Agriculture

A well sorted municipal solid waste which was composted and co-composted with other materials such as dewatered faecal sludge and ammonium sulphate as enrichment were used in the amendment of a 15 kg soil contained in 147 (43.2 x 35.6 cm) polythene bags for two cropping seasons. Impact of the dewatered faecal sludge on the speciation of heavy metals, Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd in the co-compost (Co), enriched co-compost (Eco) and garden soils (S) were evaluated. The results of the analysis reveal Co and Eco have about 50 % of Cu, 75 – 80 % of Zn and 80 – 85 % Cd highly bound organically. Lead was 60 % bound to organic fraction in Co and Eco, same as the other composts. The amended soils had 30 – 50 % Cu and 30 % Zn organically bound as the dominant fraction. Lead shifted and was 55 – 65 % dominant in the residual fraction whiles Cd was below detection.

Twenty weaned rabbits of mixed sexes aged between 8 to 9 weeks were randomly allotted to five dietary treatments with four rabbits per treatment. Each rabbit was used as a replicate. Three tropical grasses and leaves from two forage plants were used to prepare the diets. The leaves were obtained from Myrianthus arboreus and Gmelina arborea two common forages and the tropical grasses incude Tridax procumbens, Pannicum maximum and Pennisetum purpureum. Parameters studied include average weekly feed intake, average weekly weight gain, feed conversion ratio and feed efficiency ratio. The study was carried out in the rabbit section of the Faculty of Agriculture Research and Teaching Farm of the Delta State University, Asaba Campus Delta State Nigeria. Significance was reported at 5% level of probability and the means were separated using Duncan's Multiple Range Test Procedure. Significant differences were observed for all parameters measured between all the test materials. Variations in feed intake and weight gain were observed and values obtained were within the ranges of reported values.

For CP73-21 sugarcane regeneration at salinity stress an experiment was conducted in 2014-2015 year, in tissue culture laboratory of Islamic Azad University of Ahvaz. According to past results, 3 mg/l of 2-4D treatment was applied as callus induction treatment. Then calluses were transferred to regeneration medium. The effect of treatments was significant at 1% on indirect regeneration. In between treatments the highest of mean was related to 1 BAP + 0.2 NAA treatments, also the effect of salinity on regeneration was significant at 1%. The highest regeneration value was obtained in control and 33 mM treatments. Effect of Salinity on proline was significant at 1% and to increase the level of stress, increased proline content. In both laboratory and greenhouse conditions the investigated of traits were decreased with increasing salinity levels.

Fodder grasses like Sorghum bicolor play a vital role in livelihood generation in arid and semi-arid areas of Rajasthan in India. Cadmium pollution from industries can affect soils in farmlands thereby playing havoc with health of humans and livestock. The present study was undertaken to study the effect of Cadmium salts on seed germination percentage, seedling growth and fresh weight including various biochemical parameters of Sorghum bicolor. Seeds were treated with different concentrations (10, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 ppm) of cadmium sulphate along with control for 10 days. On the 10th day results were noted for above parameters. Seed germination percentage was recorded maximum at 10 ppm followed by 100 ppm. Both shoot and root length showed progressive decline with cadmium treatment. Fresh weight of seedlings was observed better than control for 10 ppm dose level. Further maximum amount of proteins and total soluble sugars were observed at 500ppm dose level while starch and total phenols were found to be maximum at 100ppm dose level. However, in lipids there was constant decrease as compared to control with increase in treatment dose. Total chlorophyll was found to be maximum at 1000 ppm , carotenoids and MDA at in control. These results can be further developed as markers for field testing of cadmium polluted plants.

The objectives of this study were to determine the energy consumption and evaluation of relationship between inputs and output for wheat production in Shahrkord region, Iran. For this propose data were collected from 60 wheat farms using a face to face questionnaire. The results revealed that total energy input for wheat production was found to be 31188.25 MJ ha-1 that the share of non-renewable energy form (89%) was more than renewable energy form (11%).Electricity has the highest share by 38.25% followed by total fertilizers and diesel fuel. Energy use efficiency, energy productivity, and net energy were 3.03, 0.21 kg MJ-1, and 65012.08 MJ ha-1, respectively. The regression results revealed that the contribution of energy inputs on crop yield (except for diesel fuelenergies) was significant. Machinery energy was the most significant input (0.798) which affects the output level.It indicates that a 1% increase in the energy machinery input led to 0.798% increase in yield in these circumstances. The results also showed the impacts of indirect and renewable energy on yield are negative. It was concluded that additional use of machinery, and increasing mechanization level, would result more yield in the area.

In order to get the knowledge easily and quickly for the new countryside to meet the requests on agriculture development by the advanced science and technology, emphasis on the regional agriculture. We put forward an integrated platform model that provide the demonstration and query on regional agriculture information. The solution is to set up the regional multimedia system based on the comprehensive agriculture information system, meanwhile, considering the current situations, including the network equipments and information system operations. After the analysis and design of the system function and structure, we introduce the operation and the realization of models in detail. It can achieve the general data by the demonstration system easily and the especially data by the query system, also the immediate data exchanging and sharing by the information exchange platform.

Agriculture is the major economic activity in Kenya contributing up to 24 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (GoK, 2014). According to Odhiambo et al. (2004), agriculture is the most important sector in the Kenyan economy. This is because it provides employment opportunities, source of foreign exchange earner, and food provision besides offering linkages with the other sectors of the economy. Moreover, agriculture is among the six key sectors identified to deliver a 10 percent economic growth per annum as envisaged under the economic pillar of the Kenya Vision 2030. The country aims at promoting an innovative, commercially oriented, and modern agricultural sector (Kenya Vision 2030). Animal genetic resources are used to accommodate both short and long term benefits for improved livelihoods. Structured breeding programmes provide a key to increase production levels and product quality, increase productivity and cost efficiency, maintain genetic diversity and support the conservation and sustainable utilization of specific breeds. For sustainable breeding strategies to take place there is a need for long term planning and commitment. For conservation or improvement of a breed or population for a given purpose the choice of breeding strategy is determined by a number of factors and is giving the framework for design of more detailed breeding programmes for specific populations.

African oil bean (Pentaclethra macrophylla Benth) is one of the numerous tree plants in the tropics found abundantly in the Eastern part of Nigeria where the seed called ugba – a non timber forests product is not only consumed as a delicacy but highly revered and recognized as one of the cultural menu recipes for traditional ceremonies. The study was all about the profitability of marketing the seed within Ibadan metropolis, Oyo State, Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was employed using structured questionnaires to interview the traders. The result revealed among many others that the business was female gender – driven, dominated by Igbo traders (78.12%) and quite profitable. The average profit per 98.6kg bag was ?23675. Profitability (?0.29) tells that for every one Naira investment, 29kobo is realized as profit and the profitability ratio (0.22) with regard to sales reveal also that for every one Naira sales or returns 22kobo comes in as net income. Notwithstanding the profit margin, the business was however not without some constraints against which some recommendations were made.

This work examined the influence of school farm on the learning of Agricultural Science in senior secondary schools in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State. The study utilized a descriptive survey research design with random sampling techniques. Six public senior secondary schools were randomly selected from the twelve schools in Ikwuano and then one hundred and twenty (120) agricultural science students were randomly selected from the six schools sampled. (20 agricultural science students from each school sampled). Two research questions and one null hypothesis guided the study. Instrument for data collection was a 10-item structured questions. The method for data analysis were descriptive statistics (mean, pool mean and standard deviation) for answering the two research questions. z-test was used to analyze the formulated null hypothesis. The findings of the study are that school farm has a positive influence on the learning of Agricultural science in senior secondary schools in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State. Based on these findings, it was recommended among others that government and even the school management should always ensure the establishment of a functional school farm in schools and both the agricultural science teachers and the students on their own should always ensure proper management and utilization of the school farm. More so, prices and awards should always be given to the best agricultural science students yearly in order to encourage and motivate others.

Agriculture provides a variety of societal functions. Intensive and expanded using of farming land in recent decades has negative effects on ecological factions and stability of their production. Mechanization is one of the main factors of modern agriculture and directly and indirectly is related to sustainable agriculture. In this study, the relationship between mechanization and sustainability of dry farming wheat and dry chickpea farms in the Kuhdasht county of Iran were investigated. Indicators in two categories: direct (energy consumption, soil compaction and air pollution) and indirect (risk of contamination with chemicals) were evaluated. The impact of mechanization indicators on social- economic (employment, job damage and economic performance) were investigated. Although these indicators do not show a complete overview of sustainability farm, for comparison, farm stability and improvement farm sustainability are effective. The results show strong communication between mechanization and the sustainability in dry farming of wheat and chickpea and although mechanization has the positive effects on sustainability but it has negative effects as well. With determining of type and scale of local mechanization, sustainability of production will increase.