A B S T R A C T In a diallel cross involving six kola trees, two from each of the cultivars Laboshie white ex Nigeria, Kumasi white and Kade pink, a self compatible tree of the Kade pink cultivar was found to be the most efficient female but the least efficient male parent for fruit set. The frequency of red, white and pink nuts that segregated in the progeny of the various crosses suggests that a single locus with multiple alleles controls the inheritance of kolanut colour. At physiological ...
ABSTRACT Agriculture has been the backbone of Ghana’s economy for several decades. A continuous decline in the agricultural sector contribution to GDP over the years with increasing unemployment among graduates has raised concerns among researchers. The sector is dominated by aging and illiterate population which has negative impact on productivity and technology adoption. The educated youth who can contribute positively to the development of the sector are not taking advantage of opportuni...
ABSTRACT The sustenance and progress of any breeding program and conservation of its germplasm is hinged on the ability to estimate the degree of genetic diversity in a given gene pool for maintaining crop production. Therefore, data on the genetic diversity and relationships among plant genotypes is vital to identifying the complexity of the gene pool, to ascertain breaches in genotype collections in order to develop effective conservation and management strategies. This study was conducted ...
ABSTRACT Phosphorus deficiency is widespread in most soils of northern Ghana. Presence of lateritic concretions in some of the soils constitute an additional limitation to crop production in the region because the concretions act as an effective sink for added P. To assess the role of the concretions on phosphorus availability in a typical concretionary soil of northern Ghana, a soil originally containing 70% concretions was fractionated into soil fines and concretions and the soil reconstitu...
ABSTRACT The study was conducted in two phases. Phase 1 was to assess the handling and management of watermelon along the value chain in the Ada-East district of Ghana. One hundred open and close ended questionnaires were administered to farmers and dealers of watermelon. From the study, it was observed that the value chain of watermelon starts from land preparation and ends at the point it gets to the final consumer. The key players along the chain were identified to be farmers, dealers (tra...
ABSTRACT Cassava storage root is a major staple. However, the tuber is poor in nutrients especially micronutrients. The study was conducted to improve the nutritional status of cassava with farmers’ preferred traits in Sierra Leone. The specific objectives were i) to assess adoption challenges, perception and preferences for provitamin A cassava among cassava value chain actors in Sierra Leone. ii) to estimate genetic diversity within provitamin A cassava germplasm using morphological, mole...
ABSTRACT An experiment was conducted at the Forest and Horticultural Crops Research Centre, Kade to investigate the effect of palm bunch ash (PBA) application on soil chemical properties and the growth, nodulation, nitrogen fixation and yield of three early maturing varieties (ICPL 87091, ICPL 88034 and ICPL 88039) of pigeonpea. The experiment was conducted both in the field and in the pot. The three pigeonpea varieties were subjected to three fertilization treatments; 2 t ha–1 PBA, 20 kg h...
ABSTRACT An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of plasma concentrations of the metabolic hormones [Growth hormone (GH), insulin and insulin-like growth factor –I (IGFI)] and nutritional metabolites (glucose, cholesterol, total protein, albumin, globulin, urea and creatinine) on the resumption of postpartum ovarian activity in sixteen Friesian-Sanga crossbred cows at the Animal Research Institute’s Frafraha station. Also, correlation among the metabolic hormones and the nut...
ABSTRACT Cowpea is an important grain legume crop for millions of humans, fodder for livestock and source of income for all the value chain actors. Its productivity is constrained by several biotic and abiotic stresses such as drought and poor soil fertility. Aligned with poor soil fertility in most growing areas, this thesis describes phosphorus (P) use and acquisition of elite cowpea lines from different breeding programmes. In the first chapter, a brief overview was provided about cowpea a...
ABSTRACT Rice is a major food crop in Sierra Leone with a high per capita consumption of 104 kg annually. Average yield (t/ha) is low, leading to a yield gap of 350,000 metric tons, which is met through import. A good number of rice farmers in Sierra Leone are cultivating on mangrove swamps, which are highly associated with salinity, resulting in the low average yield (tonnes per hectare). Salinity is a major abiotic stress devastating rice production in saline soils, including the mangrove e...
ABSTRACT Zero Energy Cool Chamber (ZECC) storage technology is the use of an evaporative cool chamber for maintaining the low temperature of fruits and vegetables compared to the field, shed and room temperature. In order to help farmers and traders, the ZECC technology was introduced in the Savelugu and Sagnarigu municipalities. However, only a few of the farmers and traders have adopted it in these municipalities. Although the ZECC seems to be a means to help solve storage challenges, the ...
ABSTRACT THE EFFECTS OF SOILS AND TIME ON THE ACCURACY OF CROP IDENTIFICATION IN S.W. ONTARIO FROM 1974 SATELLITE IMAGERY Samuel Kojo Dapaah, M.Sc. Supervisor: University of Guelph, 1974 Dr. T.P. Phillips ERTS-1 imagery (June 2, June 20 and July 8, 1974), supplemented with airborne photography was used to identify com, winter wheat, soybeans, oats and fieldbeans in Southwestern Ontario. Sample areas were selected within Chatham - Harwich Townships, Kent County, Ontario according to land use ...
The outbreak of disease in fish farming has become a worldwide problem. The aquaculture industry in Ghana has seen a major rise in the rate of fish mortality in recent times with significant economic losses. New and emerging diseases maybe associated with these mortalities including the rusty brown spot recorded on cultured Oreochromis niloticus (Nile tilapia). However, there is no much information on the pathological agents associated with the condition. The rusty brown spots have been ...
ABSTRACT The use of cassava stems as planting materials is limited by scarcity, poor quality, high cost and inappropriate field techniques (land preparation, planting spacing, and field maintenance). To enhance the supply of stem for planting cassava varieties, the existing production practices were evaluated and techniques for increasing the number and quality of cassava planting materials were investigated. Seventy-four cassava farms, purposively selected in 11 major cassava growing S...
ABSTRACT Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is the most important vegetable in Ghana in terms of area under cultivation and consumption, but production is challenged by lack of improved cultivars and the Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Disease (TYLCD). In Ghana, tomato breeding programmes have focused on evaluation and screening of cultivars for fruit quality and resistance to the TYLCD but very little has been done to improve the crop through breeding. The objective of this study was to introgress TY...