April 2017
Fertilizer micro-dosing in West African low-input cereals cropping: Benefits, challenges and improvement strategies
Soil amendments are often unavailable in adequate quantities for increased crop production in smallholder cereal-based cropping systems in Africa. In order to increase crop yields and encourage farmers to apply inorganic fertilizers, fertilizer micro-dosing technology was developed. Fertilizer micro-dosing or “micro-fertilization” consists of the application of a small quantity of mineral fertilizer together...
April 2017
Response of Wheat (Tritium aestivum L.) to Variable Seed Rates: the Case of Hawassa Area, Southern Ethiopia
Wheat serves as a staple food and feed for all over the world. In Ethiopia, wheat is one of the most important cultivated cereals ranking 4th in area coverage, 3nd in total production and 2nd in yield. A wheat seed rate of 125 kg ha-1 is usually used across most wheat growing areas of Ethiopia in any production conditions. In order to optimize seed rate and plant density of wheat, an experiment was conducted at the...
April 2017
The performance of Soybean using Moringa as alley to improve soil productivity in North-Central Nigeria
This study assesses the performance of intercropping Glycine max (Soybean) and Moringa oleifera under alley cropping in Abuja, Nigeria during the 2014 and 2015 cropping season. The field experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 3 replications. The replicates contained five plots each, separated between blocks by 1 m pathway and 0.5 m within the blocks. The plot measured 5.0 m × 4.0 m...
April 2017
Embryo-like structures and root regeneration induced by 2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid in twenty African sweet potato cultivars
Embryo-like structures were induced from ‘whole leaf’ explants of sixteen of the twenty investigated sweet potato cultivars on Murashige and Skoog (1962) medium supplemented with 2,4 Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (0.2 mg/L) at the Makerere University Agricultural Research Institute Tissue culture laboratory. Shoot and root regeneration was possible in the non-African cultivar, Jonathan, whereas only root...
April 2017
Maturity indices for tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), cv. Ghalia 281 in Central Uganda
Application of maturity indices and optimal harvest time improves handling and marketing operations and minimizes pre and postharvest losses for tomato products. Growth patterns of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), cv. Ghalia 281, were therefore analyzed to determine nondestructive maturity indices for optimal harvest regimes. Propagation experiments were run in central Uganda in 2015. A total of 216 tomato fruits were...
April 2017
Toxicity of neonicotinoids used in melon culture towards Apis mellifera L.
The cultivation of melon (Cucumis melo L.) is of great importance to the Brazilian economy, especially the semiarid regions of the Northeast region. Damage caused by pests have hindered the production, requiring that control measures be adopted, among them applications of chemical insecticides, including neonicotinoids. Studies have shown collateral damage to beneficial insects such as bees, important pollinators for...
April 2017
Evaluation of aggregate distribution and selected soil physical properties under maize–jack bean intercropping and gypsum rates
Adequate soil management can create favourable conditions to increase aggregation and porosity of the soil, resulting in better aeration of the soil and water infiltration. Consortia of maize and other species have been used in no-till systems to increase dry matter production, and consequently, the soil cover. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of consortia of maize and jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis) on...
April 2017
Allometric relationships and carbon content for biomass-carbon estimation of East African Highland Bananas (Musa spp. AAA-EAHB) cv. Kibuzi, Nakitembe, Enyeru and Nakinyika
Globally, interests to increase carbon stocks have gained momentum in both woody and non-woody ecosystems. Despite efforts made to generate appropriate methods to estimate these stocks, most equations developed do not cater for intraspecific variabilities across e.g. species, regions or growth stages; especially in the case of bananas. Therefore, there is need to develop more robust equations to improve on the precision...
April 2017
Impact of crop rotation sequences on potato in fields inoculated with bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum
The potato industry in Kenya is threatened by bacterial wilt because most production areas are infested with the wilt-causing Ralstonia solanacearum and over 50% yield losses have been reported. Continuous cultivation causes soil physical and biological constrains that greatly affect the crop performance and increase proliferation of the bacterium. Rotation with non-host or suppressant plant species could contribute to...
April 2017
Elucidation of the betalainic chromoalkaloid profile of Pilosocereus catingicola (Gürke) Byles & Rowley subsp. salvadorensis (Werderm.) Zappi (Cactaceae) from ParaÃba, Brazil
The cacti are important plant genetic resources of the Brazilian semiarid region, with potential for the extraction of bioactive compounds such as flavonoids and alkaloids. The objective of this research was to characterize and quantify the chemical constituents of Pilosocereus catingicola (Gürke) Byles & Rowley subsp. salvadorensis (Werderm.) Zappi occurring in caatinga in the Westland of Paraíba,...
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