ABSTRACT Secondary school agriculture curriculum was introduced in Kenya to equip learners with knowledge on the basic principles of farming. The intention was to bring out school graduates who would embrace self-employment and even create employment for others in their farms. Agriculture sector contributes significantly to economic development of this country through; provision of food, employment, market for industrial goods, raw materials for industries and foreign exchange. To realize the...
Abstract Natural organic matter (NOM) is a generic term for a mixture of organic, slightly watersoluble components found in soil, sediment and natural waters, which represents severe challenges for the process control in water treatment plants as well as water distribution systems. The effective removal of NOM during drinking water treatment requires a good understanding of its character. The current study aimed to identify and quantify NOM present in the Windhoek Goreangab Operating Company...
Abstract: Tin (Sn) is a promising substitute for lead (Pb) in organic–inorganic hybrid halide perovskite-photovoltaic devices, but it is prone to delivering low power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) due to the poor quality of Sn-perovskite films. In this work, anilinium hypophosphite (AHP) co-additive is used to fabricate high-quality FASnI3 (FA+: formamidinium) perovskite films with suppressed phase-segregation and prolonged charge carrier lifetime. Perovskite films containing 0.05 M AHP a...
ABSTRACT The WAEC Chief Examiners’ Reports in Ghana have repeatedly lamented the weakness exhibited by most Chemistry students in IUPAC nomenclature of organic compounds in the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination. This study was a step to determine the knowledge level of some Chemistry students in IUPAC nomenclature of organic compounds. A cross-sectional survey was adopted to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. In all, 245 SHS4 Chemistry students selected from ...
ABSTRACTThe isolation, identification and characterization of bacteria from organic waste were carried out. Sawdust waste (plant organic waste source) and abattoir waste water (animal organic waste source) samples were collected. The media used were nutrient agar for total aerobic plate count, McConkey agar for coliform count and cellulolytic media for cellulolytic count. The pour plate method was employed. Colonial morphology, gram staining and biochemical tests were used for the identificat...
Abstract: Building climate-resilient farming systems is important to promote the sustainability of agriculture at the global level. Scaling-up agroecological approaches in main staple crops, such as maize, is particularly important in enhancing the climate resilience of millions of smallholder farmers in developing countries. In this regard, push–pull technology (PPT) is an ecological approach to a farming system that aims to improve the climate resilience of maize producers in a smallhold...
ABSTRACT Soil nutrient depletion in lowland rice growing ecologies in Northern Ghana is one of the major causes of low rice yields. Most nutrients applied to enhance the fertility of soil are lost through leaching due to the low CEC of the soils caused mainly by low organic matter and low colloidal clay content of the soils. The application of biochar has been found to improve soil fertility through its enhanced nutrient retention leading to increased nutrient uptake and consequently in...
ABSTRACT Pelargonium sidoides is a medicinal plant grown in Kenya for export to Germany where it is used in the manufacture of drugs for lung related diseases. The farm contributes to the well being of the local community by providing permanent employment to for over 80 persons, with 80 percent being women. It also offers free pre-primary education to their children including the ones from the neighbourhood. The broad spectrum of activity against viruses and bacteria may be caused by the coum...
ABSTRACT Despite having a lot of resources, Lake Victoria Basin has had an increase in population and land degradation and a reduction in agricultural production due to poor soil fertility. This has necessitated the use of inorganic fertilizers to boost food production. Inorganic fertilizers production contributes to emission of greenhouse gases. Use of inorganic fertilizer in Lake Victoria basin may have led to eutrophication of Lake Victoria leading to social, economic and ecological proble...
ABSTRACT The environmental degradation of areas surrounding Lake Elementaita arise from the livelihood activities of the residents. Uncontrolled extraction of resources such as trees, grass and soda/salt contrasts with conservation. This is further compounded by the free access to the resources as a result of absentee landlords. This situation leads to lack of control and management of resources thus exacerbating degradation activities around the Lake and its riparian ecosystem. This study fo...
BACKGROUND Integral to the biological nutrient removal (BNR) activated sludge system is the biologically mediated process of denitrification. Not only does this process reduce the N load to the environment, but it also has the advantages of alkalinity recovery and reducing the oxygen demand. Further, the denitrification protects the biological excess P removal (BEPR), if included, from the deleterious effect of recycling nitrate to the anaerobic reactor (Wentzel et al., 1990). Accordingly, qu...
Abstract The agro-climatic conditions in western Kenya present the region as a food surplus area yet people are still reliant on food imports. Numerous interventions through Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) practices to this front have not yielded the expected results. With this background the study sought to: (i) identify the contribution of ISFM interventions to farm productivity, (ii) to identify gaps in knowledge translation and (iii) to establish the major factors determining ...
ABSTRACT Nitrogen deficiency is a major limiting factor for maize production in western Kenya, therefore, nitrogen fertilizer inputs are required to increase yields in the region. However, most resource poor farmers use low rates of inorganic fertilizers leading to low maize yields. While high rates of inorganic fertilizer application may increase yields, they are however associated with low nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the environment. Cattle manur...
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...
Abstract: Organic liquid fertilizer not only increases organic fertility of crops but also accelerates their maturation and nutrient quality. Thus, the present study was aimed at producing organic liquid fertilizer from sheep manure and onion peels through aerobic conditions where after 50 days the solution was converted into organic liquid fertilizer. The experimental design used was complete randomized design (CRD) in two replications. Quantitative analysis was made for composition of plan...