SUMMARY A total of 120 local hens at the point of lay were randomly assigned, 2 per cage, with 10 replicates per diet in a completely randomized design, to 6 palm kernel cake (PKC)-based layer diets that contained 20% CP and 2,700 kcal of ME/kg of feed. The PKC was included at levels of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50% in diets 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, respectively. Diet 1 without PKC served as the control. To make the diets isocaloric, 0.5, 1.48, 3.35, 5.22, 7.11, and 8.98% palm oil was added to diets 1,...
ABSTRACT The study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of biochar and poultry manure in improving the fertility of a strongly weathered soil and the yield of lettuce. In two separate experiments, three rates (0, 39 and 65 t ha-1 per 1 kg soil) of biochar (CCB, CHB and PMB) solely or in combination with poultry manure (0 and 10 t ha-1 ) were incorporated into pots containing 1 kg soil and arranged in completely randomized design. Biochar and or manure effects on SOC, mineral N, AVP, pH, E...
ABSTRACT Aquaculture in the sub-Sahara Africa will grow by 8.3 percent from its current 1.2 percent over the next 20 years. The growth trend will lead to high demand for inputs for fish production, especially fishmeal and fish oil, and can threaten the sustainability of fish farming in Ghana. There is the need to consider cost of production because of high protein needs of tilapia and other fish species currently being farmed. This study intended to investigate the cost and availability of i...
ABSTRACT The post weaning growth performance of the Ashanti Black pig (ABP) at National Pig Breeding Station at Babile in the Upper West Region of Ghana was assessed. The records of 211 weaners over a seven-year period (1999-2005 inclusive) were used in the study. The influence of year of birth, sex and size of litter at weaning on performance traits – weaning weight at 42 days, body weights at 120 days, at 180 days and at 240 days of age and post weaning growth rates were investigated. A...
ABSTRACT Coastal erosion is a major challenge facing coastal regions globally. It is projected to increase on regional to global scale as sea levels continue to rise. To manage the situation sustainably, coastal managers require relevant scientific information such as beach sediment and shoreline dynamics. Shoreline change measurement and simulation especially at local scale and at higher resolutions are relevant for decision making and engineering. A review of literature has brought to the ...
ABSTRACT Studies were carried out under ambient laboratory conditions of 25 ± 2°C and 70 ± 5% relative humidity to determine the relative susceptibility of eighteen maize seed varieties to attack by the maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD), with eighteen maize varieties replicated three times. Adult mortality, number of F1 progeny, weevil development time, susceptibility index, seed dam...
INTRODUCTION The first section of this chapter states the objectives an4 the procedure adopted for the study and gives reasons for choosing the Ejura and Wenchi areas for the study and centering it around tobaccoo This is followed by brief discussions of the geography of the two areas and the characteristics of the tobacco farmers. Agriculture in the two areas is then discussed and some of the bottlenecks to increased agricultural production highlighted. The final sections of the chapter trac...
ABSTRACT Climate change and variability is one of the great challenges facing farming households in Ghana. The main objective of this study is to assess the vulnerability of smallholder maize farming households to climate variability in the Eastern region. Specifically, the study investigates the vulnerability of households to climate variability, the determinants of households’ livelihood vulnerability level, the adoption level of adaptation strategies to climate variability and the deter...
The unavailability of adequate empirical data necessitated this study of analysis of rural farmers‟ use of improved cocoyam production practices in South-South, Nigeria with coverage States such as Cross River, Delta and Edo. The study described the socio economic characteristics of rural farmers, identified the improved cocoyam production practices and determined the extent of rural farmers‟ use of improved cocoyam production practices among others. A total of 411 contact cocoyam fa...
ABSTRACT This study compares the performance of two predominantly employed marine fishing technologies (purse seine and drift gill net) along the coastal stretch of central region in Ghana. Against this backdrop, productivity and technical efficiency differentials of the purse seine and drift gill net technologies is assessed. Factors delimitating fishers from achieving the maximum attainable output levels were also modeled to quantify their effect on inefficiency. A simple random sampling te...
ABSTRACT Smallholder farmers have limited access to credit for their farming activities due to lack of collaterals that are acceptable by formal financial institutions. The farmers sell immediately after harvest at low prices to ease their financial constraints, which consequently earn them low incomes. In order to overcome these problems, warehouse receipt system (WRS) is suggested as the best alternative scheme. The WRS in Africa however lacks legal and institutional framework to ensure its...
ABSTRACT Around the developing world, poverty remains an overwhelming rural issue. Rural dwellers rely heavily on agricultural activities and related assets as main source of livelihoods. They also have widely differing capacities to combine off-farm activities in their income generation process. However, diversification makes households better-off only if it implies increased investment in high return portfolios. An important concern is that high yielding investments are either high risk or ...
ABSTRACT Early maturing provitamin A (PVA) quality protein maize (QPM) hybrids with combined drought and low soil Nitrogen (low-N) tolerance are needed to address malnutrition and food insecurity problems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In response to this need, PVA-QPM inbred lines with drought and low-N tolerant genetic backgrounds were developed through the concerted effort of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Maize Improvement Program (IITA-MIP) for hybrid development and c...
ABSTRACT In order to solve the crisis faced by the energy sector in Ghana, Jatropha has been promoted as a panacea and promising crop for bioenergy generation. Like other crops, Jatropha cultivation comes with opportunities. The study aims at analyzing how Jatropha adoption influences the level of crop incomes of farmers and the preferences for production contracts in Northern Ghana. The first objective is to identify the factors explaining farmers’ adoption and land allocation of Jatropha ...
ABSTRACT Malaria remains a major public health problem in Africa, with An. funestus as one of the principal vectors. In the control of malaria, vector control has been successfully implemented in many malariaendemic countries with indoor residual spraying (IRS) as an existing front-line measure. IRS has been implemented in some selected sites in Northern Ghana since 2009 and its effect on the members of An. funestus is poorly understood. Therefore, this study was aimed at investigating the sp...