Agriculture

Water scarcity in Sub-Saharan has led to utilization of the wastewater in home gardening and also in commercial production of vegetables. Wastewater is associated with various contaminants, including heavy metals that are toxic and life threatening to humans. It was therefore important to evaluate and quantity the levels of heavy metals in the vegetable tissues supplied with both wastewater and tap water. Field and greenhouse experiments were carried out to evaluate the uptake and accumulation of cadmium and lead in selected indigenous vegetables for two seasons from September to November 2017 and January to March 2018. The field trial was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and in the greenhouse the treatments were arranged in Complete Randomized Design (RCD) replicated three times. Two types of water sources (wastewater and tap water), two types of irrigation (foliar and root-applied) and four vegetables were the main treatments. The findings revealed that Amaranthus accumulated highest amount of lead in its tissue for the field experiments in season 1, season 2 as well as the greenhouse (3.69mg kg-1 and 4.85mgk g-1 respectively. For cadmium Kales had the highest uptake of 3.38mgkg-1, 0.639mgkg-1 and 0.36mgkg-1 in season 1, season 2 and greenhouse. Interaction effects were also reported in the two metals and the respective vegetable species. Due to high levels of contamination in the water used in irrigation could be the reason for high accumulation of the metals in the vegetable species. Proper phytoremediation measures need to be put across to improve the quality of the vegetables in the region to promote healthy living among the consumers. 

The study was conducted to determine the influence of Trichoderma applied alone or in combination with organic fertilizer on the growth and yield of garlic (Allium sativum L.). Four treatments were evaluated: T1 (Recommended Rate of Organic Fertilizer (RROF) at 4.5 t ha-1), T2 (Recommended Rate of Trichoderma (RRTP) at 250 kg ha-1), T3 (½ RROF + ½ RRTP) and T4 (Full RROF + Full RRTP), the experiment was laid out following the Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replication. Results of the study revealed that application of full recommended rate of organic fertilizer (RROF) + full recommended rate of Trichoderma plus (RRTP) significantly influences the plant height of garlic at 30 DAP (38.95 cm) and at harvest (41.09 cm), bulb diameter (28.94 mm), number of bulb per kilogram (90.50) and the yield obtained per hectare (18.0t/ha). Based from this result, combination of full recommended rate of organic fertilizer and Trichoderma is effective source of nutrients for garlic production under pure organic cultivation.

This study looks at the effect of the sea water is having on the Densu delta wetland. The objective of this work is to assess the hydro- chemical dynamics of the surface water from the Densu delta using hydro chemical parameters, stable isotopes- oxygen-18 and deuterium and also asses the quality of the surface water for purposes like irrigation using SAR, %Sodium and other modules. Samples of surface water were taken for physico-chemical analysis. The samples were analysed for physical and chemical parameters and the stable isotopes (18 O and D2O). The results from the stable isotopes have shown that the quality of the surface water is being affected by slight mixing with sea water. From the SAR calculation, 62% and 38% of the water was within the excellent and good category respectively and none were within the doubtful and unsuitable category respectively. Calculation of % sodium showed that about 5 out of 8 samples have high sodium percent (above 60%) and are not suitable for irrigation purposes as per classification of Eaton 1950. From the Richards diagram, approximately 12.5% fall within good category; 75% in the category of doubtful; 12.5% within unsuitable category. Approximately 50% of the samples were found to be good by RSC index; 37% fall within the doubtful category and 13% unsuitable. A high percentage was within permissible ranges for TDS. The results suggest that generally water samples are suitable for domestic and irrigation purposes under normal temperature and pH condition.

Forty two samples each of two fish species, Tillapia zilli and Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus were collected along the Kpando Torkor Lake in the Volta Region of Ghana. The samples were investigated for levels of organochlorine pesticide residues and their potential health risks to humans were also assessed. Composite sample of muscles and gills of each species were homogenized using a warring blender. The homogenized samples were Soxhlet extracted with hexane/dichloromethane mixture. The extracts were cleaned up on florisil adsorbent and analyzed for organochlorine pesticide residues using gas chromatography equipped with electron capture detector. In all, fifteen organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were investigated of which thirteen organochlorines namely, ?-HCH, ?-HCH, p,p'-DDT, p,p'-DDD, p,p'-DDE, heptachlor, aldrin, dieldrin, ?-chordane, ?-endosulfan, ?-endosulfan, endosulfan sulfate and methoxychlor were identified. Heptachlor, ?-HCH, p,p'-DDD, ?-HCH, methoxychlor and endosulfan sulphate were the predominant OCP residues measured. The mean residue concentration in muscles and gills ranges from 0.10 to 17.35 ng/g wet weight and 0.56 to 37.75 ng/g wet weight respectively. A 100% incidence was recorded for ?-HCH, ?-HCH, p,p'-DDD, heptachlor, endosulfan sulfate in the muscle. In the case of the gills a 100% incidence was also recorded for ?-HCH, ?-HCH, p,p'-DDD, ?-chordane, endosulfan sulfate and methoxychlor. Risk assessment based on estimated daily intake (EDI) showed that values obtained for EDI for each organochlorine were far below the non-cancer and cancer benchmark concentrations. As a result the consumption of these fishes will have little or no significant adverse health effects on consumers. It is however, advisable to remove the gills from tilapia fish prior to preparation and consumption to reduce the cumulative and concomitant effect of OCPs in tilapia protein consumers in the long term.

Plantain banana are staple crops in DR Congo. These are superficially rooted monocot plants that require a continuous nutrient enrichment mechanism to maintain production, which decreases considerably after a few crop cycles. In burn agriculture, significant nutrient losses are recorded by various mechanisms. This research shows that cropping plantain banana in association with trees makes it possible to increase more not only the production of these on the unburned field in association with the trees, but also and above all to improve the yield of plantains in burned field in association with trees unlike burned cropping without the presence of trees where thirds of low yields are recorded.

This review presents a recent advance in natural antimicrobial food packaging. this packaging has emerged as a promising solution to improve food safety and extend shelf life decreases the carbon foot print while meeting consumer demand for sustainable packaging materials. The main tendency in package evolution is the switch from wasteful, polluting plastic to edible, biodegradable, film packaging that is antimicrobial active. This review comprehensively reviews recent research advances trends of polysaccharide-based materials in edible packaging addition of various components from natural agents (bacteriocins, essential oils, and natural extracts) to synthetic agents, organic.

Adoption is a decision to make use of an innovation on a continuous basis. This study investigated the socio-economic determinants of adoption of improved rice production technologies in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The study employed multi-stage random sampling techniques in the selection of 420 rice farmers from the three agricultural zones of the state. Primary data were sourced through field survey with the aid of structured questionnaires and interview schedule. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in data analysis. The result of the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers shows that majority (66.67 percent) of the respondents were males whose age ranged between 41-50 years with mean age of 42 years. Most of them (62.50 percent) were married and had household size of between 6-10 persons with average household size of 8 persons. Majority (50.83 percent) were full-time farmers whose farm size ranged between 1.1-2.0 hectares. Most of the farmers (43.33 percent) had been involved in rice farming for 21-30 years and earned monthly income of between N31,000-N40,000. The result of logistic regression analysis showed a log likelihood ratio of -188. 40 and Chi-square value of 682.559 which was significant at (P= 0.01); implying that all the variables jointly determined the dependent variable. The Pseudo R2 (Nagelkerke) which was 76.6 percent implied that about 76.6 percent of the variation in the adoption of improved rice production technologies was explained by the farmers socio-economic characteristics. Most of the variables were significant and met a priori expectations. The result of factor analysis identified: technical, financial and institutional constraints as major bottlenecks limiting adoption of improved rice production technologies in the area. It was concluded that the socio-economic characteristics of the rural farmers significantly influenced their adoption of improved rice production technologies. Necessary recommendations such as: reviving youths’ interest towards rice production; employing and training more extension workers; timely provision of subsidized agricultural inputs as well as incentives for the formation of cooperative societies; were made.

One of the most important natural resources that cover much of the earth's surface is soil. Most life on earth depends upon the soil as a direct or indirect source of food. Plants are rooted in the soil and obtain nutrients from it. Animals also get nutrients from eating the plants on the soil. Soil is home of many organisms such as seeds, spores, insects, and worms. The contents of soil change constantly and there are many different kinds of soil. It forms very slowly and is destroyed easily, so it must be conserved in order to continue to support life.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the agricultural performance in monocropping and in association of tomatoes affected by a few diseases in the city of Kisangani. The study was done following a non-randomized block device comprising two blocks of 6 plots each. Two types of crops were used namely tomato and spinach. The treatments consisted of tomatoes in pure culture and tomatoes in combination with spinach. Observations focused on the evolution of tomato diseases and the number of inflorescences, flowers, fruits, fruit weight, fruiting and yield per plant. The results obtained reveal that the combination of spinach with tomatoes reduces the spread of tomato diseases and increases tomato yield under the conditions of our study. information retrieval systems.

Nutrient status, availability, reachability are the basis of soil fertility studies in agricultural soils. The East Anglia experience evaluated soil nutrient dynamics from the following parameters: whole ecosystem and soil respiration, microbial carbon , soil total carbon, soil total nitrogen, soil C:N ratio, soil temperature and soil water filled pore spaces. The following land management practices were evaluated: grassland under permanent pasture on 5 y ley before stocking; grassland under permanent pasture sown with red clover a y before stocking; grassland under permanent pasture treated with N fertilizer a y before stocking; arable land under barley; with deciduous woodland as control. Each site was replicated four times and revisited at each time of sampling. Whole ecosystem respiration was measured once a day per month with portable environmental gas monitor. At the same time soil samples were collected for actual measurement of soil respiratory activity in the laboratory; together with soil water filled pore spaces. Significant differences were observed in whole ecosystem and soil respiration amongst land management practices with grassland under permanent pasture treated with N fertilizer a year before stocking giving the highest whole ecosystem and soil respiration, 67.8 and 33.9 mmol m-2 h-1 respectively. Respiratory activity was highest over the summer months and lowest over the winter months. Whole ecosystem and soil respiration were dependent on soil microbial C (R2 = 0.6 and 0.73 respectively). It pays to get it right when land management and nutrient dynamics are at stake.