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 With the growing concerns about the likely implications of climate change, the long term sustainability of conventional agricultural approaches and biodiversity loss have contributed to a growing interest in the potential of the so-called underutilised crops to address food, nutritional, and income security challenges. In support of their wider use, advocates of underutilised crops associate a number of benefits with them. These include agronomic and nutritional benefits such as drou...
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 The experiment was conducted using Brachiara murandu (paliside grass) to determine the Emergence potential of Brachiara murandu as influence by different fertilizer rates in northern guinea savanna of Nigeria. The experiment consisted of six treatments NPK 0-0-0 Kg ha-1 (control), NPK 20 Kg ha-1, NPK 40 Kg ha-1, NPK 60 Kg ha-1, NPK 80 Kg ha-1, and NPK 100 Kg ha-1. The treatments was replicated three time making up 18 plots, and assign using Complete Randomise Block Design (CRBD). t...
ABSTRACT Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most dangerous of soil pollutants because this heavy metal may easily move from soil to food plants through root absorption, and fairly large amounts can accumulate in their tissues without showing stress. The CEC increase from 175.554 to 105.331 and 95.502 respectively for decrease in concentration of cadmium metal, this is due to isomorphic substitution of the cadmium from the metal in cation exchange capacity (Ca, Mg, K and Na). Nitrogen also decreases b...
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% ...
Soil organic matter is the decomposed and partially decomposed remains of plants and animals in the soil and this help in nutrient recycling. This work evaluated the effect of compost types on various organic carbon fractions and microaggregation. Soil samples collected at 0-20 cm depth were analyzed for total organic carbon (TOC), free particulate organic carbon (fPoC), occluded particulate organic carbon (oPOC), acid-hydrolzable organic carbon (AHOC) and non-acid hydrolysable organic carbon...
The present study evaluated the silage characteristics and nutritive quality of panicum maximum ensiled with or without browse seeds. The study was a 7 x 2 factorial experiment, constituting of panicum maximum harvested at different maturity stages ensiled with two browse plant seeds (Enterolobium cyclocarpum and albizia saman) at different proportions(100:0, 75:25, 50:50, and25:75).Data o pH, Temperature and physical characteristics of the silage were recorded. There no significant (p
ABSTRACT A Field experiment was carried out to evaluate seventeen cowpea genotypes for yield components of seventeen cowpea genotypes that comprised of thirteen advanced breeding lines; IT99K-1060, IT97K-499-35, IT07K-299-6, IT99K-216-24-2, IT04K-333-2, IT98K-491-4, IT855K-643-1, IT89K-288, IT04-334-2, IT95K-2011-11, IT97K-573-1-1, IT0K-973-6, IT99K-1122 and four local accessions; Dan Cameroon, Dan Bauchi, Dan Wuri, Achishiru. The trial was conducted at teaching and research farm, Abubakar T...
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...