African Journal of
Agricultural Research

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Agric. Res.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1991-637X
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJAR
  • Start Year: 2006
  • Published Articles: 6860

Table of Content: 29 June, 2017; 12(26)

June 2017

Adapting Nyando smallholder farming systems to climate change and variability through modeling

This study was done in Nyando, Kenya to model maize production under different climate scenarios and project the yields up to 2030 and 2050 using Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) under rain fed conditions. Three maize varieties were used; Katumani Comp B as early maturing variety, Hybrid 511 as a medium maturing variety and Hybrid 614 as a late maturing variety. Global coupled model Hadley...

Author(s): Tobias Okando Recha, Gachene Charles K. K. and Lieven Claessens

June 2017

Resistance to Phytophthora infestans in tomato wild relatives

Late blight of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) caused by the heterothallic oomycete Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary, is one of the most destructive and serious diseases of tomato in cool and wet environments. Tomato breeders have developed late blight-resistant tomato lines and cultivars based on Ph resistance genes derived from S. pimpinellifolium, but resistance can be short-lived because P. infestans is...

Author(s): Ramadan Ahmed Arafa, Olfat Mohamed Moussa, Nour Elden Kamel Soliman, Kenta Shirasawa, Said Mohamed Kamel and Mohamed Tawfik Rakha,

June 2017

Optimizing degraded steep upland paddy field under no tillage practice using leaf mulching and earth-worms

A field experiment project was conducted in Karawang District, Indonesia from April  to October, 2016 in the search of efforts to optimize degraded steep upland paddy field and paddy yield. The experinment was designed under no tillage practices and statistical randomized block were applied with two factors, that is, banana leaf mulch, and worms where each factor is varied into four levels of treatments with three...

Author(s): Briljan Sudjana

June 2017

Irregular migration and smallholder farmers’ crop production: A case of Kasulu District, Tanzania

Despite the fact that irregular migrants (IRMs) have often been facing a lot of challenges in sustaining their livelihood in Kasulu District, in recent years, there has been an increase of IRMs from within and outside Kasulu District in search of casual labour in the local communities. The study therefore was undertaken in four villages in Kasulu, Kitanga, Kagera-Nkanda, Mvugwe and Nyachenda to determine the...

Author(s): Justin K. Urassa and Samwel R. Magweiga

June 2017

Organic carbon dynamics and changes in some physical properties of soil and their effect on grain yield of maize under conservative tillage practices in Abakaliki, Nigeria

In Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan Countries of Africa, erosion is pervasive and major source for loss of soil and productivity. This has necessitated continued search for appropriate soil management technologies to ensure sustained and profitable crop production. An experiment was carried out using maize (Zea mays L.) to evaluate organic carbon dynamics and changes in some physical properties of soil and grain yield of...

Author(s): James Nte Nwite and Chukwuebuka Christopher Okolo

June 2017

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technology applied in millet feature extraction and variety identification

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technology is widely used on agricultural products for quality detection, classification and variety identification due to its rapid speed and high-efficiency. NIRS experiments were conducted to identify varieties of DUN millet, JIN 21 millet and 5 other types of millet. The NIRS characteristic curves and data of millet samples were collected. The spectroscopic data on different types...

Author(s): Wu Cui-qing, Kong Li-juan, Wang Sheng and Guo Yu-ming  

June 2017

Phenotypic, socio-economic and growth features of Guinea fowls raised under different village systems in West Africa

In Benin, family poultry farming has become an important activity in economic and social aspects that contribute to food security, poverty reduction and well-being. However, current information about poultry production and consumption is still limited. This information would be useful to improve the sustainable exploitation of agricultural and commercial genetic resources. We aimed to identify and assess the...

Author(s): Pascal V. Houndonougbo, Christophe A. A. M. Chrysostome, Rodrigo R. Mota, Hedi Hammami, Jérôme Bindelle and Nicolas Gengler

June 2017

Yield and yield components of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) as influenced by planting density and rate of nitrogen application at Holeta, West Oromia region of Ethiopia

Four different nitrogen levels and four plant spacing were studied in 4×4 factorial arrangements in randomized complete block design with three replications. The highest yield, number of tuber,  number of tuber and dry weight of tuber were obtained with application of jointly 100 and150 kg/ha nitrogen. Increasing plant density resulted in higher tuber yield, dry weight of tuber and total dry matter yield....

Author(s): Fayera Wakjira Negero

June 2017

Determinant of Sheno butter (cows’ butter) market chain: The case of Kimbibit District in North Shewa Zone of Oromia National Regional State, Ethiopia

This study was carried out to assess the determinants of Sheno butter market participation decision and level of participation in Kimbibit District. The study took a random sample of 126 butter producer households by using multi-stage sampling procedure and employing a probability proportional to sample size sampling technique. The Heckman two-stage econometric estimation procedure is employed to identify factors that...

Author(s): Dirriba Idahe and Lemma Zemedu

June 2017

Effects of plant density on the performance of selected African upland rice varieties

The effects of plant density on yield and yield components in upland rice cultivation were examined by conducting a series of field experiments in Central Uganda, using three African and one Japanese improved upland rice varieties. The estimation of plant-density response functions with respect to yield components and yield revealed that an increase in plant density significantly decreased the number of panicles per...

Author(s): Shunsuke Matsumoto, Tatsushi Tsuboi, Godfrey Asea, Kisho Miyamoto, Atsushi Maruyama, Michiko Takagaki and Masao Kikuchi