucoclada L. (Chenopodiaceae)
Salinity is one of the major environmental stresses which restricted the plant growth especially in arid and semiarid zones. The effect of saline soil levels stresses on the fodder value of Atriplex leucoclada L. (Chenopodiaceae) determined by growing of plants in the 3 levels of salinity including low, medium and high levels salinity in three replications from 2009 to 2011. The combined statistical analysis...
June 2013
The effects of nitrogen enrichment on tiller population density and demographics of annual ryegrass overseeded on natural pastures South of Brazil
Overseeding of annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) in natural pastures increases the availability and quality of forage in cold periods in the subtropics. We measured the effects of N fertilization (zero, 100 and 200 kg ha-1 of nitrogen) on tiller dynamics, density, stability and biomass of ryegrass overseeded on natural pasture grazed by cattle. We used a randomized block design with three replicates....
June 2013
Health risk assessment of heavy metals in seasonal vegetables from north-west Himalaya
Heavy metal contamination in agricultural soils may lead to the disorder of soil functionality, retardation in plant growth and influence human health through a contaminated food chain. The present study was undertaken to examine zinc, copper, lead and nickel content in soils and vegetables collected from different agricultural fields in Tarai region of Kumaun Himalaya. Ten surface soil (0 to 20 cm) and 20 vegetable...
June 2013
Evaluation of yield performance of Pleurotus sajor-caju on different agro-based wastes
Pleurotus sajor-caju a nutrient rich mushroom was cultivated on four different substrates, viz. Paddy straw, wheat straw, Apple leaf and Chinar leaf substrates. It was observed that its yield or biological efficiency was maximum on paddy straw followed by wheat straw, apple leaves and Chinar leaves. It was also observed thatP. sajor-caju gave the maximum yield in the first flush followed by second, third and...
June 2013
Effect of urea and common salt (NaCl) treated glyphosate on parthenium weed (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) at Western Hararghe zone, Ethiopia
Field experiments were conducted from 2008 to 2011, at western Hararghe zone, Eastern Ethiopia to evaluate the effect of urea and common salt treated glyphosate on parthenium weed (Parthenium hysterophorus). The experiments were arranged in randomized complete block design with five replications. Glyphosate herbicide at 3 L/ha was applied with different rates (0, 50, 100 and 150 ml) of urea and common salt. From...
June 2013
Mycorrhizal fungi influence on quantitative and morphological characteristics in Basil induced by phosphorus fertilizer under water deficit conditions
In order to investigate the effects of mycorrhiza (Glomus Fasciculatum) and phosphorus fertilizer on grain yield, biological yield, harvest index, plant height and number of branch in basil under water deficit condition, an experiment was conducted as split plot in randomized complete block design with four replications at Iran in 2011. The main-plot factor included: Two levels of irrigation regime (I1 and...
June 2013
The biochemical constituents and pectinase activities associated with the virulence of Rhizoctonia solani isolates in rice in West Bengal, India
Twenty five isolates of Rhizoctonia solani were isolated from infected rice fields from different agro-ecological regions of West Bengal. Cellulase and pectinase activities of the isolates were detected using carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and pectin agar media, respectively. Diameter of the clearing zones on the respective media represented the level of enzyme activity of each isolate. Mycelial protein,...
June 2013
Propolis as a natural antibiotic to control American foulbrood disease in honey bee colonies
American FoulBrood (AFB) is one of the most severe bacterial diseases that affect larvae of honey bee Apis mellifera, causing a decrease of bee population and colony production and due to the serious effects associated with AFB disease and the problems related to the use of antibiotics, it is necessary to develop alternative strategies for the control of the disease. The aim of this study was to determine, under...
June 2013
Identification of potato clones of population B3C2 with durable field resistance to late blight (Phytophthora infestans) and high yields in Uganda
Late blight disease caused by Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary is one of the major diseases of economic importance to potato production in Uganda causing yield losses of 40 to 60%. Use of host resistance is most economical and environmentally feasible solution to control this disease. This study was carried out to identify potato clones with high levels of field resistance...
June 2013
Incidence and diversity of mixed viruses lower in yam tubers and tuber sprouts compared with field leaf samples: Implications for virus-free planting material control strategy
Millions of people around the world, particularly in West Africa, depend on yam for food and income, however global yam production has been fluctuating since 2007. Virus infections contribute to yam yield losses and the occurrence of mixed virus infections is potentially catastrophic. Planting of certified virus-free/resistant tubers is advocated therefore knowledge of the role of yam planting material in the virus...
June 2013
Performance of open field Gerbera in response to planting time
Adjustment in planting time is one of the effective means of improving cut flower output under open field conditions. A field experiment was carried out on Gerbera with eight different dates of planting (15th March - 15th October) on Alfisol during 2006 to 2009. Difference in planting time induced a significant difference in performance of Gerbera, due to variation in soil moisture content (153.2 g/kg in May...
June 2013
Physiological and yield parameters of noni (Morinda citrifolia) as influenced by organic manures and drip irrigation
An experiment was conducted in Morinda citrifolia to find out the effect of various organic manures and drip irrigation on physiological and yield parameters. The experiment was carried out in split plot design with irrigation regimes on main plot and organic manures on sub plot. Among the treatment combinations, M2S4(100% crop water requirement through drip irrigation + 50% farmyard manure + 50% vermicompost)...
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