Asian Research Journal of Agriculture
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Effect of Particle Size on Quality of Briquettes Produced from Sawdust of Daniella oliveiri and Gmelina arborea in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria
No full textThe effect of particle size on the quality of briquettes produced from sawdust of Daniella oliveiri and Gmelina arborea was determined using some properties such as Compressed and Relaxed Density, Shattered Index and Combustion properties of the briquettes produced. The sawdust samples were collected from Timber Market in Northbank Makurdi Benue State Nigeria, sundried for 7 days and sieved into three different sizes; 1.70 mm, 2.36 mm and 3.35 mm. Starch binder was used in producing the briquettes in the proportion of 25% to 100 g of sawdust sample. The briquettes were produced in the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory of the University of Agriculture Makurdi. The experimental design was based on a 2 x 3 Factorial in Completely Randomised Design (CRD). Data was collected to determine Compressed Density at 0 minutes and relaxed Density at 30 minutes, 1 hour, 24 hours and 7 days: Shattered index and Combustion properties of the briquettes produced. The result showed a gradual reduction in compressed and relaxed density of briquettes as drying time increased from 0 minutes to 7 days. There was also an observed decrease in density as particle size of briquettes increased from 1.70 mm to 3.35 mm. The species densities did not show any significant differences, though Gmelina arborea recorded a higher relaxed density of 0.32 g/cm3 in 7 days. The effect of species and particle size were not significant on Shattered index, where as Gmelina arborea had a shattered resistance of 99.9% .There was no significant difference in the heating values of the briquettes produced from three particle sizes, but Gmelina arbore are corded a higher Specific heat of 4947.80 Kcal/kg compared with Daniella oliveiri with 4919.30 Kcal/kg. The assessment showed that particle size had no significant effect on the quality of briquettes produced from the two species. Therefore sawdust particles of Daniella olivieri and Gmelina arborea are suitable sources of material for briquettes production in Nigeria
Impact of Soaked-toasted Tallow (Detarium microcarpum, Guill and Sperr) Seeds Meal on the Nutritional and Anti-nutritional and Growth Assay of Starter Broiler Chickens
No full textThis study was designed to evaluate the effects of raw and soaked-toasted Tallow seeds meals on proximate composition, mineral contents, amino acids profile, anti-nutrients and growth performance of starter broiler chickens fed dietary levels of 0, 10 and 20% soaked-toasted Tallow seed meal (STTSM). Proximate analysis, amino acids profile, minerals and anti nutrients contents of the raw and soaked-toasted tallow seeds were carried out. Three hundred and sixty (360) day-old broiler chicks of the Amo Strain were used to evaluate growth performance. The experimental layout was a completely randomized design with three treatments, each with three replicates (40 birds/ replicate). The inclusion levels of STTSM in the diets were 0, 10 and 20% (w/w). The results of the proximate analysis of the raw tallow seeds were high in crude protein (26.20%), moisture (10.58%), fat (16.21%), crude fibre (11.86%), ash (3.72), neutral detergent fibre (49.72%), acid detergent fibre (37.31%), hemi-cellulose (12.41%). with decrease in nitrogen free extracts (42.01%). The results of the element concentrations in raw and STTSM samples were (%): Ca (0.92-0.75), Mg (0.30-0.27), Na (0.41-32), S (0.17-14), P (0.22-14), K (1.00-0.66) and Fe (123-118 ppm). The results of the anti nutrients (mg/100 g) of the raw sample revealed the presence of tannin (9.56), phytic acid (25.49), hydrogen cyanide (5.08), alkaloids (8.39),oxalate (16.36) and flavonoids (4.32) compared with the STTSM showing complete elimination of tannin, saponin, hydrogen cyanide and insignificant presence of alkaloids (0.05 mg/100 g), phytic acid 0.02 mg/100 g), oxalate (0.02 mg/100 g) and flavonoids (0.01 mg/100 g). The analyzed amino acids results showed that glutamic acid (8.03-7.50 g/100 g) and arginine 4.25-4.62 g/100 g protein had the highest proportion. The soaked-toasted seeds showed reduction in amino acid profile compared with the raw sample. ANOVA showed that final body weight, body weight gain, total feed intake, daily weight gain, daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio of birds fed 0% STTSM diet were comparable (p>0.05) with those fed STTSM based diets. Soaked-toasted Tallow seed reduced the anti nutritional factors and improved the nutritional quality of the seed and enhanced growth of starter broiler chicks without adverse effect on growth performance and feed intake. This seed can therefore be incorporated in animal feeding with proper processing methods
Performance of Broiler Chickens Fed Graded Dietary Levels of Rice Milling Residue as a Fibre Source
No full textAn experiment was conducted to evaluate the growth performance of broilers fed dietary levels of rice milling residue (RMR) as a replacement of wheat offal (WO), as a fibre source in broiler diet. Three hundred (300) day old chicks were used for the experiment in a completely randomized design (CRD) for eight (8) weeks. The birds were randomly allotted to five (5) dietary treatments of sixty (60) chicks and replicated three (3) times with twenty (20) chicks per replicate. Five (5) treatment diets were formulated in which rice milling residue (RMR) was included to replace wheat offal (WO) at the levels of 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% representing T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively. The result of the growth performance showed that, the average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily weight gained (ADWG) were not significantly different (P>0.05) across treatment groups except feed conversion ratio (FCR). Birds fed T1, T2, T3 and T5 recorded Superior FCR. ADWG ranged from 31.31 g (T1) to 32.82 (T3). Birds on T3 diet recorded higher feed intake of 130.15 g while the least was observed in T1 (116.82 g). It was concluded that rice milling residue (RMR) can completely replace wheat offal without any detrimental effect on growth performance of broilers chickens
Response Durum Wheat to Fertility Levels under Tropical Semiarid Climatic Conditions of Southern Côte d’Ivoire
No full textAims: To determine the effect of NPK-fertilizer on wheat agronomic parameters and identify the couple of maximum yield and rate of fertilizer according to a response curve.
Study Design: A pot (277.75 cm2) trial was conducted in randomized complete block design composed of three replications.
Place and Duration of the Study: The study was carried out in the botanic center of Felix Houphouet-Boigny University, in Abidjan city located in south Côte d’Ivoire, during three successive cropping cycles of wheat in 2015.
Methodology: In 18 pots containing 5 kg of soil as substact, six NPK-fertilizer (15-22-22) rates (100 kgha-1, 200 kgha-1, 300 kgha-1, 400 kgha-1, 500 kgha-1 and 600 kgha-1) was applied as basal fertilizer. At tillering and boosting stages, 35 kgha-1 of urea (CO(NH2)2; 46%N) was applied for each pot respective.
Results: Wheat response was highly significant (p< 0.0001) for both linear and quadratic trends of wheat grain yield (GY) as well as for the total dry matter (TDM). The rates of 400 kgha-1 and 425 kgha-1 were relevant to the highest grain yields and total dry matter (11.02 and 40.35 g/pot) though, more pronounced trend was accounting significantly for 300 kgha-1 across the successive trials.
Conclusion: Consequently, the rate of 400 kgha-1 of NPK (15-22-22) should be the optimum recommended for durum wheat production in the forest zone of south Côte d’Ivoire. Therefore, an investigation of wheat response to K-fertilizer is still required for the improvement of plant vigor
Heterosis, GCA and SCA Effects of Diallel-cross among Six Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) Genotypes
No full textThe present investigation was carried out under insect free cage during 2011/12, 2012/13 growing seasons at Giza Research Station, Egypt. A diallel-cross including reciprocals among six parents of faba bean (Giza 843, Nubaria 1, Cairo 25, Cairo 5, Cairo 33 and Misr 3) was utilized to study the heterotic effects, as well as general and specific combining ability. Results showed significant differences between parents and F1\u27s for all studied traits and these differences may be mainly due to the genetic diversity of the parents. Based on the two estimates of heterotic effects (over mid and better parent), 5, 12, 7, 10, 13, 8 and 8 crosses exhibited significantly positive heterotic effects for plant height, number of branches/plant, number of pods/plant, number of seeds/plant, seed yield/plant and 100-seed weight, respectively. The ratio of both estimates GCA/SCA exceeded the unity for all traits indicating the relative importance of the two types of gene action suggesting the predominance of additive types of gene action controlling these traits and therefore selection would be effective for improving these traits. Giza 843 (P1) was the best general combiner for all studied traits. Giza 843 (P1), Nubaria 1 (P2) and Cairo 25 (P3) exhibited useful general combining ability effects. Significant positive SCA effects for all studied traits occurred in different combinations Reciprocal-cross differences occurred in specific crosses in different traits. The hybrids showing high heterosis over better parents could be used to develop synthetic varieties in order to exploit heterosis in faba bean breeding
Diversity of Cyanobacteria in Chunkankadai Paddy Wetlands, Kanyakumari District, Tamilnadu, South India
No full textAlgae are one of the major groups of soil microflora in agricultural lands. Among algae, the bluegreens are considered to be very valuable in agriculture. The role of them in soil fertility enhancement has been extensively studied worldwide. The Cyanobacteria (blue green algae) are a morphologically distinct group of oxygenic, photosynthetic organisms that inhabit terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Sustainable utilization of an organism for any human purpose depends on how successfully the ecology of the same is thoroughly understood. Chunkankadai is a unique tropical paddy-wetland. Ecology of blue-green-algae and the exact diversity of the same in the zone remained unexplored. A rich blue-green-algal diversity of 33 species, is observed in these paddy-fields. The species richness and diversity index showed positive correlation to crop seasons. Apart from the specific soil and climatic factors, the total number of blue green algal isolates showed positive correlation to total nitrogen and phosphorus in the soils. The results of this experiment revealed that addition of Cyanobacteria as biofertilizer had significant effects on yield attributes of rice and soil properties. Finally, it might be concluded that the documentation on Cyanobacteria may enhance the understanding of the nutrient status of the field and might be applied for sustainable agricultural practices by reducing the application of chemical fertilizer to avoid the appearance of non-nitrogen fixers in the soil that might compete with nitrogen fixers for nutrients
Response of Jew’s Mallow (Corchorus olitorius L.) to Organic Manures in the Southern Guinea Savanna Agroecological Zone of Nigeria
No full textField trials were conducted in 2014 and 2015 cropping seasons at the Teaching and Research Farm of Crop Science Department of the Taraba State College of Agriculture, Jalingo (Latitude 80° 50” N and Longitude 11° 50” E) to determine the response of Jew’s mallow (Corchorus olitorius (L.) to different types of organic manures. Treatments evaluated consisted of 3.0 t/ha each of four types of organic manures viz: poultry droppings, cow dung, sheep manure and goat manure with zero manure as control. Each treatment was replicated four times and laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). Data collected included plant height, leaf length and width, and leaves yield/ha. The data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and means difference were separated using least significance difference (LSD) at p=0.05 Result obtained indicated that organic manures improved the performance of Jew’s mallow with poultry manure having superior effect over other types of manures. Plants under this treatment were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) tallest (85.0/84.8 cm) with more leaves and produced correspondingly highest fresh leaf yield of 15,666.7 and 15,623.2 kg/ha in 2014 and 2015 cropping seasons, respectively. Application of poultry manure at 3.0 t/ha could be adopted to maximize the productivity of Corchorus olitorius for enhanced yield benefit to farmers in the study area
Assessment of Genetic Combinations for Hybrid Rice in the Germplasm of Pakistan
No full textAn attractive approach is development of rice hybrids for the increase in crop productivity. A narrow genetic base and limited parental lines are the hindrance in the development of location specific hybrids. In this study 24 genotypes were crossed with 8 specific cytoplasmic sterile lines to check the heterosis for the development of hybrid rice and total 192 cross combinations were studies. Pollen fertility and spikelet fertility were the attributes on which the material was differentiated into restorers, partial restorers, partial maintainers and maintainers. Among the 192 test hybrids pollen parents with CMS lines were 14 behaved as restorers, restoring the fertility and 29 were maintaining the sterility while remaining were categorized as partial restorers and maintainers. The combination with local varieties basmati 515, super basmati, basmati 385, basmati 370 on the basis of restoring and maintainer fertility and sterility could be utilized in the development of hybrid rice in the country
Potential of Botanical Extracts in the Control of Kale Aphids (Brevicoryne brassicaea) and Their Effect on the Parasitic Wasp (Aphidius ervi)
No full textThe use of synthetic pesticides has made important impacts on aphid control. However, it has limitations due to the development of aphid resistance and negative effects on human health and the environment. In this research, we explore alternatives to pesticides by examining the effectiveness of plant extracts (Mexican marigold, Sodom apples, garlic and ginger) on reducing populations of the kale aphid while preserving its parasitoid, Aphidius ervi. Use of botanical plants would be of importance to small scale farmers due to their availability, affordability and environmental friendliness. The research was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Aphid numbers, mummified aphid numbers as well as parasitic wasps were counted; data was analyzed using Statistical Analysis Software (SAS) and mean separation done using Tukeys. Garlic extract was the most effective in control of aphids causing a reduction by 69.5%. Mexican marigold extract was the most effective as compared to garlic extract which controlled high percentage of kale aphids but was very lethal to the Aphidius ervi. Nonetheless, Mexican marigold extract was least effective in the control of aphids
Effects of Processing Methods of Jatropha curcas Seed Meal on Growth Performance and Blood Profile of Broiler Finisher Chickens
No full textTwo hundred Anak-2000 day old chicks were used to evaluate the effects of differently processed Jatropha curcas seed meal on growth performance, carcass characteristics, internal weight organ, haematological and biochemical indices of broiler chickens. Five experimental diets were formulated containing 0% Jatropha seed meal, 10% fermented Jatropha seed meal (FJM), 10% boiled Jatropha seed meal (BJM), 10% toasted Jatropha seed meal (TJM), and 10% soaked Jatropha seed meal (SJM) and were designated as T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively. The chicks were randomly allotted to five dietary treatments consisting of four replication of ten birds per replicate in a completely randomized design (CRD).The result of the anti-nutritional factors (ANFs) determined were higher in in the raw Jatropha seed meal. Crude protein (CP) content of raw, soaked, fermented, boiled and toasted Jatropha curcas seed meal is 32.61, 29.35, 42.38, 38.62 and 29.60% respectively. The ether extracts (EE and crude fibre (CF) values ranged from 4.36 – 34.21% and 2.10 – 11.28% respectively. Among the processing methods employed, fermentation and toasting recorded higher reduction in the concentration of these anti-nutritional factors. The result of all the growth parameters measured were significantly (P<0.05) affected by the processing methods except the initial weight. The performance of broiler birds on differently processed Jatropha seed meal was lower than those on the control diet. The parameters evaluated for carcass weight were significantly (P<0.05) higher in birds fed control diet There was no definite pattern in carcass characteristics however, birds fed the control diet, FJM and BJM were similar. The weights of kidney, liver and lungs showed significant differences (p<0.05) among processing methods. The haematogical parameters did not show significant (P>0.05) difference across the treatment groups except for PCV, MCH and WBC. It was concluded from the results that broiler birds can be fed with 10% inclusion level of fermented Jatropha seed meal