ABSTRACT The series of investigations carried out into the blast disease of oil palm seedlings, a disease of high economic importance, showed that the disease was widespread in nurseries throughout south-westem Nigeria, The disease was prevalent between October of the year of planting and March of the following year and appeared to be severest in November and Deeember. The incidence of the disease was lower among seedlings planted into the nursery at the beginning of the rainy season in April...
ABSTRACT An important component of Value-at-Risk (VaR) and Expected Shortfall (ES) estimation is using robust volatility models, thus the need to test the relative performance of a wide range of volatility forecasting models to ascertain the one that gives the most adequate VaR and ES forecast. Risk management has become very necessary for institutions in all sectors of an economy. Stock markets represent almost all sectors of an economy; the Ghanaian stock market being no exception. With lis...
ABSTRACT The effective planning of vector control strategies, genetic manipulation of vector species and the management of insecticide resistance require information on the population structure and the assessment of gene flow between vector populations. Although the appetitive flight of mosquitoes is known to be less than 5 km, most studies assessing gene flow between An. gambiae populations have been conducted over geographical distances as far apart as 6000km. For vector control, opera...
ABSTRACT Cassava is an important food security crop in Ghana and in the wake of climate change there is the need for plant breeders to develop varieties with high water use efficiency as well as high photosynthetic rate in order to adapt to the changing climate. Thus, the photosynthetic rates of eight cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) varieties were non-destructively evaluated using photosynthesis meter miniPPM300, from June 2014 to May 2015, with the aim of selecting varieties with high pho...
ABSTRACT The quality of Amaranthus cruentus L. seeds were influenced both by seasons of harvest and varietal type. The wetness that accompanied harvests of the first (April June) and second (August-October) seasons greatly-reduced the quality of seeds of cultivars. Quality reduction were in the form of seed malformation, discolouratlon and mycelial growth on them. Fifteen fungal species were found to be associated with seeds of the cultivars used. There was a seasonal variability in the occu...
ABSTRACT Low soil Nitrogen (N) and sub-optimal N fertilizer application result in low Grain Yield (GY) in maize. Genotypes with improved N-Use Efficiency (NUE) are beneficial to low-input agriculture. To facilitate the genetic improvement of tropical maize for NUE, information is required on the relative importance of N-Uptake Efficiency (NUpE) and N-Utilization Efficiency (NUtE), both components of NUE, the relationships among the gene networks in the developing cob tissue and agronomic tra...
ABSTRACT Eggplant is an important fruit with numerous health benefits, but it has a relatively short postharvest life. Edible coating in combination with low temperature storage can improve quality and extend shelf life but they are normally imported and are costly. This work, therefore, sought to study the effect of edible coatings prepared from inexpensive, locally available materials on the quality of eggplant fruits during storage. Fruits were coated with beeswax, Aloe vera or cassava sta...
ABSTRACT Smallholder farmers are the major players in agricultural production and food supply systems in Africa. However, poor access to market limits their productivity growth. This brings into focus the need to support smallholders to become less subsistence-based and more entrepreneurial by tailoring production to market forces. Agriculture is one of Ghana's most important economic sector, employing almost half the population on a formal and informal basis and accounting for about 20% ...
ABSTACT This experiment was carried out at Bunda College Crops and soil Science Students’ Research Farm in the 2010/2011 cropping season with the objective to assess genotype improvement in terms of productivity and protein content in different soy bean genotypes. There were 12 inbred lines i.e., UG-5, TG X 1937-1F, TG X 1954-1F, TG X 1485-1D, TG X 1019-2EB, TG X 1830-20E, TG X1885-10E, TG X 1440-1E, TG X 1904-6F, TG X-1908-8F, TG X 1019-13F, TG X1019-14F and 4 cultivars i.e. Magoye, Naso...