Agriculture

Farming today has gone beyond subsistence farming that produces for the farmer and his household. Research shows that the consumption of grains or cereal crops is at an alarming rate in the world, so to encourage small farm holders a manually operated multi-crop hand push planter with changeable metering devices for cowpea, maize and soybean was designed, fabricated and evaluated to improve planting efficiency and reduce drudgery involved in manual planting method. The laboratory and field tests were conducted to determine weight of seeds discharged from the planter, seed percentage damage, field capacity, average depth of placement of seeds in furrow, average inter-row spacing of seeds and the emergence of the seedlings. Results revealed that the planter had field efficiency and field capacity of 76.3% and 0.39 ha/hr with seed rate of 0.25 kg/ha, 0.18 kg/ha and 0.21kg/ha respectively for cowpea, maize and soybean. Percentage difference between the seed damage of 3.54%, 2.32% and 1.32% of cowpea, maize and soybean respectively obtained was from an average spacing of 40.8cm and depth of 3.98cm. The single-row multi-crop planter is very simple to use and it is maintenance free, except for the bearings which needs to be lubricated from time to time to allow the planter's ground wheel to move freely. For this design, the drive shaft directly controls the seed metering mechanism which eliminates completely attachments such as pulleys, belt systems, and gears thereby eliminating complexities which increase cost, and increasing efficiency at a highly reduced cost which is the focus of this project work. The planter can be easily maintained without any technicality and all materials used for the fabrication are locally available in the case of worn - out parts.

The magnitude of heterosis in fifty crosses (F1s) made by crossing five sudan grass pollinators with ten cytoplasmic male sterile lines in a line x tester mating design in forage sorghum. Based on per se performance and heterotic response eleven crosses for resistance to shoot fly infestation over better parent and six crosses for total soluble solid, SP 55609 A x PC 8 for protein per cent, 2219 A x PC 8, 2219 A x CSV 15, MR 750 A2 x CSV 15 for HCN content and ICSA 469 x PC 5 for IVDMD per cent were appeared best cross combinations for all three kinds of heterosis and could be used for commercial exploitation of good quality forage sorghum after multilocation testing.

Ions concentration of seventeen wheat cultivars (Triticum aestivum L.) in NaCl salinity (16 dS m-1 and two weeks exposure) was assessed to evaluate the ability of these traits in salt screening. There was an increase in Na+ concentration and decrease in K+ concentration in salinity stress compared to control condition in shoot parts. Even thought, there was a clear relation between salt tolerance or salt sensitivity and Na+ concentration in shoot plant. It seems that the increase in concentration of Na+ concentration can be criteria to distinct salt tolerance in the shoot of early wheat plant. Therefore Na exclusion measurement can be applied with other trait such as yield and yield components to screen wheat cultivars in salinity condition.

The phenotypic correlations among egg weight, external and internal egg quality traits of two commercial egg type chickens, Isa brown and Harco black chickens were determined. A total number of 200 point of lay hens of 100 each of Isa brown and Harco black were used for the study. Data were collected on egg weight, egg length, egg content, shell weight, shell thickness, yolk weight, albumen height, albumen weight, yolk height, yolk length and yolk colour, from 960 eggs consisting 40 each of the strain analyzed on weekly bases for 12 weeks. Results shows a significant (P<0.05) effect between the measured parameters and the two strain of hens. Isa brown eggs had higher values of egg length (54.12mm), egg content (45.48g), shell weight (4.68g) and albumen length (5.75mm) than its counterpart Harco black eggs. The association between egg weight and other egg biometrical traits were found to be positive and very highly significant (r = 0.31- 0.80; p<0.0001) while other egg parameters were either positively or inversely correlated with each other for Isa brown strain. The relationship between egg weight and other egg biometrical traits were found to be very highly significant (p<0.0001; r = 0.73) while other egg variables were also either positively or inversely correlated with each other for Harco black strain .It can be concluded that Isa brown hens eggs was better than Harco black hens in respect to egg length, egg content, shell weight and albumen length while the phenotypic correlation coefficient results can be used in selection criteria. 

The study was conducted to assess possibility of predicting body weight on the basis of body measurement in crossbred Yoruba Ecotype in order to provide further information leading to their improvement. The genotype was made up of Yoruba Ecotype Chicken (FEC) and Dominant Black (DB). Mating type resulted from the crossing were (DB x DB), (DB x YE) and (YE x YE). Data were collected on Body Weight (BG), Breast Girth (BG), Body Length (BDL), Kneel Length (KL), Neck Length (NL), Shank Length (SL), Wing Length (WL) and Beak Length (BKL) were measured individually on adult progenies resulted from the crosses. The measurements were taken with aid of weighing scale and simple measuring tape. The General Linear Model (GLM) of the Statistical Analysis System (SAS) was used for the analysis of the data generated. Coefficient of determination (R2) for all the traits were generally positive and significant (P < 0.05), highest value was obtained for DB x DB followed by DB x YE and least value was obtained for YE x YE. The value ranged from 0.88 – 0.98 in DB x DB, 0.36 – 0.97 in DB x YE and 0.86 – 0.95 in YE x YE. BG gave highest coefficient of determination across the genotypes; BG (0.98, 0.97, 0.95), followed by SL (0.94, 0.97, 0.95) and least value were observed in BKL (0.56, 0.365 and 0.46) for (DB x DB), (DB x YE) and (YE x YE) respectively. Conclusively, the result indicated that significant amount of improvement can be achieved through continuous selection and breeding of the genotypes involved in this study

This study was conducted to Evaluation of vermicompost on the Pigments content of Pelargonium hortorum. This experiment was conducted in the Islamic Azad University, Garmsar branch. Treatments of vermicompost rates included: 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100%. Also combine of control pot included: 25% cocopeat, 20% pulp tea, 10% rice straw and 45% garden soil. According to analysis of variance, treatments had significant effect on Chlorophyll a and b, Total chlorophyll, Anthocyanin and Carotenoids at 1% statistical probability.With regard to the comparison of treatments and control, 75% vermicompost treatment was the most effective treatments and this level suggest for pelargonium culture.

In an effort to achieve increased cocoa production in Nigeria, a number of initiatives were introduced towards increasing yields with the aim of reviving the old glory of cocoa and make it an engine of Nigerian economy. Despite this, farmers still produce below expected cocoa production figure due to conditions associated with their farmland. Tenure insecurity hindered acceptability of the established initiatives since majority of the farmers in the cocoa industries are holding the farmland in possession through different arrangements which provide the legal and normative framework within which all agricultural as well as other economic activities are conducted. On this note, this study aims to investigate the effects of tenure arrangement on adoption of CRTs. Result shows that respondents were mostly males, Christians, members of CFAN with mean age of 59.0+10.18 with average household size of 8 people, cultivating an average farm size of 17.38 acres, obtained mostly through different tenural patterns and scattered in different locations. Findings further reveals that age, membership to CFAN and tenure arrangement had significant relationship with adoption of cocoa rehabilitation techniques. And also, there was significant difference in the perception, as well as adoption of selective tree replanting, planting under old cocoa trees, chupon regeneration, coppicing, gapping up between tenant farmers and farm owners at p=0.05. Cocoa industry is mostly populated with tenant farmers who had unfavourable perception about cocoa rehabilitation resulting in low adoption rate due to challenge of insecurity of tenure. Thus, there is need for development of technological packages that meet the need of different categories of farmers based on their respective tenure. Also there is the need for securing land-use rights through improved tenancy arrangements to better meet the interests of small, tenant and landless farmers.

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of using treated wastewater on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of Lolium perenne in greenhouse conditions in Sa'dabad of the Dashtestan, Iran. Experiment was performed in a randomized complete block design with 5 treatments and 4 replicates. Treatments included: fresh water, fresh water + 25% treated wastewater, fresh water + 50% treated wastewater, fresh water + 75% treated wastewater, and 100% treated wastewater. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the impact of wastewater had significant effect on growth and physiological characteristics. Root weight (6.7 g), leaf weight (3.6 g), leaf area (8.4 cm2), root length (33 cm) and plant height (11.3 cm) showed a significant increase in compared to the control. In relation to the characteristics of protein, phosphorus and ash, the same trend was observed.

Maize stover consists of the leaves and stalks of maize plants left in a field after harvest and it makes up about half of the yield and is similar to straw. Ensiling maize stover with urea makes it a urea treated maize stover. Centrosema pubescens is a legume in the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae and tribe Phaseolae. It is native to Central and South America and cultivated in other tropical areas as forage for livestock. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of urea treatment on chemical composition; feed intake, blood urea and ammonia of maize stover. The potential of such a stover for growth performance of calves were investigated using 8 N’dama calves of 5 to 8 months of age and an average initial live weight of 92.5 kg. The animals were divided into two groups each of which were individually fed to appetite on basal diets of either untreated maize stover and Centrosema pubescens (Diet T1) or 5 % urea treated maize stover and Centrosema pubescens (Diet T2) for 90 days. In addition all the calves were allowed free access to mineral/vitamin blocks and ample drinking water ad libitum. Urea treatment increased the crude protein (CP) content of maize stover in Diet T2 by 22.12% and also a highly significant difference (p<0.01) in the crude fibre (CF) content over the untreated stover in Diet T1. Besides, compared with the untreated stover, urea treatment brought an improvement of 28% in daily feed intake. These improvements in terms of chemical composition, daily feed intake and dry matter intake led to a highly significant (p<0.01) live weight gain of animals fed on the urea treated stover diet compared with those fed on the untreated stover diet. However, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in blood urea levels but significant existed in feed cost/kg gain and linear body measurements between the animals fed on Diet T1 and those fed on Diet T2. Generally, with the added advantage of Diet T2 being more cost effective than Diet T1, feeding urea treated maize stover may be considered as one of the strategies that bring about an efficient utilization of crop residues for livestock feeding in Eastern part of Nigeria. However, its economic advantage over other alternatives must carefully be examined under the prevailing price conditions before it is implemented in an area.

Compatibility of implements with tractors has direct impact on quality of work (planting and tillage). To determine the degree of compatibility, data were collected from 310 tractor users throughout Kurdistan, West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan, Kermanshah and Hamadan provinces in Iran by random sampling method using Cochran’s formula. Each questionnaire sheet had six check boxes indicating different levels of satisfaction (excellent, very good, good, moderate, weak and very weak) with the values of 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, respectively. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.67 obtained for the questionnaires. The results showed that the slope of land had significantly negative effect on compatibility of tractors with the equipment. Also tillage and planting equipment were less compatible with MF240 tractor. MF285 tractor was incompatible with all the equipment used. On the other hand, MF399, because of its high traction capacity, observed to be the most compatible with equipment. Results also showed that the farmers' education had direct impact on compatibility between tractor and implements. Providing the farmers with more knowledge about the compatibility factors, draft and implement adjustments through CDs and manuals as well as short training courses may help to overcome tractor-implement incompatibility problems.