ABSTRACT A study of the effect of biochar (charcoal) on microbial colonization and heavy metal concentration in polluted soil was conducted for eighth (8) weeks between September to October, during the cropping season of 2018, at the faculty of Agriculture, Kogi State University, Anyigba. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of biochar on microbial colonization and heavy metal concentration in a polluted soil. The experiment was laid out in a completely rand...
AbstractPurpose – The purpose of this paper is to establish the association between smallholder farmer perceptionstoward climate change and adaptation strategies at the household level in Chimanimani District of Zimbabwe.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 284 households mainly using a structuredquestionnaire. The Heckman probit selection model was used to first identify the underlying socio-economicfactors that affect households’ recognition of climate change in the ...
The experiment was conducted to compare the various carcass characteristics between two broiler strains. A total bird of 150 day-old chick of two commercial broiler strains (Marshall and Cobb, 75 each) were raised and at the end of 4, 6 and 8 weeks, 20 birds/strain; 40 birds/week, making a total of 120 birds were randomly selected from both strains for carcass analysis. The birds were starved of feed overnight and individually weighed to obtain starved live body weight. The birds were stu...
This project investigated the effects of organic turmeric on the liver and oxidative stress of the brain in rabbit acutely exposed to ultraviolet radiation. Thirty five weaned rabbits between 8-10 weeks of age, randomly allocated to control (A) and five (5) treatments: B, C, D, E and F were used for this experiment. Treatment A: fed organic feed without turmeric inclusion and not radiated, Treatment B: fed diet supplemented with 2% turmeric as its constituents but not radiated, Treatm...
It has been proven that blood profile of an animal dictates its health status. Meanwhile, the health implication of feeding graded levels of untreated cocoa pod husk meal (UCPHM) to animals was the crux of this study. Thus, a 56 day trial was conducted to assess the haematological and biochemical responses of West African Dwarf (WAD) goats fed Panicum maximum replaced with UCPHM. The feed components were blended into five diets such that Diet A (control) contained 100 % P. maximum, Diet ...
The study determined the allele and genotype frequencies of genetic variants in two genes associated with milk production traits in four indigenous cattle breeds (N’dama, White Fulani, Muturu and Keteku) in Nigeria. Polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique was used to detect genetic polymorphisms in two milk genes (kappa casein (K-CN) and Prolactin (PRL)). Three genetic variants (AA, AB and BB) of K-CN gene were detected in White Fulani and Mut...
Kappa-casein as a mammalian milk protein is involved in a several important physiological processes and it’s about 80% of the total protein in cow milk. This study aimed at genotyping bovine Kappa casein(CSN3) in two indigenous Nigerian cattle populations and to determine the frequency distribution of Kappa casein variants as detected across the animals examined and their association with the body measurement. DNA was extracted from 100 blood samples of 50 White Fulani and 50 N’dama ca...
The study was carried out to determine the effect of age and management system on egg quality traits of Fulani ecotype hens. Egg quality traits were measured at 20, 22 and 24 weeks of age from 45 Fulani ecotype hens reared in the cage and deep litter system of management. However, 50 to 70 eggs were utilized at different ages. Data were collected on Egg weight (EW), Egg length (EL), Egg width (EWD), Shell weight (SW), Shell thickness (ST), Yolk weight (YW), Yolk width (YWD), Yolk height (Y...
The expression of four genes involved in milk regulation and production in bovine milk and tissue samples profiled using quantitative PCR to identify differential gene expression. Our goal focussed on the differential mRNA expression of milk genes (K-CN, PRL, BLG and PIT-1) in milk samples and different tissues from four different breeds of ecologically adapted and geographically separated cattle species. The mRNA expression identified the four milk genes understudied most upregulated in ma...
Data from fifty-four pigs: twenty-five Duroc, twenty-one Large White and eight crosses of Duroc and Large White (Hybrid) were used to quantify and mathematically describe the performance traits of pigs. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of genotype, sex and their interaction on the performance characteristics of three pig genotypes. The pigs were 30 kg of body weight and 70 days of age at the beginning of the study. Records for body weight (BW), body length (BL), feed i...
The literature suggests there is ~0.3 percent chance per year of full-scale nuclear war. This event would have ~20 percent probability of causing U.S. mass starvation due to collapse of conventional agriculture from smoke blocking the sun. Alternate foods exploit fossil fuels (e.g. methane digesting bacteria) and stored biomass (e.g. mushrooms growing on dead trees) and are technically capable of saving all Americans from starving. However, current awareness is low and the technologies need t...
The sun could be blocked by an asteroid impact, supervolcanic eruption, or nuclear winter caused by burning of cities during nuclear war. The primary problem in these scenarios is loss of food production. Previous work has shown that alternate foods not dependent on sunlight, such as bacteria grown on natural gas, calories extracted from killed leaves, and cellulose turned into sugar enzymatically, could feed everyone in these catastrophes and preparation for these foods would save lives high...
This study was designed to establish farmers’ perception on climate change and weather variability and its impacts on input investments, crop yields and food security. The study was conducted in the Middleveld of Swaziland were three constituencies were selected within the region. Three communities were selected spatially from each constituency. Purposive sampling was used to select 30 households from each community to make a sample size of 270 households. Information was collected from hea...
This study was designed to focus on why subsistence livestock farmers concentrate mainly on cattle rearing instead of diversifying the livestock sector to incorporate small ruminants particularly goats which can sustain under a diverse climatic conditions. Areas of interest in this study were socioeconomic and cultural factors namely; social status, ownership, dignity, prestige, taste, lack of information on sustainable goat farming, customary activities, income and market that influence fa...
This study was done to establish the appropriateness of government and NGOs strategies to improve food security through the production of drought resistant crops in Swaziland. To determine this, analysis was done on the current rural Swazi livelihoods, strategies used by subsistence farmers to cope with hunger, priorities of both subsistence farmers and change agents and the approach used by change agents to fight hunger. Sithobela community was picked as a case study and a total number of 72...