African Journal of
Agricultural Research

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Agric. Res.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1991-637X
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJAR
  • Start Year: 2006
  • Published Articles: 6894

Table of Content: 4 July; 6(13)

July 2011

Genetic relationships and selection indices for cassava root yield in Adamawa State, Nigeria

  Variation, correlations and path coefficient analysis were calculated for root yield among 19 improved cassava clones for two harvesting periods over two years of evaluation in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Root width and leaf length were significant at 6 months harvesting, but not at 9 months harvesting. Estimates of phenotypic, genotypic and environmental variance for both...

Author(s):   Adeniji, O. T., Odo, P. E. and Ibrahim, B.    

July 2011

Analyzing wastewater use possibilities: Prospects of garden irrigation in the Middle Olifants sub-basin

  The purpose of the study is to analyze the relevance of wastewater as one possibility to deal with the scarce water situation in the Middle Olifants Sub-basin. The Middle Olifants sub-basin is the third most water stressed sub-basin in South Africa. It is an arid and semi-arid region which includes different water user groups like growing industrial zones, large and small-scale farming with...

Author(s):   N. S. Molepo, A. Belete and J. J. Hlongwane    

July 2011

Agro-economic assessment of the response of maize varieties to the prevailing moisture stress of late season planting in South Western Nigeria

  The growth, development and yield of two maize varieties: TZSR-W and TZESR-W were monitored in two agro-economic trials during the 2006 and 2007 late planting seasons in Nigeria. Results obtained, which were similar for both years showed that TZSR-W (a late maturing variety) was significantly superior to variety TZESR-W (early maturing) in terms of plant height and leaf area. In terms of grain yield and...

Author(s):   O. R. Adeniyi    

July 2011

Productivity of energy consumption in agricultural productions: A case study of corn farmers of Ahwaz Township, Iran

  Optimum use of energy is very vital for agricultural productions section. The purpose of this research is to determine the productivity of energy consumption in corn farms of Ahwaz Township, Khouzestan Province, Iran. Linear programming was used for calculating the productivity of energy consumption, in that the mathematical technique of linear programming is instrumental in solving a wide range of operations...

Author(s):   Ahmad Reza Ommani      

July 2011

Determine of factors associated with the adoption of organic agriculture among small farmers in Iran

  The principal factors might play an important role in adoption of organic farming among farmers. A broad range of factors which exercise influence on adoption are covered including the socio-economic characteristics of the farmer, the characteristics of the farm, sources of information, membership of organizations, the farmer's attitudes, etc. This study hopefully captures the state of research with...

Author(s): Ahmad Rezvanfar, Gülcan Eraktan and Emine Olhan

July 2011

An evaluation on growth potential of the small and medium scale enterprises (SME) in Turkish furniture industry

  With its increasingly expanding uses, the furniture industry has become a basic industrial sector in the world, especially in the developed countries, and  it represents 2% of the total labour and 2% to 4% of the total production. The global foreign trade of furniture was around $174 billion in 2008. Though it has been growing fast, the furniture industry in Turkey is far from the level in the developed...

Author(s):   Baki Aksu, K. Hüseyin Koç and Devrim Karademir    

July 2011

Analysis of the factors affecting the adoption of innovations in dairy farms in Erzurum Province, Turkey

  The main objective of this study was to determine the factors affecting the adoption of innovations in dairy farms in Erzurum, Turkey. To this end, data obtained by simple random sampling method from 154 dairy farms in Erzurum province were used. Six innovations, which were expected to be adopted by the producers have been taken up. The dependent variable of the study was divided into three categories, which...

Author(s):   Adem Aksoy, Murat Külekçi and Fahri Yavuz    

July 2011

Influence of hosts and substrates on mass multiplication of Glomus mosseae

  Three plant species viz. lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus), onion (Allium cepa) and Sesbania aculeatawere examined for mass production of the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Glomus mosseae. The influence of soil, sand, soil- farmyard manure, soil-vermicompost and soil-organic manure on G. mosseae were also examined. Percentage root colonization and number of VAM spores were analyzed. The pot...

Author(s):   Sunita Kaushish, Aditya Kumar and Ashok Aggarwal    

July 2011

Effect of inter-row spacing with double row arrangement on yield and yield component of tomato (Lycopersicon esculuntum Mill.) at Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center (Central Rift Valley of Oromia, Ethiopia)

  The effect of inter- row spacing with double row arrangement on yield and yield components of tomato (Lycopersicon esculuntum Mill.) was conducted at Adami Tulu agricultural research center, Ethiopia, during the season of 2007 and 2008 using irrigation. The experiment was conducted to determine the optimum inter-row spacing for tomato production with double row arrangement, using randomized complete...

Author(s):   Geremew Awas, Teshome Abdisa, kasaye Tolosa and Amanti Chali        

July 2011

Cytomorphological and molecular characterization of interspecific F1 hybrid of Momordica dioica Roxb. × Momordica subangulata subsp. renigera (G. Don) de Wilde

  Interspecific hybrid (F1) between spine gourd (Momordica dioica) and teasle gourd (Momordicasubangulata Blume subsp. Renigera (G. Don) WJJ de Wilde) produced through bagging and hand pollination showed vigorous growth habit with less fertility. Morphological parameters along with meiotic, mitotic chromosome behaviors and Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis,...

Author(s):   L. K. Bharathi, Vinod, Anath Bandhu Das, Nabarun Ghosh, T. K. Behera, G. Nak and Vishal Nath    

July 2011

Morphological and yield responses of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) to raised bed planting in Northern China

  Six winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties (Jimai 19, Jimai 20, Jimai 21, Yannong 19, Jining 12 and Jining 16) were grown in 8 crop seasons/site combinations to investigate the effect of raised bed planting as compared to the conventional flat planting on wheat plant morphology, grain yield and associated yield components in Northern China. Raised bed planting produced a more ideal plant structure...

Author(s):   Fahong Wang, Ling’an Kong, Ken Sayre, Shengdong Li, Jisheng Si, Bo Feng and Bin Zhang    

July 2011

Factors influencing the biosynthesis of 1-deoxynojirimycin in Morus alba L.

  1-deoxynojirimycin (DNJ), a piperidine alkaloid enriched in mulberry, exhibits strong competitive inhibition against the α-glucosidase. To maximally use mulberry and to understand the mechanism of DNJ formation, we studied factors influencing DNJ biosynthesis in Morus alba. The results showed that the aqueous HCl immersion was a relative high efficiency method. We first revealed the...

Author(s):   De-Shuai Lou, Feng-Ming Zou, Hui Yan and Zhong-Zheng Gui,    

July 2011

Food values, heavy metal accumulation, aflatoxin contamination and detection of exo-polysaccharrides in Lentinus Squarrosulus Berk, a Nigerian mushroom

  Fruit bodies of a wild edible fungus (Lentinus squarrosulus, Berk) were collected from partially buried decaying wood in the swampy area of the Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. They were taken to the laboratory in aerated bags and evaluated for food values, mineral elements composition, heavy metal accumulation, production of exo-polysaccharides and aflatoxin contamination...

Author(s):   Jonathan S. G., Amos-Tautua B. M. W. and Olawuyi O. J.    

July 2011

Evaluation of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) plants with natural and transgenic resistance against Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) isolates occurring in the Republic of South Africa (RSA)

  Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) infections causes significant economic losses in the commercial production of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.). This study was undertaken to evaluate tomato with natural and transgenic resistance when inoculated with TSWV isolates occurring in the Republic of South Africa (RSA). The Stevens cultivar which has natural resistance to TSWV conferred by...

Author(s):   B. Sivparsad and A. Gubba    

July 2011

Participatory farmer evaluation of stem borer tolerant maize varieties in three maize growing ecologies of Kenya

  Insect resistant maize for Africa (IRMA) project aims at developing and deploying insect resistant maize varieties to reduce grain losses due to insect pests. As part of incorporating farmers’ perceptions to improve the adoption of the developed varieties, participatory approaches were adopted. The paper analyses farmer’s preferences of maize germplasm developed through conventional breeding. This...

Author(s):   Ouma J. O., M. Odendo, C. Bett, H. De Groote, S. Mugo, C. Mutinda, J. Gethi, S. Njoka, S. Ajanga and J. Shuma    

July 2011

Identification of some viruses causing mosaic on lettuce and characterization of Lettuce mosaic virus from Tehran Province in Iran

  Lettuce mosaic virus (LMV), Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) were identified in lettuce fields in Tehran province. In this study, 452 infected lettuce plants having viral infection symptoms including, mosaic, mottling, leaf distortion, stunting defective heading, were collected from the fields throughout Tehran province. Distribution of Lettuce mosaic...

Author(s):   Parisa Soleimani, Gholamhossein Mosahebi and Mina Koohi Habibi    

July 2011

A study of suitability of grapevine cultivar Plovdina as a possible indicator plant for flavescence dorée disease

  Grapevine cv. Plovdina is a traditional local variety that is very sensitive to flavescence dorée (FD) disease. In this paper, we present the results of top-grafting FD-infected cv. Plovdina plants with scions originating from healthy mother plants of the same cultivar using the "green grafting” method. The first grapevine yellows (GY) symptoms, consisting of yellowing of the Plovdina...

Author(s):   Slobodan Kuzmanović, Dragana Jošić, Žarko Ivanović, Tatjana Popović, Saša Stojanović, Goran Aleksić and Mira Starović    

July 2011

Toxicity of some plant powders to maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais (motschulsky) [Coleoptera: Curculiondae] on stored wheat grains (Triticum aestivum)

  This research reported the effect of four plant powders including Azadirachta india, Alstonia boonei, Garcina kola and Moringa oleifera on the mortality adults and emergence of maize weevil (Sitophilus zeamais) on stored wheat grains. The powders were incorporated into 20 g of wheat grains at 0.0% (control) 2.5, 5.0, 12.5 and 25.5% (w/w). The ability of the plants powders to...

Author(s):   Ileke, K. D. and Oni, M. O.    

July 2011

Effect of planting time on sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) productivity in Ibadan, Nigeria

  Planting at appropriate time leads to good crop yield; hence the need for detailed investigation on optimum planting dates of sunflower (a vital oil seed crop). Experiments were therefore conducted to determine the appropriate planting time of two cultivars of sunflower in Ibadan. Two cultivars of sunflowers, “Funtua and Isanka”, as main plot were subjected to five weekly planting dates (WPD) as...

Author(s):   Lawal, B. A., Obigbesan, G. O., Akanbi, W. B. and Kolawole, G. O.    

July 2011

Effect of pretreatments on seed germination rate of red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) populations

    The aim of the present study was to investigate effective methods in breaking the seed dormancy for red clover populations collected from Central-Black Sea Region of Turkey. To increase germination percentage of red clover, precooling, preheating, hot water, potassium nitrate and mechanical scarification were used. The results pointed out that there was a significant difference among the...

Author(s):   Ozlem Onal Asci, Zeki Acar, Ilknur Ayan, Ugur Basaran and Hanife Mut    

July 2011

A comparative study between parametric and artificial neural network approaches for economical assessment of potato production

  This paper compares results of the application of two different approaches- parametric model (PM) and artificial neural network (ANN) for assessing economical productivity (EP), total costs of production (TCP) and benefit to cost ratio (BC) of potato crop. In this comparison, ANN model and Cobb-Douglas function as PM has been used. The ANN 8-6-12-1 topology with R2=0.89 resulted in the best-suited model for...

Author(s):   Morteza Zangeneh, Mahmoud Omid and Asadollah Akram        

July 2011

Growth and development simulation based on functional-structural model GreenLab for poplar (Salicaceae)

  Poplar (salicaceae) is one of the widest planted fast-growing trees in the world. It is not only used for timber, but also used as windbreak and ecological protection of forest widely. The architecture of poplar has direct impact on poplar’s growth and applications, but poplar’s architecture still has not been discussed deeply in previous poplar models because of the difficulties raised by...

Author(s):   Gang Yang, Weiqun Cao, Dongxiang Liu, Mengzhen Kang, Véronique Letort, Meijun Xing and Xinyuan Huang    

July 2011

Pollen quality and pollen production in some almond culvitars under Kaharamanmaras (Turkey) ecological conditions

  Pollen quality and pollen production of 21 almond cultivars under Kaharamanmaras ecological conditions were analyzed to see the effect on fruit yield and quality. Pollen viability tests with TTC and FDA methods and pollen germination tests were performed by hanging drop method in sucrose (10, 15 and 20%, respectively) containing media and on agar media containing sucrose (0, 5, 10 15 and 20%,...

Author(s):   Mehmet Sutyemez    

July 2011

Influence of integrated soil nutrient management on cowpea root growth in the semi-arid Eastern Kenya

  The effect of integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) on root growth of selected cowpea varieties in two sites with contrasting rainfall amounts over two seasons was investigated. Nine cowpea varieties were used as test crop and the treatments applied include a control, farmyard manure at 2.5 t ha-1, triplesuperphosphate (TSP) at 15 kg ha-1 as (P2O5, 0:46:0), and TSP mixed with farmyard manure at the...

Author(s):   Kimiti, Jacinta M.    

July 2011

Influence of nitrogen fertilization on yield and yield components of rain-fed lowland NERICA® rice in the northern Guinea savanna of Nigeria

  This study evaluated the response of four rain-fed lowland New Rice for Africa (NERICA) varieties (NERICA-L-12, NERICA-L-41, NERICA-L-42 and NERICA-L-56) and a popularly grown Oryza sativa (ITA 150) to nitrogen (0, 30, and 100 kg N ha-1). The interactions between nitrogen and variety were not significant for all measured traits. Grain yields of the NERICAs were higher than the...

Author(s):   A. Y. Kamara, F. Ekeleme, L. O. Omoigui and D. Chikoye    

July 2011

Lipid peroxidation, antioxidant enzyme activity and osmotic adjustment changes in husk leaves of maize in black soils region of Northeast China

  Two varieties of maize (Zea mays L.) grown in fields in Black soils of Northeast China were tested to study the variation of membrane lipid peroxidation, osmotic adjustment, and antioxidant enzyme activity in husk leaves of maize by the methods of UV spectrophotometry. The results showed that MDA content and membrane relative permeability increased continuously along with the growth of maize, and...

Author(s):   Hong-Wen XU, Yan LU, Shu-Yuan TONG and Feng-Bin SONG    

July 2011

Evaluation of Blaney-Criddle equation for estimating evapotranspiration in south of Iran

  The Penman-Monteith (PM) method is the standard equation for estimating reference crop potential evapotranspiration (ETo) for different climates of the world. However, this equation needs full weather data, but few stations with complete weather data exist in Fars province, south of Iran. On the other hand, the Blaney-Criddle (BC) equation is a simpler alternative for estimating ETo compared...

Author(s):     Hamid Reza Fooladmand    

July 2011

Cost efficient and practical design of water supply network using harmony search

  Water supply network is a key infrastructure in urban civilization and agricultural irrigation. In order to save the design cost of a network, which contains a nonlinear relationship between hydraulic energy loss and water flowrate, researchers have traditionally used mathematical optimization approaches. However, they have been more interested in meta-heuristic approaches recently because (1) these...

Author(s): Zong Woo Geem, Jin-Hong Kim and Soon-Hyuk Jeong        

July 2011

Fuzzy irrigation greenhouse control system based on a field programmable gate array

  Fuzzy logic provides a methodology to represent, manipulate, and implement heuristic knowledge to control a system. In this work, the development of a fuzzy irrigation control system based on a field programmable gate array (FPGA) to control greenhouse fertigation was presented. Factors involved in crop nutrition were discussed first. Further, the description of the fuzzy control system was presented,...

Author(s):   Domingo Gómez-Melendez, Alvaro López-Lambraño,Gilberto Herrera- Ruiz, Carlos Fuentes, Enrique Rico-Garcia, Carlos Olvera-Olvera, Daniel Alaniz-Lumbrerasc, Teobaldis Mercado Fernández and Sven Verlinden    

July 2011

Digital parameterization of apple fruit size, shape and surface spottiness

  To reach fruit market standards, quality evaluation has to be performed. Computer assisted fruit image analysis represents a technique, which offers a variety of automatic and semi-automatic procedures that can be used in combination with classic evaluation methods. To achieve this goal, a digital parameterization method for single apple fruit (Malus domestica) size, shape and surface spottiness has been...

Author(s):   Rade L. Radojević, Dragan V. Petrović, Vladimir B. Pavlović, Zoran M. Nikolić and Mirko P. Urošević    

July 2011

A study on the growth and development of some Gladiolus (Gladiolus L.) varieties planted in different time under the ecological conditions of Erzurum

  This study was carried out to determine the effect of plantation time (10, 20 and 30 June) on plant growth and floret quality of four commercial varieties of Gladiolus (White Prosperity, Amsterdam, Nova Lux and Victor Borge), planted in open field under ecological conditions of Erzurum by comparing varieties for their sprouting time, spiking time, stem length, the number of florets and harvesting...

Author(s):   Elif Akpinar and Yahya Bulut    

July 2011

Saffron (Crocus sativus) potentials for sustainable rural development: A case study of Balavelayat village in Kashmar, North Eastern Iran

  Saffron (Crocus sativus) is one of the most precious agricultural and medicinal plants in the world. It is resistant to dry climates and so it requires very little water. The cultivation of saffron can help create new job opportunities for many people especially in the Iranian province of Khorasan, with its few industrial places in which many young people can be involved. In addition, promoting the...

Author(s):   Ali Monazzam EsmaeilPour and Parviz Kardavani    

July 2011

Study yield stability of commercial corn hybrids (Zea mays L.) evaluated in two planting dates in Iran

  In this study 18 new corn varieties consist of 15 foreign early and mid-mature single cross hybrids and 3 Iranian commercial hybrids (KSC704, KSC647and DC370) were evaluated at two sowing date (5 and 20 June) based on randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 3 replications at Khorasan Razavi Agricultural Research Centre, Mashhad, Iran in 2009. This study showed that the percentage of yield reduction in...

Author(s):   Maryam Ashofteh Beiragi, Saeeid Khavari Khorasani, Mohammad Sarmad Nabavi, Fatehmeh Nikzad and Elham Zandipour    

July 2011

Small farmer practices for production improvement of the kidney-type tomato landrace: A case study in Oaxaca

  In order to describe the crop management of the kidney-type tomato landrace in four communities in Oaxaca, Mexico, and determine the productive potential of four accessions (seed lots) under three management systems, 25% of the tomato producers in the communities of Santa Cruz Xitla, La Soledad, Santa Ines del Monte and Santa Maria Vigallo were interviewed, and a factorial experiment on crop management...

Author(s):   Jesus B. Estrada-Castellanos, Jose C. Carrillo-Rodriguez, Martha Jerez-Salas, Jose L. Chavez-Servia and Catarino Perales-Segovia    

July 2011

Farmers’ ethno-ecological knowledge of the termite problem in semi-arid Nakasongola

  Infestation and destruction of rangeland vegetation by subterranean termites is a major constraint to livestock production in the rangelands of Uganda, particularly, in semi-arid Nakasongola. Ethno-ecological studies on termite dynamics are central to formulation of sustainable termite management strategies in such ecosystems. This study was thus conducted to investigate farmers’ traditional ecological...

Author(s):   Swidiq Mugerwa, Moses Nyangito, John Nderitu, Chris Bakuneta, Denis Mpairwe and Emmanuel Zziwa    

July 2011

A study of mucilage in light microscope photographs acquired by using a different painting material of Gomphonema sp.

  This research was based on the patterns of Gomphonema sp. obtained from Lake Hazar (ElaziÄŸ, Turkey), which has a high alkali feature. It was carried out by monitoring the live samples of patterns isolated from the littoral part of the lake, which was painted by a different material. It is known, to date, that India ink has been widely used in the painting of live algal sample. In this research,...

Author(s):   ALP, M. T., SEN, B. and ÖZBAY, Ö.    

July 2011

Identification of pig reproductive QTL genes based on gene set enrichment analysis of mouse microarray dataset

  Nowadays, abundantly different transcripts related to reproductive traits using mouse model have been identified by microarray analysis with the robustness, which were needed of re-evaluation with quantitive real time PCR (qPCR). Meanwhile, pig QTL databases were established but with large spans in the confidence interval for QTL location. Therefore, a genome-wide comparative and functional analysis of the...

Author(s):   Kan He, Fan Yang, Minghui Wang, Qishan Wang, Yuchun Pan, and Yufang Ma,    

July 2011

Proposed model for efficient water management at Razmgan irrigation project, a semi-arid region in Khorasan, Iran

  Yield decrease caused by crop water deficit, especially in low scale farms and established orchards at semi-arid regions, results in a significant decrease in agricultural productivity. In this study an optimal water release of the reservoir based on prioritization in water allocation to the crop sensitive growth periods was linked to a non-linear optimization model in order to enhance the net income in a...

Author(s):   Seyed Mahdi Fatemi⊃, Thamer Ahmed Mohammed⊃ and Mohd Amin Bin Mohd Soom⊃    

July 2011

Effects of climate change on Rwandan smallholder agriculture

  Considering the current impacts of climate change in the study area, it is concluded that farmers need external help and support to effectively cope with changing climate and to adapt to current and future climate change. Climate plays a central role in agriculture, which is the main stay of the Rwandan economy and community livelihood. Rwanda has experienced the irregularities of rainfall but the impact of...

Author(s):   Mupenzi Jean de la Paix, Bao Anming, Li Lanhai, Jiwen Ge and Gabriel Habiyaremye