Agriculture

A study of delineation of Iron (Fe) and Manganese (Mn) status in soils of Central Research station, Akola was conducted during the year 2006 and 2007. Detailed maps of micronutrient also prepared. Delineation of study area was completed with help of global positioning system and for predicting available cationic micronutrient status extraction with chelating agent such as di ethylene triamine penta acetic acid (DTPA) is used. The soils of Central Research Station were found 20 per cent deficient in iron and 7 per cent deficient in manganese. While the available micronutrient status of Central Research Station soils was found as iron 0.12 to 16.32 and manganese 0.32 to 16.78.

Faced with soil impoverishment due to the population explosion, a study was undertaken on maize cultivation at kilometer point 12 in the hinterlands of the city of Kisangani. The objective was to test, on degraded soil, the effect of a small amount of pig manure, integrated with the compost of hedge trimmings from the green carpet and enriched with increasing microdoses of NPK, on the growth and yield of maize grown in the Plates under Green Carpet (ATV) system. The experimental design was a split-plot, with the first factor being the production systems (ATV and CIB) and the second, the fertilisers. The results showed that organo-mineral fertilisation under ATV influenced the duration of the vegetative and reproductive phases in addition to yield. The organo-mineral fertilisers under ATV with composts resulted in a yield that was 1.2 times higher than that obtained with the control and the CIB. Also, the organo-mineral manures under ATV tended to shorten the crop cycle and promote better plant growth and development. The use of these fertilizers in maize cultivation could constitute an alternative to the drastic consequences of soil degradation.

It is important to evaluate the capacity of soils to support arable crop production for proper land use planning and sustainable management. The soils developed on schists in southern guinea savannah zone (Kabba) and older granites in dry upland rainforest zone (Ado-Ekiti) were mapped and classified with Land Capability Classification. Profile pits were dug and described in sixteen pedons delineated at both locations. Soils samples were collected from the pedons for the analysis of some soil physico-chemical properties. Data on climate and physiographic features were also collected. The capability groupings of the soils are as follows: KA-IIIS3,4; KB, KF, KH, AB and AF- IIIS4; KC, KD, KE, KG and AA- IIIS4, while AC, AD, AE and AG were VS4, VS3,4, IVS4 and VW2S4.The capabilities of the 16 pedons were limited by low nutrient capacity, shallow depth and wetness due to high water table. Appropriate fertility management scheme and land use were suggested for both sites.

The zone wise Sindh land resources analysis finds sufficient evidence that Sindh Southern Province of Pakistan is naturally divided in different zones and every zone offers excellent product potential of its own. The central cropping zone has been found suitable for crop cultivation and horticultural farms. The coastal and hilly areas are suitable for forest tourism and fishing. The arid zone boasts of great potential for live stock breeding and hunting grounds with range land forest. The policy makers neglected the absolute advantages of each and every zone during policy formulation since long. This paper tries to finds potential of livestock’s in Sindh, main problems in its development and feasible policy recommendations for further development of the sector and concludes that low level of feeding, traditional method of breeding, inadequate health facilities institutional mismanagements and low extent of markets and infrastructure are major obstacles in its development. The study also concludes that livestock sub sector naturally offer great potential particularly in arid zone and need policy maker’s immediate attention.

The use of molecular and genomic techniques namely: nucleic acid, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE); terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP), polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have revolutionized ways of assaying biodiversity. This paper reviews their contributions to knowledge of soil microbial diversity.

Biomass is a renewable energy source refers to living and recently dead biological materials that can reduce green house effect and clean surroundings. To estimate tree biomass individually from imagery, it is necessary to clarify the relationship between attributes of stand structure obtained by field measurement and remote sensing image.This study was carried out to estimate tree biomass in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) campus. Five plots were established (40 m x 40 m) and all trees with diameters at breast high (dbh) more than 30 cm , tree height and canopy size were measured. Each trees biomass were calculated by non-destructive method. Results show that tree volume is ranged from 1.75 m3 to 24.73 m3, wood density is ranged from 0.99 t/m3 to 14.10 t/m3. The overall wood densities for five plots (30 trees) are 23.35 t/m3. Meanwhile the biomass estimated is 7,644 t/ha. Study demonstrate strong correlations (p < 0.05) between field measurement and IKONOS tree canopy estimates (r2 = 0.95). The results obtained from the analysis are encouraging especially canopy measurement where it can be incorporated to the existing mensuration models. Estimating tree biomass through satellite images are recommended because remote sensing through image processing has potential to estimate biomass in large area.

This study aims to predict spatial distribution of deforestation and detects factors influencing forest degradation of Northern forests of Ilam province. For this purpose, effects of six factors including distance from road and settlement areas, forest fragmentation index, elevation, slope and distance from the forest edge on the forest deforestation are studied. In order to evaluate the changes in forest, images related to TM1988, ETM+2001 and ETM+2007 are processed and classified. There are two classes as, forest and non-forest in order to assess deforestation factors. The logistic regression method is used for modeling and estimating the spatial distribution of deforestation. The results show that about 19,294 ha from forest areas are deforested in the 19 years. Modeling results also indicate that more deforestation occurred in the fragmented forest cover and in the areas of proximity to forest/non forest edge. Furthermore, slope and distance from road and settlement areas had negative relationships with deforestation rates. Meanwhile, deforestation rate is decreased with increase in elevation. Finally, a simple spatial model is presented that is able to predict the location of deforestation by using logistic regression. The validation was also tested using ROC approach which was found to be 0.96.

The issue of poverty and strategies to deal with it has occupied the ‘minds’ of various Governments in Nigeria before and after independence in 1960. Indeed the scourge of poverty has been the bane of the Countries of sub Saharan Africa for decades. Each country has tried to devise strategies and methods of dealing with the problem. Poverty is actually a world wide phenomenon hence; it has always attracted the attention of International Organizations like the United Nations and its subsidiary Organizations like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), and a host of others. The concern over poverty and the need to alleviate it, is predicated on the fact that it is a social phenomenon with multifarious negative consequences on the health of the people, the socio economic dimensions of the country and the totality of the productive capability and capacity of any country.

The disease of rice was studied based on their priority according to the farmers of block Akaltara of district Janjgir -Champa of Chhattisgarh. 12 randomly selected villages were visited to determine most serious disease of rice based on qualitative data collected on farm level and analyzed as result Bacterial Leaf Blight, Brown Spot, Tungro and Khaira disease is found to be most serious disease of rice while Blast, Sheath Blight, Sheath Rot, and Stem Rot some what important disease of Rice while False Smut is the disease of minor importance.

Grain shape quality traits of twenty (20) rice genotypes were studied in order to understand the effects of drought stress on quality traits of rice. The result of Analysis of Variance clearly indicates that genotypes significantly differ for studied grain quality traits under both for normal as well as drought prone environments, except grain breadth /thickness without bran under stress condition. Higher heritability estimates for all quality traits under both environments indicate that these characters are controlled by multiple genes. Results showed that grain length was positively correlated with length to width ratio (0.863* and 0.668*) and negatively correlated with grain width (-0.614** and -0.313**) and grain breadth (-0.321**and -0.030ns) under both normal and stress conditions respectively. Grain width was positively correlated with grain breadth (0.711** and 0.486**) and negatively correlated with length to width ratio (-0.926* and -0.910*) under both conditions respectively. Grain width was highly correlated with yield per plant (0.386** and 0.315**) under both, normal and drought stress respectively. It shows that reduction in grain width has direct effect on grain yield. Under normal condition, yield was positively correlated with grain width (0.386**) and grain breadth (0.552*) indicating that grain width and grain breadth should be considered while screening high yielding genotypes under normal condition and grain width should be considered for drought stres