Agriculture

41 (31 females and 10 males) 50% Boer and 50% Abergelle crossbred goats were distributed to evaluate and compare their kids growth performance, farmers' perception and their survivable rate under farm management system. Housing, feeding and health care were thoroughly attended. The average BW, WW, SMW and NMW of the crossbred (25% Boer and 75% Abergelle) male and female kids were (2.68 kg, 2.62 kg),(12.17 kg, 11.95 kg)and (18.25 kg, 17.38 kg) respectively. While, the local kids average BW, WW, and SMW were (2.30kg, 2.23kg), (10.5kg,10.5kg) and (14.17kg,13.38kg) for male and female respectively. The result indicated that crossbred body weight increment at different growth stage was better than the local breed. Farmers were also perceive the crossbred goat have docile behavior which easily adopt for zero grazing, non selective and voracious in feeding and high growth rate, even though they criticize as short in body length and lowest disease resistant. The survivable rate of the crossbred kids at pre weaning and post weaning were 90.7% and 97.4% respectively which more related to low disease resistance. So that with applying of good management practice scaling up activities has to be strengthened to make farmers better benefited from Abergelle cross Boer goat breed.

Trials were carried out using five composite maize varieties in a Striga lutea (Lour) endemic soil of Temidire-Eruwa, Oyo State, Nigeria, in 2004 and 2005. The composite maize varieties were tested under varied fertilizer types, Nitrogen (N) concentrations and artificial striga infestation. The objective was to test these striga resistant maize varieties for yield and agronomic performance under the above conditions. The result showed that, variety and year of evaluation differed significantly (P<0.01) for almost all agronomic characters such as plant stand, days to anthesis (silking and tasselling), plant and ear heights as well as root and stalk lodging resistance at both 100kgN and 200kgN/ha. Variety x Year interaction were also significantly different (P<0.01) for all agronomic characters except root lodging and husk tip cover. Fertilizer type differed only for days to silking, plant height and plant aspect, while Year x Nitrogen source and Variety x Nitrogen source was highly significant (P<0.01) for field weight. Plant stands were better in 2004 than 2005 for all varieties except Acr 97syn-W and DMR-LSR-W. The composite maize varieties tolerated high N-concentration except DMR-LSR-Y which do not utilize excess Nitrogen above 100kgN/ha. Use of striga resistant maize varieties concomitantly with Nitrogen fertilizer is recommended for farmers in Striga lutea endemic ecology, for higher grain yield.

This paper evaluates the economic impact of projects fund and personnel costs of propagation on operating performance of the country's two main products, namely wheat and canola, between the years 1997-2007, in Parsabad Moghan region. In this study, data is consisting of three sections: descriptive analysis, and regression relations. In regression analysis, "projects’ fund and propagation of personnel costs" is the independent variable; and “wheat yield" as well as "canola yield" are dependent variables which are inserted into two separate equations, respectively. And given the significance of the value of F (P = 0/0000), in both equations, and also with regard to the high amount of R ¬ 2, it can be concluded that propagation credits are the major role in increasing or reducing the performance of these two products. It can also be concluded that the effect of propagation in increasing the wheat is more than canola yield and it is able to explain 91% of the performance of this product. Also, given the amount of R2, the credits in the case of canola is able to explain 71% of the changes in performance of this product.

Suitability of alternative mixes for container vegetable production was studied in a Plant and Screen house of Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources Management, Ebonyi state University, Abakaliki. There were 5 growth media mixes and topsoil which included coconut husk mixed with pig dung, sawdust mixed with pig dung, burnt rice husk mixed with pig dung, fresh rice husk mixed with pig dung, burnt rice husk mixed with fresh rice husk mixed with sawdust mixed with coconut husk mixed with pig dung and native topsoil. The design used was a completely randomized design (CRD). The treatments were replicated four times to give a total of twenty-four experimental units. Amaranthus cruntus L. was used as a container vegetable to serve as a test crop. Data from both media mixes, topsoil chemical properties and agronomic yield of Amaranthus cruntus L. were analyzed using analysis of variance. Results showed that organic wastes based media mixes had superior chemical properties for vegetable production compared to native topsoil. Mixing each organic based media with pig dung significantly (P<0.05) improved their percent N,OC and pH contents relative to top soil. Percent N,OC and pH were 46, 46,91 and 15 % for sawdust mixed with pig dung, burnt rice husk mixed with unburnt rice husk mixed with sawdust mixed with coconut mixed with pig dung, coconut husk mixed with pig dung and sawdust mixed with pig dung when compared with control. There was generally significantly (P<0.05) better Amaranthus cruntus L. performance in organic based mixes when compared to topsoil. Coconut husk mixed with pig doing had superior significant (P< 0.05) effect on leaf number, number of branches, plant height, leaf area index and fresh shoot weight of Amaranthus cruntus L. in the study compared to topsoil and other media mixes. Coconut husk mixed with pig dung was higher by 23, 18, 15, 39, 37 and 14% than topsoil for leaf number, number of branches, plant height, leaf area index and fresh shoot weight of Amaranthus cruntus L. respectively. The media mixes and topsoil enhanced chemical properties and agronomic yield in the order of coconut husks mixed with pig dung > fresh rice husk mixed with pig dung > burnt rice husk with fresh rice husk mixed with coconut husk mixed with sawdust mixed with pig dung > burnt rice husk mixed with pig dung > sawdust mixed with pig dung > topsoil. It was concluded that growing Amaranthus cruntus L. in media mixes and particularly coconut husk mixed with pig dung could serve as suitable alternative to soil in container vegetable production in Abakaliki agro ecology.

The diameter distribution models of a natural stand in Shasha forest reserve (1.44ha permanent sample plots), South West Nigeria, were modeled with Beta distribution function. The data consisted of dbh measurement of all the trees with dbh ? 10cm. The data set for 1960 was used to model the diameter distribution while 1976 data set was used for model validation which should not be significance to the observed values. Simple linear regression equation was used to fit the Beta function/models. The best model from all the parameters was selected based on least values of standard deviation error, significance and high coefficient of determination. The result revealed that 68 tree species were currently available in the study area. The maximum dbh was observed in 1960 data set (164.91cm) while the least was observed in 2011 data set (81cm). The best model fit was (a+b) = 0.80lnDq – 200.79 (R2 = 61.31%, SE = 24.78 and p = 0.0003). The results of the models validation revealed that there were no significant differences between the observed and the predicted value of the parameters. Models developed are therefore recommended for application in the projection of diameter distribution for proper management.

Pearl millet is an important food and feed crop mostly cultivated in the semi-arid region of the world. Ionizing radiation has been widely used as a tool in plant breeding programs. Similar to other techniques of crop improvement, irradiation can induce alterations that can modify the chemical composition and the nutritional value of food crops. These changes depend on the irradiation dose and the crop species and give plant breeders the opportunity to select induced desirable mutants. In this paper, we discuss the usefulness of gamma radiation in achieving improvements in the grain yield and nutritional quality of pearl millet.

In this paper, the availability and economic importance of some selected Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) among rural households in Nigeria were investigated. The National Living Standard Survey (NLSS) data collected by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics were used for the study. A number of forest products activities were found to be of importance to the livelihood of households in the study area. These include hunting, honey processing, palm wine tapping, fruit processing, hides, and mushroom gathering. About 17% of the respondents were engaged in hunting, 17.43% in honey processing, 17.36% in palm wine tapping, and 15.85% mushroom gathering. With respect to income generation, the most important of these activities is palm wine tapping with income share of 87.51%. The results also show that the poor were found to be more dependent on the forest than the non-poor, while households from the Southern zones were more forest dependent than households from the Northern zones. It is recommended that research should be conducted into breeding of early maturing species of these valuable trees that are being cut down at an alarming rate to guarantee future availability for food, medicinal and livelihood purposes.

Trials were carried out using five maize varieties in Ibadan, Oyo state Nigeria in 2010 and 2011 maize cropping seasons. The varieties were planted in a randomized complete block design of three replicates. The objective was to evaluate the relationship existing among various growth and yield components as they contribute to grain yield. The result showed that varieties differed significantly in days to 50% flowering, field weight and number of kernel per cob (P<0.05), leaf area, ear length and 1000 grain weight (P<0.01), plant height and grain yield/ha (P<0.001). ART98-SW5OB and Obatanpa were superior in almost all the agronomic traits evaluated while ART98-SW6 OB was least in plant height and produce flowers earlier than the other varieties. Years, variety and years of evaluation interaction were however not significantly different. Ear length correlated positively and strongly with plant height and number of kernels per cob (P<0.001). Plant height and other agronomical traits were positively associated with grain yield except days to 50% flowering and numbers of kernel per cob. Growth and yield components are related in one way or the other; hence selection for secondary yield traits that correlate positively with primary yield components is fundamental to the overall grain yield development in maize.

Vertical Integration remains a critical concept for organizational that seeks to own activities along the supply chain with an aim of gaining control of activities within their line of business. In most organizations vertical integration as a strategy once adopted along the supply chain, seeks to have an effect on value addition, cost reduction and control of the activities the organization has owned through vertical integration. The general objective of the project was to identify and evaluate the effects of vertical integration on the performance of agricultural commodity business. The theoretical review established the effects of vertical integration towards the performance of agricultural commodity business. The specific objectives of the study discussed the effects of ownership of warehouses; transport ownership, supplier relationship management and distribution ownership on the performance of agricultural commodity business in Export Trading Co Ltd. The study was conducted through a descriptive design to describe the effects of vertical integration on the performance of the agricultural commodity business. Stratified sampling technique ensured success of coming up with a sample size of 45 respondents from the target population of 148. Primary and secondary data was collected for the research, a semi structured questionnaires was used to collect primary data while press releases, journals, company website will provide secondary data. The primary data will be analyzed through Statistical Program of Social Studies SPSS (Version 20). The study conclusion gave percentage variations of warehousing, transport, distribution and food processing on the performance of agricultural commodity business. This provided a strong practical value from the results to assist future parties of interest within the subject of vertical integration with proper understanding of the subject.

The study was carried out for determine the amount of input- output energy used and indices of energy and economic of fattening farms under different farm sizes in Qazvin city of Iran. For this purpose the data were collected from 30 fattening farms. The surveyed farms were classified into three groups of small (less than 50 heads), medium (50 to 150 heads) and large farms (more than 150 heads).The total average energy input of 24003 MJ calf -1 was required for fattening farm. The share of feed by 75% of the total energy inputs was the highest energy input. This was followed by fossil fuels (16%) and young calf (4%), respectively. The energy use efficiency, energy productivity, Specific energy, and net energy were found as 0.009 (kg MJ-1), 114.8 (MJ kg-1) and -20553(MJ calf-1), respectively. According to the study results, the contribution of indirect energy was higher than that of direct energy; also the share of renewable energy was more than that of non-renewable energy. Economic analysis showed that total average cost of production was 909.8 ($ calf-1). The benefit-cost ratio and productivity were 1.1 and 0.22 (kg $-1), respectively. The results showed that medium farms in terms of economic and energy indexes lower position than the small and large farms. So, they should change their scale to achieve higher efficiency.