African Journal of
Agricultural Research

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Agric. Res.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1991-637X
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJAR
  • Start Year: 2006
  • Published Articles: 6900

Table of Content: May, 2020; 16(5)

May 2020

Potential causes of postharvest losses, low-cost cooling technology for fresh produce farmers in Sub-Sahara Africa

The aim of this review was to identify the causes of postharvest losses (PHL) in fruit and vegetables in relation to small-scale farming in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The reduction of PHL can improve food security at household level. Farmers involved in small-scale production of fresh produce experience high PHL due to physiological deterioration associated with technical, biological and environmental factors and lack...

Author(s): Sipho Sibanda and Tilahun Seyoum Workneh  

May 2020

Risk assessment of the economic efficiency of rubber production: Case of smallholder rubber production in QuangBinh Province, Vietnam

The paper reviews the economic risk of rubber production due to fluctuations of input factors, product price, natural disasters, epidemics, interest rates, and market demand. The data collected in this work were analyzed with accounting of production costs methods and accounting results and production efficiency method, benefit-cost analysis, sensitivity analysis and scenario analysis. QuangBinh, a province in Vietnam...

Author(s): Tu Luc Tran  

May 2020

Nitrogen value of stockpiled cattle manure for crop production

Cattle manure is a common source of fertilizer throughout Sub-Saharan Africa given problems with supply and pricing of inorganic fertilizers. The optimum rate of manure to use is often unknown and further compounded by variable N contents arising from long periods of stockpiling. This study investigated the rates of cattle manure required to optimize plant growth at different N contents arising from different storage...

Author(s): Innocent Muhereza, Deborah Pritchard, Roy Murray-Priorand David Collins  

May 2020

Role of farmers’ organizations (FOs) in the strengthening of the technical and organizational capacities of farmers in Mezam Division of the North West Region of Cameroon

This study was carried out from January 2018 to March 2019 in Mezam Division of the North West Region of Cameroon on the role of farmers organization (FOs) in the strengthening of the technical and organizational capacities of farmers, particularly the case of the Program for the Improvement of Competiveness of Family Agro-pastoral Farms (PCP-ACEFA) and the North West Farmers’ Organization (NOWEFOR). The objective...

Author(s): Kenette FRU MBANGARI, Mathias Fru FONTEH and Guillaume Hensel FONGANG FOUEPE  

May 2020

Evaluation of maize (Zea mays L.) performance under minimum and conventional tillage practice in two distinct agroecological zones of Uganda

Maize is one of the major staple foods in Uganda, providing over 40% of Uganda’s daily calorie consumption. Tillage practice is one of the crucial factors that influence crop productivity through maintenance of soil health. The aim of this study therefore is to validate the effect of tillage practice on the vegetative growth and yield of maize in Uganda. The trial was established on-station at Ngetta Zonal...

Author(s): Bongomin Lawrence, Acipa Alexandrina, Wamani Sam, Sseremba Godfrey and Opio Samuel Morris  

May 2020

Assessment and characterization of mung bean (Vigna radiata) bacterial brown spot in Eastern Amhara, Ethiopia

Mung bean is one of the major early maturing pulse crop grown all over the world including Ethiopia.  The production of the crop in Ethiopia, however, suffers from many diseases caused by bacteria. The study aims to assess the intensity and identify the major foliar bacterial and fungal pathogens of the crop. Purposively, 3 districts and randomly 90 mung bean fields were surveyed during the study period....

Author(s): Besfat Belay Teferie, Merkuz Abera Admasu and Gezahegne Getaneh Damessa  

May 2020

Agro-morphological response of some groundnut genotypes (Arachis hypogaea L.) in water deficit conditions

Groundnut is a crop that can be grown under varied production conditions (in intercropping or rotation with cereals). In Niger, the production of groundnut is decreasing over the year due to drought and low soil nutrients. In this work, an agro-morphological evaluation of five groundnut genotypes (55-437, ICG12697, ICG4750, JL24 and ICG8751) under water deficit was carried out in order to identify the best performing...

Author(s): TOUDOU DAOUDA Abdoul Karim, ATTA Sanoussi, INOUSSA Maman Maârouhi, HAMIDOU Falalou and BAKASSO Yacoubou  

May 2020

Phytophthora seedling blight disease of cacao and its control measures

Symptoms of Phytophthora seedling blight disease of cacao were found on 3 weeks old cacao seedlings at the nursery of Seed Production Division of Ghana Cocoa Board in New Tafo-Akim during routine surveys of cacao diseases in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Survey of seedlings in the nursery was conducted to determine disease incidence (DI). Heat sterilization of soil and drenching with Ridomil Gold plus 66 WP (6%...

Author(s): Asare Eric Kumi, Ishmael Amoako-Attah and Yahaya Bukari  

May 2020

Selenium in Caprine feeding, its transference to the milk and relation with other minerals

The experiment was performed in the campus of the State University of Alagoas, in Santana do Ipanema, in the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil. This work is aimed at studying the transferences of Se from animals’ food to milk in various levels of offers and its correlations with Ca, P, Mg and soluble Fe. The work also analyzed the somatic cells counts, total bacteria count and chemical composition of milk: Fat,...

Author(s): José Crisólogo de Sales Silva, Luiz Carlos Caetano, Fabio Sales de Albuquerque Cunha, Conceição Maria Dias de Lima and André Maia Gomes Lages  

May 2020

Inoculation of native arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi based bio-fertilizers for improvement of maize productivity in Central Benin

The response of maize to a composite inoculation of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) in fields in Central Benin was evaluated. The 2000 SYNEE maize variety underwent 3 AMF groups involved in treatments namely: T1 = "Control (AMF and fertilizer free)"; T2 = "Glomeraceae"; T3 = Acau "Acaulosporacea"; T4 = Diversi " Diversisporaceae"; T5 = "50% NPK + Urea"; T6 =...

Author(s): ASSOGBA A. Sylvestre, AHOYO ADJOVI R. Nestor, BELLO Saliou, NOUMAVO A. Pâcome, SINA Haziz, AGBODJATO A. Nadège, KODA Abdel D., AGUEGUE M. Ricardos, ADJANOHOUN Adolphe and BABA-MOUSSA Lamine   

May 2020

Evaluation of chemical and elemental constituents of Centella asiatica leaf meal

Medicinal plants include various types of plants used in herbalism or herbal medicine. It is the use of plants for medicinal purposes, and the study of such uses. The use of medicinal plants is gaining popularity all over the world; hence the need to exploit various plant that could be of economic importance to both man and animal. Centella asiatica is one of such plants that are underutilized. Therefore, investigating...

Author(s): O. A. Ajayi, M. D. Olumide, G. O. Tayo and A. O. Akintunde  

May 2020

Technical efficiency in tomato production among smallholder farmers in Kirinyaga County, Kenya

The study was conducted to assess tomato productivity and determine characteristics that influence technical efficiency among smallholder farmers in Kirinyaga County using the production function approach. Data were collected by administering structured questionnaires to a sample of 384 respondents randomly selected from six wards using multistage stratified and probability proportionate to size sampling procedures. The...

Author(s): Thomas Mbogo Mwangi, Samuel Njiri Ndirangu and Hezron N. Isaboke    

May 2020

Effects of land use on soil physicochemical properties at Barkachha, Mirzapur District, Varanasi, India

Types of land use practice significantly affect the soil physico-chemical properties. Four different land use types were selected (natural forest, bamboo plantation, degraded forest and agricultural land) to analyze the effect of land uses change on soil chemical and physical properties. Among all land use pattern, the highest water holding capacity (40.06±0.74%), porosity (0.539±0.011%), soil...

Author(s): Weldesemayat Gorems and Nandita Goshal  

May 2020

Mitigating loan default in Nigeria through joint liability approach: The case of beneficiaries of microfinance bank agricultural loan in Calabar metropolis, Cross River State, Nigeria

Due to persistent increase in loan default in developing countries especially Nigeria, several lending institutions resort to group lending that is based on joint liability approach to mitigate default. This study analyzes the mitigation of loan default in Nigeria through joint liability approach: The case of beneficiaries of microfinance bank agricultural loan in Calabar metropolis, Cross River State.  It...

Author(s): Eucharia Agom Ajah, Uket Ikpi Ofem and Asuquo Elijah Bassey  

May 2020

Evaluation of genotype × environment interaction effect on performance of garlic (Allium sativum L.) genotypes in Tigray region, Northern Ethiopia using AMMI and GGE biplot analysis

Garlic is the major bulb crop next to onion in Ethiopia. Lack of stable and high yielding cultivars is one of the major problems for production and productivity of garlic in the country. Identification of adaptable, stable and high yielding genotypes under varying environmental conditions prior to release as a cultivar is the first steps for plant breeding. Therefore, developing high yielding and stable varieties is the...

Author(s): Fasikaw Belay, Guesh Tekle and Shushay Chernet  

May 2020

Yield increase of soybean inoculated with a commercial arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculant in Brazil

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) play an important role in plant growth. However, there are no records of the use of AMF-based inoculants in agricultural crops in Brazil. The objective of this work was to evaluate the agronomic efficiency of a commercial inoculant containing the AMF Rhizophagus intraradices in combination with phosphate fertilization in soybean under different edaphoclimatic conditions in Brazil....

Author(s): Shantau Camargo Gomes Stoffel, Cláudio Roberto Fonsêca Sousa Soares, Edenilson Meyer, Paulo Emílio Lovato, and Admir José Giachini  

May 2020

Effects of variable light intensities on seedling photomorphorgenesis and field performances of tomato (Solanum lycopersicon ‘Lindo F1)

Six tomato (Solanum lycopersicon ‘Lindo F1) nursery shades and no shade control were evaluated for their effects on seedling photomorphogenesis and field performances as influenced by variable light transmission through the shades. The shades were constructed with wooden frames and different coloured polyethylene sheets as cover (roof). Different polyethylene colours showed varying effects on all the parameters...

Author(s): Onyia V. N., Eze S. C., Chukwu C., Awere S. U., Atugwu A., Agba O. A. and Uzochukwu C.  

May 2020

Determinants of sorghum productivity among small-scale farmers in Siaya County, Kenya

The productivity of sorghum in Kenya is on decline despite sorghum being one of the suitable crops for the arid and semi-arid areas commonly found in Kenya. The study therefore aimed at establishing the effect of the selected socio-economic factors on sorghum productivity using a case of small-scale farmers in Siaya County. The four sub-counties considered for this study were selected on the basis of sorghum production....

Author(s): Samuel O. Okeyo, Samuel N. Ndirangu, Hezron N. Isaboke and Lucy K. Njeru  

May 2020

Gender roles and constraints in the aquaculture value chain in Western Kenya

Aquaculture plays a critical role in food and nutrition security, economic empowerment and creation of employment opportunities for millions of people. However, the benefits from aquaculture are not evenly distributed between men and women due to gender-based constraints which limit maximum returns. The present study investigated gender roles and constraints in the aquaculture value chain in Western Kenya. A household...

Author(s): Cecilia Muthoni Githukia, Silke-Silvia Drexler, Kevin Odhiambo Obiero, Bryan Otieno Nyawanda, Judith Achieng’ Odhiambo, Joshua Wafula Chesoli and Julius Otieno Manyala

May 2020

Inoculant production of Pisolithus sp. in submerged culture under agitation

Ectomycorrhizal fungi inoculation can increase the sustainability of planted forests hence the inoculant production should be optimized. The objective of this study was to determine the agitation speed and time of growth for maximum production of mycelium of D216 isolate of Pisolithus sp. The treatments were established by factorial 6x3, being six agitation conditions and three different times (days) of growth. The...

Author(s): Eliane Cristine Soares da Costa, Lauana Lopes dos Santos, Paulo Henrique Grazziotti, Lidiomar Soares da Costa, Cleriston Souza Silva, Roberta de Vasconcelos Ramires,  Márcia Regina da Costa and Caíque Menezes de Abreu