Agriculture

The field experiment on the influence of three legumes (groundnut, cowpea and soybean) on the agricultural yield and monetary income of an association of six crops (cassava, plantain, sweet potato, maize, rice and/or groundnut, cowpea, soybean), was conducted during two successive cropping seasons in a forest region of the DRC (Bengamisa). The results show that: - The crop association with cowpea numerically improved the agricultural yield of the components, the overall agricultural yield of the association and induced a better overall LER compared to the association with groundnut and soybean. - The crop association with groundnut, on the other hand, yielded a much higher gross margin of $2645.4/Ha, compared to the gross margin achieved by the association with cowpea ($1872.4/Ha) and that with soybean ($1847.6/Ha). - In the crop associations in this environment, cowpea is considered to be a factor in improving crop yields, while groundnuts are considered to be a factor in improving cash income.

Low soil fertility and drought condition are main crop production challenges that threatening food security in semi-arid areas. Use of fertilizer at micro dose rates together with in-situ rainwater harvesting using infiltration pits (IP) or tied ridges (TR) are low-input strategies to cope with these challenges. This research was conducted to investigate effects of integrating fertilizer micro dose rates and in-situ rainwater harvesting using IP and TR on groundnut yield and its household profitability to Tanzania smallholder farming groups. Field experiments were conducted from 2015/2016 to 2016/2017 cropping seasons. Infiltration pits and tied ridges increased groundnut yield significantly by 20.2 to 32.6 % and 34.2 to 46.6% respectively over flat cultivation. Fertilizer micro dose at 50% of recommended rate significantly increased yield by 50.8 to 64.7 % over zero application. Integration of TR with fertilizer at RR resulted into highest groundnut yield ranged from 1,034 to 1,096 kg/ha and highest NP ranged from 1,027 to 1,081 USD/ha. The integrations of TR and fertilizer micro dose at 50% of recommended had significant higher yield ranged from 748 to 1,086 kg/ha and higher NP ranging from 405 to 662 USD/ha compared to famer practice. The integrations of micro dose rate of 50% of recommended rate and tied ridges is therefore recommended to small holder’s famers located in semi dry areas of central Tanzania. This will enable farmers to achieve highly agronomic and economic performances compared to farmer practices.

Terrestrial heating is so real in Mwea that it has significantly reduced water levels in the canal; a catastrophe complexed with uphazard and unscheduling of irrigation in the scheme to the detriment of crops at its termini. In that view therefore, an experiment was set out at KALRO-Mwea to investigate on the effect of irrigation scheduling on yield components and grain yield of two Nerica rice varieties. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design in split-plot arrangement and replicated thrice. Four irrigation schedules (Daily (control), Every 3 days, Every 5 days and Weekly) formed main plots and two rice varieties (Nerica 4 and Nerica 11) formed the sub plots. Results indicated positive influence though not significant on filled grain number, shoot biomass, root biomass, unfilled grain number, productive tillers, panicle number, 1.5 m² plot grain weight, moisture content, and on grain yield in both seasons, while significant effect was exerted on 1000-grain weight, where highest and least 1000-grain weight of 55.92 g and 41.0 g in Nerica 4 on every 3 days and weekly schedules in season 1 were recorded respectively, while significant effect was elicited on unproductive tillers in season 2 where highest of 1.783 unproductive tillers in Nerica 11 on every 5 days’ schedule was recorded, while least of 0.75 unproductive tillers in Nerica 4 on weekly schedule was also recorded. Positive though insignificant effect was also observed in unproductive tillers in season 1, while the same was observed in 1000-grain weight in season 2. Grain yield (ton/ha) did not present any significant effect due to irrigation schedule treatments in both seasons, although variation in means of grain yield was observed, where highest grain yield of 1.003 tons / hectare was produced in Nerica 4 on weekly irrigation schedule in season 2, while least grain yield of 0.863 tons / hectare was produced in Nerica 11 on every 3 days’ irrigation schedule in both seasons. Nerica 4 outperformed Nerica 11 in productive tillers, 1.5 m² plot grain weight, 1000-grain –weight and on grain yield, while Nerica 11 outperformed it in unproductive tillers, filled grain yield, unfilled grain yield, shoot biomass, root biomass, panicle number, and on moisture content in yield. Nerica 4 on weekly schedule, while Nerica 11 on control, and on every 5 days’, and both on every 3 days’ schedule are recommended to farmers for adoption.

Rangeland ecosystems are dynamic and will change in the occurrence turbulences and will degrade if cross the threshold of rangeland health. We can judge on the effects of management activities by determination of rangeland health features. In this study using 17 ecological indicators, including rill, water flow pattern, Pedestal, bare ground, gully, wind-scoured, litter movement, soil surface resistance to erosion, soil surface loss or degradation, plant community composition and distribution relative to infiltration and runoff and, compaction layer, structural and functional groups, plant mortality, litter amount, annual production, invasive plants and reproductive capability of perennial plants for determination of three characteristics of rangeland ecosystems (soil and habitat stability, hydrological functions and health of living organisms). The main objective of this study is applying this concept in the area of Cheshme Anjir. Indicators were studied in three ecosystems characteristic expressed in five evaluation class and deviation degree of rangeland health features with reference area. The results showed that the key habitat in term of sustainability of soil and habitat in slight to moderate, hydrologic function slight to moderate, organisms’ health slight to moderate while critical habitat in term of soil sustainability and habitat in relatively extreme, hydrologic function in extreme and organism health located in extreme class.

Biofertilzers are substances obtained from living microorganisms with the potential to supply crops with useful nutrients. Commonly used Biofertilizers supply nitrogen and phosphorus, and these nutrients are the most limiting ones in Sub-Saharan African. Nitrogen has a higher leaching capacity and thus more losses are experienced in agriculture than what is up taken by crops for growth while P sources are getting depleted. Despite many soils lacking these elements, the peasant farmers cannot afford their high cost. On the other hand, if supplied in higher amounts, lead to pollution of ground and surface bodies and eutrophication in the water bodies in the catchment areas. Biofertilizers are therefore considered to be eco-friendly and cost effective. These micro-organisms once inoculated in the soil show different modes of action that promote nutrient availability to crops. These mechanisms include; scavenging for nutrients from soil layers, solubilization of some inorganic compounds, and production of growth promoting metabolites, decomposition, and fixation of the free nitrogen from the atmosphere. However, the use of these biofertilizers has different challenges which may contribute for low adoption by farmers. The review therefore seeks to understand mode of application, mechanisms of plant uptake and the reasons that dissuade farmers from adopt these noble techniques.

This work aims to study the collection field behavior of the most interesting banana and plantain cultivars for the populations surveyed in the province of Maniema. A 40 x 60 m collection field was installed in the experimental field of the Faculty of Agronomy of Kindu University, located on the Lwama 1 district. The spacings adopted were 3 x 3 m. The parameters collected for each cultivar were as follows: pseudostem length, neck diameter, number of leaves, leaf length and width, number of rejects, number of hands per diet, number of fingers / hand, finger circumference, finger length and diet weight. The results obtained showed that these cultivars have different vegetative and productive characteristics. The average values obtained were as follows: The length of the pseudostem varied from 120 cm to 351 cm; the neck diameter varies from 42.90 cm to 84 cm; the number of rejects varies from 2 (1.60) to (20.40); the number of hands varies from 1 cm to 8.50 cm; the number of finger / hand varies from 5.50 cm to 88.40 cm; the circumference / finger varies from 12 cm to 18.70 cm and finally the diet weight varies from 7 kg to 18.60 kg for all cultivars.

Work on global warming is expected to have significant impacts on conditions affecting agriculture, including temperature, carbon dioxide, glacial run off, precipitation and the interaction of these elements has been reviewed in this article. To a large extent, the overall effect of climate change will depend on the balance among these factors. Assessment of the effects of global climate changes on agriculture will help to properly anticipate and adapt farming systems to maximize agricultural production. There is exponential rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide was 270 ppm during pre-industrial period and human activities have added more than 100 ppm and it has reached 380 ppm with the rate of rise as high as 1.8 ppm per year. With this exponential rise in carbon dioxide, its concentration will double by the middle of 21st century. The effects of an increase in carbon dioxide would be higher on C3 plants (such as wheat) than on C4 plants (such as maize), as the former is more susceptible to carbon dioxide deficit. Increased CO2 leads to fewer stomata development in case of plants which results in less water usage. It is estimated that under optimum conditions of temperature and humidity, the yield increase could reach 36 % if the levels of CO2 are doubled. A large number of stress responsive genes have been cloned and sequenced from a number of crop plants. A common feature of many stress induced proteins is that their transcripts are induced not only by stress but also by (ABA) abscisic acid. It implies that there is a general role for ABA in the signal transduction pathway i. e. from sensing of the environmental stress and thereby leading to gene expression.

Vermicompost sample was produced by Eudrilus eugeniae in cowdung was collected from the Department of Biology, Gandhigram Rural Institute- Deemed University, Gandhigram. The sample was serially diluted and bacterial cultures were isolated and they were identified based on their characteristics as Micrococcus sp., Alcaligens sp., Tricoccus sp., Azomonas sp., and Paracaccus sp. These five bacterial isolates were subjected to screening for Indole acetic acid (IAA) production and all the bacterial colonies showed positive results for IAA production. Among the five isolates, Alcaligens sp. produced more amount of IAA (10µg/ml) when compared to all the other organisms. Hence Alcaligens sp was chosen for plant growth studies at 1 to 5 ml concentration. The isolate at 5 ml showed improved germination percentage of Vigna unguiculata seeds and it also showed improved shoot length (13.25 cm), root length (4.99 cm), number of leaves (5.0), chlorophyll content of leaves a-(0.0025 mg/g), b-(0.177 mg/g), total chlorophyll (1.351 mg/g), fresh weight (1.07 g) and dry weight (0.08 g) on the 7 day when compared to the control and the lower concentrations (1,2,3,4 and 5 ml).

This study investigates the mechanical properties of Chrysophyllum albidum to determine its potential for utilization in Nigeria. The test samples were obtained from tree at breast height. Results of test on Chrysophyllum albidum showed that the mean impact bending was 1.08m which increased from the corewood to the outerwood and remained constant upward along the tree. The mean MOR was 155.18N/mm2, which ranged from 151.46 to 157.53N/mm2 radially. Also the axial values ranged from 158.77 to 152.58N/mm2. There was an increase in MOR from the corewood to the outerwood and there is a decrease in MOR from the top of the tree (25%) to the base (75%). The mean MOE was 39309.04N/mm2, and ranged from 36303.84 to 40409.65N/mm2 radially and from 40993.7 to 39547.57N/mm2 axially. There was an increase in MOE from corewood to the outerwood. Conversely, there was a decrease from the base to the top of the tree.The mean maximum compression strength parallel to the grain was 45.55N/mm2, the highest value was obtained at the middlewood and decrease from the base (25%, 46.91N/mm2) to the top (75%, 43.95N/mm2) of the wood. In conclusion, a comparison of the strength properties values obtained with economic tree species such as Milicia excelsa, Mansonia altissima, Khaya species e.t.c shows that Chrysophyllum albidum wood has almost the same values with these economic species.