February 2014
Comparative efficacy of the bark and root powders of Acacia nilotica against maize weevil Sitophilus zeamais (Motsculsky)(Coleoptera:Curculionidae) in Kano State of Nigeria
Sitophilus zeamais is one of the most important pests of maize in storage causing severe economic damage to the grain. Comparative assessment of the efficacy of Acacia nilotica bark and root powder on the mortality of S. zeamais was conducted at Bayero University, Kano. A. nilotica bark and root was obtained from A. nilotica plant collected from Tofa L.G.A in Kano State and these were shade dried and grounded using...
February 2014
Challenges to maize fertilization in the forest and transition zones of Ghana
Maize (Zea mays) is Ghana’s most important cereal crop grown in all agro-ecological zones by smallholder farmers. The average yield of maize (1.7 tha-1) is far below attainable yield of 5.5 tha-1. This is due to reliance on rain fed farming, local seed varieties and low inputs use. Farmers face many challenges in their attempt to adopt the use of fertilizer to improve their maize production. To unearth these...
February 2014
An investigation on the determination of factors influencing chick sex prediction in hatching eggs
This study was aimed at determining the factors influential on the prediction of chick sex in hatching eggs. Data pertaining to quail eggs, from which 478 live chicks hatched after incubation, constituted the material of the study. The binary logistic regression analysis was used for statistical analyses. Four were determined, which influenced the probability of the chick sex being male or female. These predictor...
February 2014
Grain yield and phosphorus uptake by wheat as influenced by long-term phosphorus fertilization
Phosphate reactions in the soil have important implications for crop growth and its nutrition to plants. Using a 40 years old long-term fertility experiment, we studied the fate of different sources of applied P into its nutrition to wheat in calcareous soils in a pearl millet-wheat cropping system during rabi 2009 and 2010. Results showed that water soluble sources of phosphatic fertilizers (Single super phosphate,...
February 2014
The rot fungus Botryodiplodia theobromae strains cross infect cocoa, mango, banana and yam with significant tissue damage and economic losses
Botryodiplodia theobromae, a common rot fungus, causes serious economic losses in cultivation of many different crops such as cocoa, mango, banana and yam. Determination of infectious routes of plant pathogens and their mechanisms of infection are of great importance in any disease control programme. Until this work, no investigation had been made into cross infectivity of different isolates of the fungus in Ghana. The...
February 2014
Root architecture of Atlas pistachio in relation to underlying soil properties under arid conditions
Pistacia atlantica Desf. subspecies atlantica (Atlas pistachio) is the only spontaneous tree species of the North-African steppe. Because individual trees can achieve great size and age, it is locally considered as fossil tree. Individual tree dimensions can exceed 25 m in height and 2 m in trunk circumference despite the very dry conditions of its growth. With the objective of determining the root architectures that...
February 2014
Physiological and biochemical alterations during germination and storage of habanero pepper seeds
The objective of this study was to evaluate physiological and biochemical alterations during the development and storage of habanero pepper seeds with a view toward determining the time of harvest. Seeds were manually extracted from the fruit at three stages of development: E1 (fruit with first signs of yellowing), E2 (mature fruit) and E3 (mature fruit submitted to seven days of rest). After drying, seeds with 8% water...
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