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Degree of namatode residence in rosemary on meloidogyne specie and related mechanism of residence
No full textThesis (M.Sc. (Plant production)) -- University of Limpopo, 2023Tropical root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne enterolobii, M. incognita and M. javanica, are highly damaging and difficult pests to manage in agricultural crops. The use of resistant cultivars had been the most promising strategy, which is currently among the proposed alternative nematode management strategies when appropriate cultivars are available in the management of nematode population densities. However, the main challenge associated with the estimation of the degree of nematode resistance is the absence of consistent guidelines for testing resistance. In order to identify plants with a source of resistance to Meloidogyne species, usually specific protocols are employed. Current methods for assessing resistance, such as the reproductive factor (RF), egg-mass index (EI), gall index (GI) and index of reproduction (IR), have associated limitations. The concept of relative susceptibility (rs) is increasingly used as a standardised quantitative method for testing the degree of nematode resistance. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine whether rs of rosemary to tomato for M. enterolobii, M. incognita and M. javanica would either be above one or affect relative accumulation of selected mineral nutrient elements. Rosemary cuttings and tomato seedlings were raised in polystyrene trays containing Hygromix-T and transplanted into 20-cm diameter plastic pots containing steam-pasteurised soil. At two weeks after transplanting, plants were inoculated with 250 eggs of each Meloidogyne species, arranged in a randomised complete block design, replicated 10 times. Data were collected at 56 days after inoculation using maceration and blending method. Relative susceptibility, expressed as the ratio of final egg population density of a nematode population on a test variety (unknown resistance) compared to the population density of a standard reference variety (susceptible) was used for assessing the relative susceptibility of rosemary to cv. tomato 'Floradade'. Generally, since root sizes of different plants differ, nematodes in test plants were first standardised using reproductive potential (RP = total Pf/ g fresh roots) and when rsɑ > 1, the test plant (i.e., rosemary) was relatively susceptible, but when rsɑ < 1, the test plant was relatively resistant. Inoculation with M. enterolobii on rosemary/tomato resulted in rsɑ = 0.16, M. incognita rsɑ = 0.37 and M. javanica rsɑ = 0.16. The infection by M. javanica slightly affected the relative accumulation of Mg nutrient element in leaf tissues of rosemary. In conclusion, rsɑ values on rosemary were less than unity, suggesting that rosemary was relatively resistant to the three test Meloidogyne species
An analysis of expanded public works programme and job creation focus on Early Childhood Development in the Department of Education in Sekhukhune District, Limpopo Province, South Africa
Get PDFThesis (MPAM.) -- University of Limpopo, 2023The study analysed the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) and Job Creation
on Early Childhood Development (ECD) in the Department of Education in the
Sekhukhune District of Limpopo Province, South Africa. The aim was to examine how
the programme was implemented in ECD centres and how the EPWP improved the
lives of ECD practitioners. The EPWP's challenges in meeting its intended objectives
were addressed, as were policymakers' recommendations to improve EPWP in ECD
centres. The study employed a qualitative research method, with data gathered from
previously published documents, transcripts, and sources. Furthermore, by extracting
relevant data from existing sources, this method enabled the researcher to understand
better on how the EPWP was able to create jobs in the ECD centres. The study showed
that job opportunities for ECD practitioners were created through training and the
payment of stipends. However, the study discovered that the job opportunities created
were not permanent because the programme only lasted twelve months. The study
recommends that the programmer’s duration be increased. Again, the study
recommends future research on approaches relevant to assisting workers (practitioners)
with exit opportunities beyond EPW
The role of college management towards effective educational leadership at Capricon TVET College in Polokwane, Limpopo Province
Get PDFThesis (MPAM.) -- University of Limpopo, 2023Recent reforms in all South African Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges have put a lot of pressure on management to adapt how they do things. The college management is expected to transform its institutions to accommodate democratic values in different areas of operation. To achieve this process, the college management is supposed to transform from being administrative managers into transformative leaders. This process requires managers who should display effective leadership in the institution of higher learning. The study seeks to investigate the role of management towards realizing effective educational leadership at Capricorn TVET College in Polokwane Limpopo. The mixed research design was adopted, and research strategy adopted was case study. The study was conducted amongst four campuses and central office of Capricorn TVET College. In order to meet the study's objectives, a sample size of twenty (20) was determined, which included Managers and Curriculum managers.
Data was collected from members of management at Capricorn TVET College using both questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study found that the success of any organization depends largely on its top management to achieve its objectives. Management needs to control the entire organization through formulating strategic goals and objectives, policies and striking key decisions. Lack of training was identified as the key challenge hindering the effectiveness of the colleges as the current curriculum does not meet the needs of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Employees who receive regular training are more capable of performing their duties. Information sharing sessions and annual induction workshops were encouraged. It was recommended that the institution should ensure availability of adequate resources such as policies, processes, systems and capacity of staff. Effective collaboration of college and stakeholder and partners such as Department of Education, NSFAS need to be ensured as well as effective communication
An investigation of television advitising risks affecting South African children
Get PDFThesis (Ph.D. (Media Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2023This study sets out to investigate one of the significant issues in television
advertising, namely, how television advertising affects South African children. The
purpose of the study was to investigate whether television advertising and its
inherent risks affect South African children, as the researcher believed that it was
crucial to explore the nature of television advertising directed at children.
A quantitative research approach was selected, and a descriptive research design
approach was adopted to achieve the purpose of the study, so that it could answer
the research questions. The population of this study is learners in Grade 2 to Grade
7, between the ages of 8 and 13 years old; learners (male and female) from 25
primary schools (4 independent and 21 public), with the total (N = 19 651) learner
enrolment in the Pietersburg Circuit of the Capricorn District. A sample consisting of
381 learners was selected from the 25 primary schools (4 independent and 21 public)
in the Pietersburg Circuit of Capricorn District to take part in the study. Data were
collected using a survey questionnaire. The specialist statistician consultancy
captured data through the use of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).
Data were analysed and are presented in the form of narrative reports as well as bar
graphs, pie charts and cross-tabulations. Descriptive statistics were used to execute
the data analysis. The findings revealed that most of the South African learners/children felt that TV advertisements have a certain level of influence on their behaviour. This was
especially the case among those older than 10 years but younger than 13-years old.
Both male and female children share the perception that TV overall and advertising
on TV influence their behaviour. They stated that children lack the knowledge or
skills and the ability to protect themselves against such influences. However, the
results suggested that South African children are very often protected from too many
negative influences as they agreed that their parents choose which TV programmes
they watch, decide on the hours spent watching TV, and that they are strict regarding
TV watching. Also, the findings suggested that children in these age groups or the
studied grades had neutral perceptions of the value of television advertisements.
The study recommends that more studies, locally, regionally, and internationally, are
needed on the nature of television advertising directed at children
Evaluation of threonine inclusion in a diet on productivity and carcass characteristics of indigenous Boschveld chickens
Get PDFThesis (M.Sc. (Animal Production)) -- University of Limpopo, 2023Protein ingredients are the most expensive inputs in poultry production even though
not included in large quantities compared to energy ingredients. The study aimed to
evaluate dietary threonine levels for optimal production and carcass characteristics of
indigenous Boschveld chickens. Two experiments were conducted to determine the
effect of dietary threonine levels on the productivity and carcass characteristics of
indigenous Boschveld chickens. The first part of the study was to determine the effect
of threonine inclusion level in a diet on feed intake, feed conversion ratio, body weight
gain and gut organ measurements of unsexed indigenous Boschveld chickens aged 1
to 49 days. A total of 200-day-old chicks, weighing 30 ± 5g per bird, were randomly
allocated to 5 dietary treatment levels in a completely randomized design (CRD),
replicated four times with 10 chicks per replicate. The experimental diets were
isocaloric and isonitrogenous, and were made to fulfil the necessary nutritional
standards, but with different threonine inclusion levels of 4, 7.5, 8, 8.5, or 9 g per kg
DM of diet. Data were analysed using Statistical Analysis System version 9.4 and it
was subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). A quadratic equation was
used to determine dietary threonine levels for optimal duodenum pH and duodenum
weights of unsexed indigenous Boschveld chickens aged 49 days. Threonine inclusion
levels had an effect (p<0.05) on feed intake, body weight gain, and feed conversion
ratio of unsexed indigenous Boschveld chickens aged 1-49 days. Threonine inclusion
levels had no effect (p>0.05) on crop, gizzard, ileum, jejunum, caeca, large intestine
pH values and caeca lengths of unsexed indigenous Boschveld chickens aged 49
days. However, threonine inclusion levels had effect (p<0.05) on duodenum pH, GIT,
duodenum, large intestine lengths, crop, gizzard, ileum jejunum, and caeca weights of
unsexed indigenous Boschveld chickens aged 49 days. Feed conversion ratio,
duodenum pH values and duodenum weights of unsexed indigenous Boschveld
chickens were optimized at dietary threonine level of 12.00, 0.70 and 8.00 g/kg DM,
respectively.
The second part of the study was to determine the effect of threonine level in a diet on
carcass characteristics and quality of male indigenous Boschveld chickens aged 50 to
91 days. A total of 75 male chickens weighing 600 ± 10g were used in a completely
randomized design having 5 treatment groups, replicated three times, with five
chickens per replicate. The experimental diets were formulated to be isocaloric and
isonitrogenous and meet the nutritional requirements, but with different threonine
inclusion levels of 4, 7.5, 8, 8.5, or 9 g per kg DM of feed. Data were analysed using
Statistical Analysis System version 9.4 and was subjected to one-way ANOVA. A
quadratic equation was used to determine dietary threonine levels for optimal large
intestine lengths, crop, and jejunum weights of male indigenous Boschveld chickens
aged 91 days. Threonine inclusion levels had an effect (p<0.05) on feed intake, body
weight gain (BWG), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of male indigenous Boschveld
chickens aged 50 to 91 days. The BWG, FCR, crop, jejunum, and large intestine
lengths of male indigenous Boschveld chickens were optimized at dietary threonine
levels of 6.12, 6.87, 5.95, 5.66, and 6.08 g/kg respectively. Threonine inclusion levels
had no effect (p>0.05) on crop, gizzard, ileum, jejunum, duodenum, caeca, large
intestine pH values, GIT, caeca lengths, large intestine weights, juiciness, flavour,
overall acceptability, and cooking loss of indigenous Boschveld chickens aged 91
days. However, dietary threonine inclusion levels had an effect (p<0.05) on large
intestine lengths, crop, and jejunum weights, carcass, thigh, drumstick, breast, and
abdominal fats weights, and tenderness of male indigenous Boschveld chickens aged
91 days.
It is concluded that dietary threonine levels used in this study affected the production
performance of indigenous Boschveld chickens aged 1-49 more than indigenous
Boschveld chickens aged 50-91 days. However, production variables were optimized
at different dietary threonine levels. This has implication on diet formulation for the
chickens. Thus, there is a need for further studies on the subject to ascertain the
present findingsNational Research Foundation (NRF
Sharing of tacit knowledge among lecturers in support of remote teaching and learning at University of Limpopo, South Africa
Get PDFThesis (M. (Information Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2024Sharing tacit knowledge involves sharing skills and experience in the organisation, so that it may be used for the day-to-day duties. This study examined the sharing of tacit knowledge among lecturers in support of remote teaching and learning at the University of Limpopo (UL). The study investigated the importance, strategies, barriers, management and role of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) towards sharing tacit knowledge among lecturers at UL.
The descriptive research design as well as quantitative and qualitative research approaches were used to conduct this study. The target population of the study was members of the executive management (Faculty Deans and School Directors) and lecturers at UL. The quantitative data from lecturers were collected using questionnaires, while qualitative data from the management were collected using interviews. The total population sampling technique was used to select members of the executive management whereas a stratified random sampling technique was used to select lecturers. The quantitative data were analysed through descriptive analysis, using SPSS software and qualitative data were analysed using thematic data analysis.
The key findings from the study revealed that there is little evidence of a reward system to encourage lecturers to share knowledge. The study also found that UL does not have Knowledge Management (KM) policy to guide lecturers on knowledge sharing. The study recommends the introduction of rewards to encourage lecturers to share TK. The findings further revealed that internal politics is a barrier to Tacit Knowledge Sharing (TKS) at UL. The study recommends that the management develop and implement KM policy to guide Knowledge Sharing (KS) among lecturers
Perception and practices of secondary school teachers on classroom discipline processes in Pietersburg Circuit, Limpopo Province
Get PDFThesis (M. Ed.) -- University of Limpopo, 2023This study explored perceptions and practices of secondary school teachers on classroom discipline processes. A case study was conducted in two secondary schools, in Pietersburg Circuit in Limpopo Province. The study used a qualitative research approach where data collection was done through semi-structured interviews and document reviews. A thematic data analysis was used to identify and categorize data where themes emerged from the study. They were six teacher participants purposefully sampled from two secondary schools, where permission was sought from the Limpopo Department of Education and the University of Limpopo Research Committee. All participants were informed of voluntary, confidential participation in the study. The findings of this study revealed that government policies on discipline were difficult to implement. Furthermore, teachers suggested that policies prescribed by the Department of Education to manage ill-discipline were not effective in curbing learner behaviour. As part of solutions to address the problems, teachers indicated the use of school policies, the South African Schools Act, the learner’s code of conduct, and the Merit System to regulate discipline in classes. The study recommends that to have effective discipline, there is a need for workshops on the roles of stakeholders responsible for discipline processes. It was also recommended that the districts and circuits should develop programs that would improve and strengthen discipline. In addition, the support of all stakeholders and the services of psychologists or educational counsellors should be encouraged as part of the measures to find solutions to ill-discipline in schools
Statistical modelling and analysis of business ownership in South Africa
Get PDFThesis (M. Sc. (Statistics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2023Business owners play a vital role in the social and economic development of
South Africa by providing employment and services to the country’s citizens.
South African infrastructure and community services are maintained by tax
contributions collected from business owners. Furthermore, business owners
also play the central part of circulating money in the county by providing services
to the society in exchange of money. It is then evident that the success or
failure of business owners directly affect the wealth of the country. In this
study, the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) and Survey of Employer
and Survey Employers (SESE), both for 2017 from StatsSA was used, and the
Generalised Linear Models (Multinomial Logistic Regression and Log-linear
regression models) were applied to analyse and model business ownership in
South Africa. The Chi-square statistic test from the descriptive statistics results
showed that there is strong association between business ownership and
the following categorical variables; gender, population group, marital status,
age group, attended school, marital status, and province. The study utilised
Multinomial Logistic Regression to identify factors affecting business ownership
in South Africa. Gender, age group and attended school were three factors
that are highly statistical significant with all their categorical levels having
significant coefficients. Log-linear regression model was further used test if
there was a significant interaction effect between four factors (own business,
gender, population group and age group). The study found that only the 3-way
effect interaction was significant, meaning that it had the high probability of
improving the model than 4-way effect. Another objective of the study was to
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analyse the accessibility of finance by business owners. The study applied the
Log-linear model using 2017 SESE data and found that the black population
group dominates in terms of financial accessibility, the female gender also had
a greater chance of getting access to loans than the male counterpart. The
study recommends research on business ownership using the post COVID-19
data to investigate the effect of the Corona Virus pandemic on business ownership
in South Africa using statistical methods.EDPSETA bursar
Nutritional and biochemical evaluation of momordica balsamina leaf powder at different harvesting stages
Get PDFThesis (M.Sc. (Horticulture)) -- University of Limpopo, 2023Momordica balsamina Linn., is one of the African leafy vegetables (ALVs) that holds a great deal of nutraceutical and pharmaceutical properties, attributed to the presence of micro nutrients and secondary metabolites. These compounds form an important part of the human diet to reduce malnutrition and offer a wide range of remarkable preventive and therapeutic properties. Generally, the levels of nutritive and non-nutritive substances in ALVs are influenced by the plant’s developmental stages and hence the stages in which the edible plant parts are harvested. A greenhouse study was undertaken, (1) to determine the effect of harvesting at different growth stages on the nutritional quality of M. balsamina and (2) to evaluate the effect of harvesting at different growth stages on the biochemical composition of M. balsamina leafy vegetable. Seeds of M. balsamina were planted in seedling trays and then when the seedlings were bearing three (3) leaves, they were transplanted into 20-cm diameter plastic bags, containing a mixture of steam pasteurised loam soil and Hygromix at 3:1 v/v. Six harvesting stages, namely: vegetative, bud development, flower initiation, fruit set, fruit ripening, and physiological maturity, represented treatments, and were replicated ten (10) times. The experiment was laid out in a randomised complete block design (RCBD). At the vegetative stage, harvesting of M. balsamina leaves commenced and was continued
at each at each growth stage, with plant variables being measured and recorded. The
harvested leaves were freeze-dried and ground into fine powder for nutritive and biochemical analysis. Data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using Statistics 10.0 software. In the first objective, data on the plant variables, namely, stem diameter (SD), vine length (VL), number of leaves (NL), leaf area (LA), chlorophyll content (CC), and leaf colour [brightness (L*), redness (a*), greenness (b*) and hue (h)], were measured and recorded, whereas data on the selected nutrients, namely, Potassium (K), Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), Zinc (Zn), Iron (Fe), and Phosphorus (P) were determined and recorded. The growth stages had highly significant (P≤ 0.00) effect on the measured plant variables, contributing 92, 87, 85 and 81% to the total treatment variation (TTV) in VL, NS, NL and LA, respectively. No significant (P ≥ 0.5) effect was observed in SD. Similarly, treatments had a highly significant effect in CC and leaf colour, contributing 28, 33, 68, 71 and 63% to TTV in CC, brightness (L*), redness (a*), greenness (b*) and hue (h), respectively. Treatments highly increased VL (42-234%), NS (10-970%), NL (70-140%) and LA (53-86%) in M. balsamina leafy vegetable at all growth stages. Chlorophyll content increased by 10-37% at all growth stages, but experienced a decline (30%) at maturity stage. With regard to the leaf colour, the brightness of the leaves increased by 1% at the bud development stage, then followed by a decline of 1-11% at all the other growth stages. In contrast, the redness and the greenness
of M. balsamina leaves were reduced at early developmental stages by 14-22% and 10-
18%, respectively, but when the plants started setting fruits, the redness and the greenness of the leaves increased by 16-27% and 16-73%, respectively, up until physiological maturity. Harvesting of M. balsamina leaves at different growth stages again significantly influenced the nutritional quality of the leaf powder, contributing 46, 93, 68, 93, 95, and 96% to the TTV in K, Ca, Mg, Zn, Fe and P, respectively. The accumulation of K (56-95%), P (5-12%) and Zn (10-12%) in M. balsamina leaves were found to be high at early growth stages, but were reduced from fruit maturity stage up to physiological maturity by 84-91%, 154-173% and 81- 229%, respectively. Notably, Fe was increased by 5% only, when the leaves were harvested at the bud development stage, but was reduced (6-508%) in all the other growth stages. Contrarily, Ca and Mg, were increased by 41-12033% and 101-2129%, respectively, from early vegetative stage throughout to physiological maturity. In the succeeding objective, the biochemical compounds, namely, total phenolic content (TPC), ascorbic acid (AA), and radical scavenging activity (DPPH) were determined. A highly significant (P≤ 0.01) effect was observed on the biochemical quality of M. balsamina, contributing 96, 98, and 97% to TTV in TPC, AA and DPPH, respectively. Relative to the vegetative stage, treatments increased TPC by 17% at the physiological maturity stage. However, in the rest of the tested growth stages, treatments decreased TPC by 25-40%. Harvesting at different growth stages also decreased AA concentration decreased by 32-58% at all the growth stages, when compared to the standard control. In contrast, the same treatments increased DPPH by 23- 42% from the bud development, throughout to physiological maturity stage. In conclusion,
harvesting at different growth stages influenced the nutritional and biochemical quality of M. balsamina. The nutritional and biochemical components evaluated where all adequately available at the vegetative and bud development stages.National Research Foundation (NRF) and AgriSET
A comparative study on water deficit stress tolerance between the cowpea (Vigna Unguiculata [L.] walp) and soybean (Glycine max [L.] merrill)
Get PDFThesis (M.Sc. (Botany))-- University of Limpopo, 2023The world has lately suffered prominent natural disasters, most with potential to extirpate all form of life. Drought comes in second to hurricanes in regards to causing severe economic impacts worldwide. Drought is a prolonged period of not enough rainfall or below average precipitation that results in shortage of water in the soil. Water shortage crisis and its effects can be easily observed in the agricultural sector. Each year, the agricultural sector and the food supply chains suffer a loss worth R100s trillions of the total average yield of agro-economic crop due to drought stress. Soybean production in sub-Saharan Africa is still low as is anywhere in Africa. The production could be much higher but local farmers suffer harsh environmental conditions such as pest, diseases and drought. Conventionally cowpea is considered the trunnion of small farmers in Central and West African regions. This is because it is well adapted to areas with lower rainfall. The aim of this study was to investigate the similarities and dissimilarities between soybean and cowpea’s response and tolerance to water deficit stress. Three genotypes where used for each plant, Red, Blonde and white (cowpea) and TGx 1937-f, PAN 1664R and LS 678 (soybean). Polyethylene glycerol 8000 was used to induce drought stress at five different levels of osmotic potential (of 0.00, -0.02, -0.27, -1.27, and -1.80 MPa) for evaluation of water deficit tolerance during germination. To assess both vegetative and reproductive growth plants were subjected to three drought stress levels; control- watered daily (no water stress), moderate (watered once in 5 days) and severe (watered once in seven days). Morphological parameters (number leaves, length of stem, root length, mass of the nodules, number of flowers, number of pods, seeds per pod, mean seed number per pod and mass of 100 seeds) were directly counted or measured on the plants. Samples were collected for physiological analyses including determination of proline content, determination of leaf relative water content, determination of malondialdyde content and determination of chlorophyll content. Lastly, an experiment to assess the ability of cowpea and soybean to recover from. Plants were subjected to drought for 14 days followed by re-watering for two weeks and the samples were collected for physiological analyses mentioned above. The control set was watered daily. The results showed that the seed germination percentage and mean daily germination declined with the increase in water stress severity reaching lower than 10% germination at the lowest osmotic potential treatment (-1.80 MPa) for both cowpea and soybean. Germination results showed no significant differences between cowpea and soybean for all parameter. However, cowpea was significantly different from soybean with regard to
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seedling growth parameters. Morphological results showed that soybean nodule weight significantly decreased as the stress severity increased. Cowpea nodule weight, number of stomata on both surfaces, and root length showed no significant difference between treatments and also between the genotypes. White genotype cowpea had a significantly lower root length and nodule weight and a slightly lower number of stomata but not significantly different from the other genotypes. Drought stress decreased the leaf relative water content of both cowpea and soybean under moderate and severe stress. However, cowpea performed distinctly superior to soybean. Cowpea with its lower nodule weight maintained no significant difference between all treatments. Water deficit stress affected leaf development. The highest number of leaves 1st count were 24.60 and 16.50 (control) and the lowest count was 19.33 and 14.50 (severe) for cowpea and soybean, respectively. The 1st count of the number of leaves of soybean genotypes showed a significant difference between genotypes for all water stress treatments with the exception of TGx 1937-f and PAN 1664R under severe stress, 20.16 and 20.83, respectively. With regards to water stress metabolites, the proline content and malondialdehyde content of both beans were significantly increased comparing control with stressed treatments. However, malondialdehyde content and proline content of soybean was significantly higher than cowpea for both control and stressed plants. The same trend was observed for stressed-rewatered experiment. The recovery response of cowpea was excellent and better than soybean which failed to recover. Considering morphological and physiological parameter during vegetative growth, the results suggested that cowpea response better to water stress than soybean. In conclusion, cowpea response and tolerate water deficit stress better than soybean. In future, it is necessary to genetically compare the two legume plants, to trace the genes that are responsible for such tolerance in cowpea