Asian Journal of Advances in Agricultural Research
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Assessment of the Impact of Rainfall Variability and Vegetable Production in Bamenda III Sub-Division, Cameroon
No full textClimate variability has a direct bearing on agricultural production. The relationship between temperature and rainfall provides ideal conditions for the development of crops in rain-fed agricultural systems. This is patent in predominantly rain-fed vegetable production exposed to rainfall variability. This study assesses the impact of rainfall variability on vegetable production in Bamenda III Sub-Division. The data on rainfall was collected for 54 consecutive years (1963–2017) and analysed using Rainfall Anomaly Index to determine the Inter-Annual Rainfall Anomalies. This was to determine the extent of rainfall variability impacts on vegetable production. Results revealed a reliable but fluctuating periodical rainfall rates with highest positive and negative anomalies of +60mm and -55mm respectively. With a Standardized Precipitation Index of 0.41, there was evidence of an increasing trend in decadal rainfall and positive trend on conditions for vegetable cultivation. The high variability of rainfall is associated with a reduction in vegetable production output. Such rainfall variability plays a major role in vegetable production which is generally rain fed. The study posits that stakeholders’ responsive adaptation options in cropland management for vegetable production in the phase of rainfall variability are credible in reversing the increasing negative impact of rainfall variability in the context of climate change
Effects of Melatonin Priming on Seed Germination of Wheat under Salt Stress
No full textMelatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) has been identified as a new growth regulator in plants due to its beneficial effect in abiotic stress reduction. The experiment was conducted at the Department of Laboratory, China. To investigate the effects of melatonin priming in alleviating the negative effect of salt stress on seed germination of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv Elnilein and Imam). Six concentrations were used: control, salt (300 mM NaCl) and four concentrations of melatonin (M) 10, 100, 500 and 1000 μM with salt (300 mM NaCl) add to each concentration: CT, ST, M1+ST, M2+ST, M3+ST, M4+ST. The treatments were arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The parameters studied included: seed germination rate (%), germination index, mean germination time (d), lengths (cm) and dry weight (mg) of coleoptile and radicle, starch, soluble sugar, and sucrose concentrations, amylase activities, activities of the antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and catalase (CAT), reactive oxygen species (ROS) including malondialdehyde (MDA), Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) contents and superoxide (O2-) production rate, abscisic acid (ABA). The parameters of seedling establishment were: Shoot height, root length, fresh and dry weight of shoot and root. The treatment M3+ST (500 μM Melatonin + 300 mM NaCl) had the highest seed germination rate, germination index lengths and dry weights of coleoptile and radicle, soluble sugar, sucrose concentrations, amylase and antioxidant enzymes activities, and ABA concentration, seedling shoot and root length, and fresh and dry weight of shoot and root in Imam and Elnilein cultivars, respectively.
The study revealed that melatonin priming effectively alleviates salt stress during seed germination and seedling establishment in winter wheat
Effects of Nutritional Practices and Production Systems on Small Ruminants’ Health in Rural Households in Ekiti State, Nigeria
No full textThe study assessed the effect of nutritional practices and production systems on the health of small ruminant animals reared among rural households in Ekiti State. A total number of 120 rural households were interviewed using a multi-stage random sampling procedure to elicit information from them. About 78.32 percent were within their active age range, 50.00 percent were married with minimum household size of 5 persons, had least educational qualification and 41.66 percent reared sheep and goats. Disease outbreak (50.00%), accident (33.33%) and stillbirth (16.66%) are the common factors responsible for mortality experienced by the farmers, while diarrhea is the prevalent disease experienced by them. More than half (58.13%) of the respondents practices self-medication by purchasing antibiotics meant for humans from medicine stores and very few of them (18.33%) received intervention from the government in terms of medication. Only 33.00% of them offer supplementary feeding to their animals during the dry season. Chi-square analysis revealed a significant relationship (p=0.05) between nutritional practices and the health system of the small ruminants. Also, the Pearson Moment Product Correlation also revealed that a significant correlation (rcal= 0.927) exists between production systems and the health of small ruminants in the study area which is significant at 0.05 level of probability. The study, concludes that if animals are poorly managed and fed, they could be predisposed to diseases and injuries
The Effect of Spraying with Spirulina Extract and Microelements on the Growth and Yield of Cucumbers
No full textAlgae extracts are an excellent source of chemical fertilizers (NPK) and plant growth promoters such as auxins, cytokinins, betaine, gibberellins, amino acids, macronutrients, microelements, and organic matter that improve plant productivity. The investigation was performed at 2019-2020 through winter seasons, in sandy soil at Ismailia Agricultural Research Station greenhouse. To investigate the impact of numerous levels of spraying of spirulina extract (after being diluted with half its volume of water) combined with or without microelements on the vegetative development and cucumber yield (Cucumis sativus L.) of Rocket cultivar. The experiment involved 7 different treatments (control, foliar fertilization by 5 ml, 10 ml, and 15 ml of spirulina extract/L water combined with or without concentrated microelements at 2 ml/L. Spraying was performed after 2 weeks planting three times 15 days intervals. The experiment was performed with three repetitions using a complete block randomized design (CBRD), and averages were compared using the test Duncan's at 0.05 level. Spraying with 15 mL spirulina with microelements achieved the highest plant height, main branches number, number of leaves, leaf area, length fruit, fruit diameter, stems and leaves fresh weight, stems and leaves dry weight, chlorophyll content and, NPK during two seasons. While the highest yield was recorded in terms of plant yield (1.27 and 1.31 kg), the yield of the experimental plot (25.59 and 26.25 kg), the total yield per fed. (10.74 and 11.02 tons) by spraying with 5 ml of spirulina extract incorporated with microelements during the two planting seasons, respectively. The results show that higher spirulina concentrations activate plant growth, chlorophyll and NPK in the leaves, while the concentration above 5 ml spirulina reduces the resulting yield
An Improved Prediction Model of Pig Price
No full textIn many agricultural products, pig price fluctuation has a significant impact on price level and consumer price index, so accurate prediction of pig price is of great significance for pig market research and production. In order to predict the price of pigs more accurately in the short term, Attention-LSTM prediction model (a short-term memory neural network based on attention mechanism) is established. The results show that: compared with the traditional LSTM forecasting model, the Attention-LSTM model has higher prediction accuracy, and this model has a good effect on the short-term prediction of pig prices
Development of a Domestic Water Medium Rice De-Stoning Machine
No full textLocal rice processing by small scale agro-processor has suffered tremendous setback ranging from stone presence and foreign materials in processed rice. It has become critical to develop a domestic rice de-stoning machine that can be utilized by small scale agro-processors. As a result of these bottlenecks this paper has focused on developing a destoning machine that utilizes water medium for stone separation. The design was built using locally accessible materials. Major components of the machine being reservoir, hopper, de-stoning chamber, washing chamber, impeller, water filter, and brush drum. The developed de-stoning machine was powered by a 1.8 kW variable electric motor that communicated the rotating motion of the driving pulley to the driven pulley, which was supported by bearings, through a V-belt. The machine was developed and evaluated for its efficiencies with respect to stone separation and rice cleaning using 2 kg clean rice with 20 incorporated small stones of different sizes. It was discovered that 2 kg/10minutes and 20.04 kg/hour of processed rice were de-stoned at a speed of 400 rpm, which is the optimal speed for maximum separation process. The de-stoning machine's effectiveness in terms of stone removal is approximately approaching 100 percent free of impurities. This discovery elucidates the potential to deal with the challenges of stone removal from locally produced rice using hand and manual method, which are inefficient, time and energy consuming, therefore this developed machine acts as a rice processing industry innovation
COVID-19 Challenging Period and Agriculture Sector in Sri Lanka: Way to Lead
No full textRealizing the gravity of COVID-19 pandemic, the governments around the world have been putting in place a range of policies and strategies to resume their food security level. Among varies of agricultural productions, most affected sectors are livestock farming, horticulture production. In this line, understanding the impact of COVID-19 on horticulture system is likely to become more widely and deeply felt in agricultural sectors and national economies. This study aims to highlight potential risks faced by; outlines the overall functioning of Sri Lankan horticulture sector during the COVID-19 pandemic and discuss policies need to change going forward to safeguard Sri Lankan horticulture sector from similar shocks in the future. The production and market data gathered from Agricultural Statistics, Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute (HARTI), Department of Census and Statistics and Export Development Board which were gathered over years between 2016 and 2020. The data contain production quantity, average cultivated extent, retail and wholesale price per Kg, export quantity and value of fruit and vegetable products. Descriptive analysis methods used as the primary analysis techniques. The results imply that there is no declining pattern of all vegetables and fruits production volume. From the retail prices and wholesale prices, we can materialize that the supply chains in the agricultural products have strained to keep up, first with panic buying, followed by forced changes in food consumption patterns and immediate declined with the dropdown in purchasing power. The agricultural export sector is seemed to experience smaller trade impacts, most agricultural exports have continued to reach consumers in international markets. The pandemic is driving some changes that will likely remain part of the future agricultural practices. These include encouraging home garden practices, shifts in online marketing and selling platform, having higher demand for stable and safe food, a greater awareness of supply chain risks, increasing use of digital trade systems and the risk of creeping protectionism. Accordingly, agriculture policies need to change to safeguard of Sri Lankan horticulture sector from similar shocks in the future
Identification of Mixed Virus Infection on Trichosanthes cucumerina L. in Akamkpa, Southern Cross River State, Nigeria
No full textTrichosanthes cucumerina L is a tropical or subtropical fruit bearing crop of the Cucurbitaceae family. Field survey during 2020 planting season in Akamkpa, Southern Cross River State, Nigeria revealed widespread virus infection of the crop. Symptoms observed included severe leaf malformation/reduction and rugosity. This research was therefore aimed at identifying viruses infecting Trichosanthes cucumerina in this location. Infected leaf samples were collected and virus maintained on young seedlings of T. cucumerina in the Botanical Garden of University of Calabar, Nigeria. Diagnostic tools included ACP-ELISA and gene sequence analysis. The ELISA result revealed two viruses belonging to the genus Cucumovirus and Potyvirus. The identity of the viruses were determined after virus sequences were compared with other viruses available in the GenBank of National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) using the basic local alignment search tool (BLASTn). The result revealed the Cucumovirus to be Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) while the Potyvirus was revealed to be Potato virus Y (PVY). This is the first report of mixed virus infection on Trichosanthes cucumerina in Nigeria
Efficacy of Trichoderma Fortified Organic Amendments on Fusarium Wilt Suppression, Growth and Yield of Eggplant
No full textTrichoderma harzianum is commonly used as effective biological control agent against phytopathogens especially the soil-borne fungi while some isolates are able to ameliorate plant growth. In the present study, Trichoderma fortified with different organic amendments were evaluated to reduce the pre-emergence and post-emergence seedling mortality, diseases of stem and root of eggplant caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melongenae, a soil-borne fungal pathogen. Two experiments were set up, one at pot culture and second in the field under natural epiphytotic conditions. Among the nine Trichoderm harzianum fortified amendments tested, neem seed cake recorded significant and superior effect as pre-sowing soil application against Fusarium wilt with respect to seed germination (92.33%), pre-emergence seed rot (7.66%) and post-emergence seedling mortality (15.33%) in pot culture. However, cotton cake recorded least efficacy in all respect. Similar trend observed in wilt incidence under field experiments during autumn 2018 (17.47%) and 2019 (18.60%) with T. harzianum fortified neem cake soil application against Fusarium wilt with mean inhibition of disease incidence (58.43%) and also observed excellent enhancement of mean yield (54.63%). It is observed that organic amendment at higher concentrations further increase the microbial populations and stimulate the microbial activity in soil against Fusarium oxysporum resulted to decrease the pathogen populations. Moreover, yield and yield related attributes increased remarkably due to fortified amendments providing adequate nutrient reservoir to the bioagents thereby enhancing its survival in a hostile environment
Effect of Natural and Synthetic Mulches on Yield and Yield Attributing Parameters of Chili (Capsicum annuum L. Solanaceae)
No full textAims: Production of chili (Capsicum annuum Linnaeus; Solanaceae) in rain-fed regions of Nepal during the winter is constrained by the limited availability of soil moisture. Mulching has been a proven tool to conserve soil moisture and enhance yield. A field study was conducted in the winter of 2019 to identify the most suitable mulch that enhances the yield and yield attributing parameters of chili.
Study Design: Seven treatments with three replications were evaluated under the randomized complete block design. Among the treatments, rice straw (5 kg/plot) and water reed (5 kg/plot) were used as natural mulches. While, plastic mulches: transparent (25 µ), silver (25 µ), black (25 µ), and black thick (50 µ) (double thickness) were used as synthetic mulches. Only soil with no mulch was the control.
Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at Bangau, Dang, Nepal from November 2019 to May 2020.
Methodology: We measured soil temperature at 10 cm depth using soil thermometer, and calculated soil moisture through oven dry method. Similarly, weight of ten fresh and ten dry fruits was recorded from each plot using an electronic scale. Number of fruits per plant was also counted. All the data were analyzed using ANOVA and means were separated following a post hoc test.
Results: The highest soil moisture (18.38%), number of fruits per plant (24.91), fruit fresh weight per ten fruits (59.86 g), and fruit dry weight per ten fruits (14.65 g) were recorded in black thick plastic mulched plots. Furthermore, the lowest fresh weed weight (95.30 g) was also measured in black thick plastic mulched plots. Whereas, the highest soil temperature (18.92°C) was recorded in transparent plastic mulched plots.
Conclusion: This study concludes black thick plastic as the most effective among the treatments tested in this study in enhancing yield and yield attributing parameters of chili