December 2007
Assessing the nutritional status of beef cattle: current practices and future prospects
Accurate determination of nutritional and health status of animals is invaluable in modern animal agriculture. Body weights and body condition scoring are the commonly used methods of assessing nutritional status of animals. This paper discusses drawbacks these methods have and highlights the benefits for using blood metabolites in assessing nutritional status of beef cattle. Blood metabolite levels indicate the extent...
December 2007
Biological approach to oil spills remediation in the soil
Perhaps there is no any other raw material that has impacted so much, and found wide application on human civilization than petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC). The paradox is that it is this same black gold that threatens human environment. PHC pollution in the environment, as well as the importance of natu-ral interactions amongst living entities to arrest the problems hitherto caused by oil spills are hereby examined....
December 2007
Antioxidant activity of extract from a brown alga, Sargassum boveanum
Water and ethanol extracts (WE and EE) from the dried sample of brown alga (Sargassum boveanum) were prepared and examined for its phenolic compounds. Amount of total phenolic compounds in WE was about 17 ± 0.492 mg catechin equivalent (CE)/g of dry sample, using Folin-Ciocalteu method. The antioxidant activity (AOA) of WE was high at about 90% inhibition of peroxidation of linoleic acid with 7 mg dry sample/ml...
December 2007
Antibacterial activities of some marine algae from the Aegean Sea (Turkey)
In this study, methanolic extracts of six marine algae belong to Rhodophyceae (Corallina officinalis), Phaeophyceae (Cystoseira barbata, Dictyota dichotoma,Halopteris filicina, Cladostephus spongiosus f. verticillatus) and Chlorophyceae (Ulva rigida) from the North Aegean Sea (Turkey) were studied for their antibacterial activity...
December 2007
Preliminary antidiarrhoeal activity of methanolic extracts of Securinega virosa (Euphorbiaceae)
Securinega virosa is used as remedy for diarrhoea in tropical Africa, but has not been investigated for its antidiarrhoeal activity. This study was therefore aimed at investigating the methanolic extracts of the leaves, stem bark and root bark for antidirrhoeal activity, using castor oil-induced diarrhoeal model in mice. The effects of these extracts on perfused isolated rabbit jejunum were also evaluated. The...
December 2007
Level of awareness of genetic counselling in Lagos, Nigeria: its advocacy on the inheritance of sickle cell disease
A descriptive analysis of reported cases of sickle cell disease and the level of awareness about genetic counseling in 30 hospitals were carried out. Additionally, 150 individuals between ages 16 - 45 were randomly selected for evaluation of genetic counselling awareness. The main tools for this study were questionnaires, which were taken to hospitals, and individuals completed the others. The numbers of reported...
December 2007
Susceptibility-resistance profile of micro-organisms isolated from herbal medicine products sold in Nigeria
In order to evaluate the susceptibility and resistance pattern of bacteria and fungal isolates obtained from herbal medicine products (HMPs) marketed in Nigeria to conventional antibiotics, a total of seventy-five (75) bacteria and fifty-two (52) fungi isolated from the HMPs were screened for susceptibility to conventional antibiotics using the disc diffusion method. Most of the bacteria isolates were sensitive to the...
December 2007
Verifying the reliability of hybrid issued from the cross “Picholine marocaine clones X Picholine du Languedocâ€
In order to verify the reliability of hybrid population issued from crossing between 3 clones of "Picholine marocaine" cultivar and the "Picholine du Languedoc" cultivar, the descendants and their parents were analysed using 35 microsatellite loci. No offspring resulted from self crossing of "Picholine marocaine" cultivar and 218 descendants among 220 analysed are legitimate. This...
December 2007
Segregation of genes controlling seed colour in sesame (Sesamum indicum linn.) from Nigeria
Genetic analysis of seed colour was carried out on crosses involving nine accessions of Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) from Nigeria. Inheritance studies showed that different gene actions were responsible for the expression of this important character. In three of the crosses, single gene action was observed, while in two others, the trait was under the control of two genes. In the sixth cross, involving white and...
December 2007
A genetic linkage map of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L) combining SRAP and ISSR markers
Sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) and Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers are both simple and efficient maker systems adapted to many crops and for multiple purposes. In this study a genetic map based on SRAP and ISSR markers was constructed for cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) based on the segregations of SRAP and ISSR markers in 112 plants of F2 population derived from a cross between two...
December 2007
Effects of plant hormones and 20-hydroxyecdysone on tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum) seed germination and seedlings growth
20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) is the major phytoecdysteroid of about 6% of plants. Its role in plant physiology has not been fully elucidated. In this work we studied the effects of 20E application on some morphological and biochemical parameters of tomato,Lycopersicum esculentum, seed during germination and seedling development (5 d). We compared the 20E effects with the action of phytohormones: gibberellic acid (GA3),...
December 2007
Spatial distribution of N, P and K in major yam soils of southeastern Nigeria
Pedometrics, the application of numerical techniques to describe soil attributes and enhance objectivity in soil-related decision making, was applied to soil samples from 149 geo-referenced locations in yam growing area of southeastern Nigeria. Geostatistical technique was applied using Krigin to estimate soil parameters from unsampled sites. Results revealed multi-nutrient deficiencies of N, P, and K in the area. The...
December 2007
Intercropping kenaf and cowpea
Experiment was conducted at Moor Plantation, Ibadan, Nigeria, to assess the compatibility of kenaf with cowpea in kenaf/cowpea mixtures. There were eight treatments. Each treatment was replicated four times in a randomized complete block design. Agronomic assessment indicated that kenaf and cowpea were compatible for intercropping and the land equivalent ratio values ranged from 1.5 – 2.0. ...
December 2007
Species composition, plant cover and diversity of recently reforested wild lands near Dabao Highway in Longitudinal Range-Gorge Region of Yunnan Province, China
Deforestation, over-cultivation and rural growth have severely damaged native vegetation of woodlands along roadsides in the Longitudinal Range-Gorge Region of Yunnan Province. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different reforestation practices, which consisted of natural restoration or planting with tree seedlings that varied in species composition, coverage and diversity, on damaged...
December 2007
Biodegradation of Lagoma crude oil using pig dung
Pig dung bacteria were isolated and screened for crude oil degrading capabilities. The pig dung was also investigated for enhancement of crude oil biodegradation. Addition of chicken manure to oil polluted soil (at 10% (v/w) pollution level) stimulated the biodegradation of lagoma crude oil used in the present study. In the soil amended with pig dung, 68.2% of the crude oil was degraded, whereas only 50.7% of...
December 2007
Toxicological studies and antimicrobial properties of some Iron(III) complexes of Ciprofloxacin
Two iron(III) complexes of Ciprofloxacin were synthesized by reaction of the ligand with iron(III) chloride hexahydrate in different solutions. The nature of bonding of the ligands and the structure of the isolated metal complexes were elucidated on the basis of their physical and spectroscopic studies. The infrared spectra suggest that two classes of compounds were obtained: molecular complex in...
December 2007
Nutritional and chemical value of Amaranthus hybridus l. leaves from Afikpo, Nigeria
The nutritional and chemical value of Amaranthus hybridus were investigated using standard analytical methods in order to assess the numerous potential of the plant leaves. The Proximate analysis showed the percentage moisture content, ash content, crude protein, crude lipid, crude fibre and carbohydrate of the leaves as 84.48, 13.80, 17.92, 4.62, 8.61 and 52.18%, respectively while its calorific...
December 2007
The effect of Lactobacillus paracasei on the rabbit’s cholesterolemia
Two Lactobacillus paracasei (Lbp6 and Lbp9) were examined for their capacity to decrease the level of the total cholesterol, of HDL cholesterol and of LDL cholesterol in hypercholesterolemia rabbit. The obtained results indicate no modification neither of the level of total cholesterol nor of its fractions for the standard diet (T) nor of standard diet where fermented milk (FM) is added. On the...
December 2007
Toxic effects of neem products (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) on Aedes aegypti Linnaeus 1762 larvae
Treatment and comparative analysis of the properties of aqueous extracts of seed kernel of Azadirachta indica A. Juss (neem) was carried out on Aedes aegypti larvae. The aim of this work was to evaluate lethal effects of neem products (1% Suneem, formulated neem oil and neem powder) on A. aegypti larvae. Assays showed that A. indica was toxic to larvae of A....
December 2007
Cultivation of Agaricus bisporus on wheat straw and waste tea leaves based composts and locally available casing materials Part III: Dry matter, protein, and carbohydrate contents of Agaricus bisporus
This study was performed to determine the effects of composts and casing materials on dry matter, protein, and carbohydrate contents of the fruit bodies of Agaricus bisporus. Results showed that dry matter of A. bisporus cultivated on peats was remarkably higher than cultivated on other casing materials No significant differences were found among casing soil groups in terms of protein content cultivated...
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