Seed production demands the progressive replacement of insecticides and fungicides with natural and easily degradable products. Biopolymers and coating technology can be combined to meet that goal. This study proposes chitosan, sodium alginate, and Trichoderma harzianum formulations that can be applied to sunflower seeds, maintaining their quality and safe storage. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of coating with different chitosan and sodium alginate combinations on Trichoderma harzianum viability and sunflower seed quality. Sunflower seeds were coated with Trichoderma harzianum powder mixed with different biopolymer formulations (chitosan at 1% and 3%, sodium alginate at 1.5 %). Trichoderma viability was evaluated over time, through colony-forming units per ml. Sunflower seed quality was determined by, radicle emergence, germination percentage, root seedling growth, and field emergence. Chitosan applied as seed coating had harmful effects on Trichoderma viability and sunflower seed quality. Instead, sodium alginate not only improved the adherence and survival of Trichoderma harzianum strains but also maintained the radicle emergence, root growth, and germination levels. Sodium alginate creates a protective film for Trichoderma harzianum strains from the chitosan damaging effect, ensuring adequate storage of sunflower seeds.

Variation in decomposition status of poultry manure has several residual agronomic implications on the yield and quality of crops and eventually the soil properties. Hence, the need to assess the residual potential of cured and uncured poultry dropping on the yield and quality of Amaranthus viridis, as well as the post cropping soil. The experiments were carried out in two successive plantings seasons at the Organic Vegetable Garden, Teaching and Research Farm, University of Ibadan in 2013. The experiment was laid out in 2 x 4 factorial randomized complete block design, replicated four times. Two commonly used poultry droppings stages (cured and uncured) were applied at 0, 50, 100 and 150kg N/ha. Data on fresh and dry biomass yield (t/ha) of A. viridis, and some post cropping soil nutrients were observed. Plant yield data were subjected to analysis of variance and means were separated using Duncan Multiple Range Test at 5 % level of significance. The results revealed that cured poultry droppings produced higher yields of A. viridis than the uncured poultry dropping in the two planting seasons. The 150kg N ha-1 uncured poultry dropping resulted into the significant (p< 0.05) value of fresh and dry biomass yield (12.14 t/ha and 1.94 t/ha) in the dry season, while 100kg N ha-1 of cured poultry droppings resulted into the highest significant (p< 0.05) value of fresh and dry biomass yield (19.6 t/ha and 3.98 t/ha) in wet season. The residual soil analysis revealed that 150kg N ha-1 and 100kg N/ha cured poultry dropping by standard deviation resulted in the highest nutrient content (nitrogen, organic carbon, phosphorus, and magnesium) in the dry season. While100kg N ha-1 cured poultry dropping resulted in the highest nutrient content (nitrogen, organic carbon, phosphorus, and magnesium) in the wet planting season. Though uncured poultry dropping performed better in terms of yield, cured poultry droppings still left the soil in better condition for subsequent cropping.

The purpose of this study is to address drought risk to cowpea farmers by identifying possible mixed lots of seed that spread risk. The method employed was a Poisson regression model using multi-year data for flowering time for 160 cowpea accessions. Two possible pairs of varieties for mixed seed release were identified, 1393-1-2-3(-) paired with Cameroon 12-58 and Sasaque paired with Tvu-9557. This study provides a new tool that can be used to predict the crop cycle for the lines and environments in the data set, which were in Pobe and Kamboinse, Burkina Faso. Further studies should consider consumer preferences, yield, disease resistance, and seed type.

Sclerotium rolfsii is a plant pathogen causing collar rot diseases in several plants including Chickpea (Cicer arientinum L.). An in-vitro experiment was conducted to study the potential of different isolates of Trichoderma spp collected from different agro-ecological regions of Nepal on inhibition of growth of Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. in Plant pathology Laboratory of Agriculture and Forestry University, Nepal. The pathogenic isolate of S. rolfsii was isolated from symptomatic tomato and maintained in PDA. Several Trichoderma spp were isolated from soil of several locations using Trichoderma selective media (TSM) and maintained in PDA plates. The potential ability of Trichoderma isolates in controlling the pathogen was observed using dual culture and sclerotial parasitization techniques. Colony morphology and morphological features of sporulating structures of different isolates of Trichoderma spp were compared. Among all eight tested isolates, Trichoderma isolates isolated from Palpa district of Nepal gave maximum inhibition percent of S.rolfsii on 2(90.500%), 3(94.666%), 4(97.746%) and 5(100%) days after inoculation in dual culture. The average growth of mycelium of S. rolfsii on PDA plates treated with liquid culture filtrate (LCF) of Trichoderma was maximum in isolate isolated from Tarahara and minimum in Palpa isolate. Among eight sclerotia of S.rolfsii inoculated in PDA plates treated with LCF of different isolates of Trichoderma spp, minimum germination of sclerotia was obtained in the plates treated with Palpa isolate at 3 (25%), 5 (29.16%), 7 (29.16%) and 9 (29.16%) days after inoculation. Morphological variation of Trichoderma spp was observed even within the isolates of same sample and same location. Rampur isolates (collected from rice and vegetable farm) showed slightly lighter green color whereas Palpa isolate gave a darker green color than all other isolates.

The Mangrove Oyster, Crassostrea gasar is one of the most economically important shell mollusc in Nigeria. In the present study, investigations were made on the accumulation of seven (7) heavy metals, lead (Pb), Chromium (Cr), Nickel (Ni), Iron (Fe), Cadmium (Cd), Copper (Cu) and Zinc (Zn) in water, sediment and Crassostrea gasar (flesh and shell) inhabiting Ebute – Oko, Tomaro, and Agala axis of the Lagos Lagoon. The analyses, conducted using standard method revealed lower heavy metal concentrations in the flesh of C. gasar during wet season while the concentrations in oyster shell, lagoon water and sediment were higher during dry season. Fe was recorded with the highest mean concentration in all the samples throughout the seasons. The lagoon sediments had the highest concentrations of all the metals in all the three sites examined. The bio-water accumulation factors showed that the oyster flesh accumulated all the seven heavy metals detected in the lagoon but in varying concentrations with Fe (> 20mg/l) as the highest while Cd (≤ 0.6mg/l) was recorded as the lowest accumulated heavy metals. The bio-sediment accumulation factors in the oyster flesh were less than 1 (< 1mg/l). The results of heavy metals concentrations obtained in this study were within the limit of FAO and WHO recommended for bivalves consumption, therefore, the oysters’ flesh was safe for consumption and can also serve as a good bio-indicator for pollution monitoring in our aquatic ecosystem.

The mineral composition of stored freeze dried cow milk cheese and soy cheese in selected packaging materials was investigated. 300g each of fresh cow milk and soy milk cheese was prepared and cut into sizes of 2x2cm dimension and a thickness of 0.2cm. The initial properties were determined using 50g each of the cheeses while the remaining 250g was freeze dried. The initial properties of the freeze dried samples were determined using a portion of each of the samples. A randomized experimental block design was adopted.  The freeze dried samples were packaged in sterilized glass jar, plastic jar and polythene film while the unpackaged sample was used as the control sample. The samples were stored at ambient room conditions for 3 months. Samples were analyzed for mineral composition monthly during the storage period. Data obtained were analyzed statistically to determine the effect of the packaging materials and storage durations on the mineral composition of freeze dried cheese samples. Result of the mineral composition for the fresh cow milk and soy cheese for potassium, magnesium, iron, calcium, and sodium were 7.0±0.3, 5.22±0.11, 6.32±0.12, 11.12±0.40, 3.30±0.06 and 7.04±0.04, 5.14±0.14, 6.20±0.32, 10.76±0.60, 3.52±0.85 respectively while the result for the freeze dried cow milk and soy cheese before storage were 7.12±0.12, 5.20±0.40, 5.45±0.12, 15.85±0.03, 5.20±0.40 and 7.19±0.32, 5.10±0.60, 5.32±0.11, 13.40±0.35, 5.40±0.32 respectively. Results showed that statistically, there was no significant difference in the mineral composition of the stored cheese samples during the storage period (3 months). The packaging material type used and storage duration has no significant effect on the minerals of the cow milk and soy milk cheeses after 3 months of storage. This indicates that all the packaging material types used   retain the mineral composition of freeze dried cheese.

The experiment to evaluate the effect of insecticide (chilli pepper aqueous extract) and fungicide (carbendazim 12% W.P. + Mancozeb 63% W.P.) combinations on the growth and yield of watermelon (citrullus lunatus) in Enugu area southeastern  Nigeria was conducted during the 2016 cropping season. The research was carried out at the faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources Management Teaching and Research Farm of Enugu State University of Science and Technology Enugu, Southeastern Nigeria. The experimental design was 3x2 factorial in a randomized complete block (RCB) replicated three (3) times, using “crimson sweet” watermelon as a test crop. Parameters measured were days to 50% flowering, vine length (cm) number of fruits per plant, number of marketable fruits per plants, number of rotten fruits per plant and fruit yield (tonha^‑1). The result of the experiment showed a significant (P = 0.05) interaction effect of insecticide (Chilli Pepper aqueous extract) and fungicide (Carbendazim 12% W.P. + Mancozeb 63% W.P.) combinations on all the parameters measured except on the number of fruits per plant.

The evaluation of the effects of cropping practices on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in soil is of great importance in sustainable agriculture. This study investigated the spore density, root colonization and composition of native AMF in soils under two different cropping systems (continuous cropping and crop rotation) in a derived Savannah, Nigeria. Rhizosphere soils and root samples were collected from five fields to assessed AMF spores density and root colonization. The spore density and root colonization was highest in field plot under crop rotation practice (273.3 spores per 50 g dry soil and 82.7 respectively). Maize and soybean cultivation significantly produced higher spore density and root colonization compared to sesame and sunflower. AMF spores of Glomus, Gigaspora, Acaulospora, and Scutellospora species were identified based on morphological characteristics. Glomus specie was the most dominant genus in soils with highest rela­tive abundance of 68.7% followed by Acaulospora (19.8%) and Scutellospora (13.5%), with lowest relative abundance of AM spores observed for Gigaspora (5.6%) and unknown genera (2.5%). The results contribute to a better understanding of AMF composition as influenced by the cropping practices and host plants, and could be valuable in regulating the AMF community structure, and providing a primary basis for sustainable crop production.

Reduction in post harvest losses must inevitably start with minimizing losses during harvesting. So far, grain stripping harvester is a technology which is being developed and is becoming effective for rice and wheat harvesting. Grain losses in stripping harvester occur at the gathering/stripping operation which are shattering, stubble and lodging losses. The harvest loss estimation of rice harvesting with a self propelled grain stripper developed in Nigeria was carried out. At best machine settings, determined were critical operating parameters to obtain total minimum harvest loss estimation which was 13.5% of the total yield while the manual harvesting loss was 20.3% under the same condition. The machine setting at this combination was rotor height of 270.0 mm, peripheral rotor speed of 670.0 rpm and forward speed was 3.0 km/h which gave shattering loss as 5.5%, stubble loss was 4.9% and lodging loss was 3.1% of the total yield. It was found that planting pure seed variety will reduce stripper header losses at harvest because it will result in uniform crop height at maturity which was one of the design factors that affected the harvester performance on the field. Keywords:Estimation, field loss, stripper, rice, developed

Fertilizer studies in Kenya tea industry have focused predominantly on compound NPK. These fertilizers cannot be easily manipulated for specific soils and tea clones. In this respect, Athi River Mining limited has produced Mavuno blended NPK fertilizers with calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg). However, their application rates that would result in optimal nutrients uptake are lacking. This is the knowledge gap that this study sought to address. Therefore, the fertilizer blends were assessed for their effects on nutrients uptake at different rate in two sites. The sites were selected purposefully, one in the eastern and the other in the western tea growing areas. Randomized complete block design (RCBD) were used to select 36 trial plots in the two areas which were treated with three fertilizer types where one type was control, and four fertilizer application rates with one rate being a control. The trial was replicated three times. Leaf samples were collected and analyzed for nutrients content. The data were then subjected to the analysis of variance (ANOVA) using Mstat C computer software package. Two leaves and a bud had higher nitrogen content (Timbilil 4.84%; Kagochi 4.53%) compared to deficient levels in mature leaf (Timbilil 2.26%; Kagochi 2.95%). This study has shown that supplementing the soil applied NPK fertilizers with calcium, magnesium and micronutrients resulted in better nutrients uptake.