Asian Journal of Advances in Agricultural Research
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Fall Armyworm in South Asia: Threats and Management
No full textFall armyworm arrived on the Indian subcontinent in May 2018 and now it has spread across India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and approaching more beyond South East Asia. Strong flying capacity, climate adaptability, and wide host range makes them a better colonizing agent than other species of armyworms. Despite maize being primarily infested in this region, infestation on sugarcane, sorghum, cotton and cabbage have already been reported from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. National agricultural research bodies like ICAR, IIMR, NARC, BARI etc. as well as international organizations like FAO, CGIAR, CIMMYT and CABI are working at different levels in effort to develop managemen strategies to combat the pest. Since it is practically impossible to eradicate the pest now, it is essential to work for long term management and in keeping pest population below economically injury level. Reliance on synthetic pesticides only is a temporary way of dealing with the pest. Educating the farmers themselves about the pest and practicing integrated approach of management compatible and feasible in the region would be more sustainable. Identification and using native species of natural enemies, such as predators, parasites and parasitoids is the current need of research. The experiences of small holder farmers in Africa and South America in fall armyworm management might be relevant to South Asia
Effect of Poultry Manure and NPK Fertilizer on the Growth, Fruit and Yield of Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) in Afaka Community of Guinea Savannah, Kaduna State, Nigeria
No full textThe experiment was conducted at the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka-Kaduna, to determine the effect of poultry manure and NPK fertilizer on the growth, fruit and yield of cucumber. Two (2) treatment of poultry manure (10tons/ha and 15tons/ha) and two (2) treatment NPK fertilizer (150 kg/ha) and (200 kg/ha) were used. Experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and parameters measured include number of leaves, leaf diameter, vine length, number of flowers, fruit weight and fruit diameter the data was collected at 3, 6 and 9 WAP and subjected to analysis of variance and Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at the end of the experiment, the results showed a significant effect (P < 0.05) of above treatment generally, poultry manure (15ton/ha) has the highest yield (P < 0.05), while the control plant has the lowest (P < 0.05) yield. It is recommended that the horticulturist in the study area should adopt poultry manure (15 tons/ha) for effective growth and good fruit yield of cucumber
Insecticidal Efficacy of Essential Oils from Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Thymus vulgaris, Ferula assafoetida L on Callosobruchus maculatus F
No full textIntroduction: The plants have well-developed defense mechanisms against pests and are excellent sources of new insecticidal substances.
Materials and methods: An experiment was conducted on Hamedan Agricultural Research Center, as factorial based on completely randomized blocks in 3 replications during 2009. Experimental treatments included 10 levels concentration with Cinnamomum zeylanicum (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 75, 100, 200, 300) µl, 7 levels concentration with Thymus vulgaris (0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 10, 20, 30) µl, 6 levels concentration with Ferula assafoetida L (0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150) µl as the time at 3 levels (8, 24, 48) hours as the second factor. 1 ml of solutiones were applied on filter papers with Whatman No. 1. Then each dried paper was placed and 10 C. maculatus adults was placed. Each set of treatment was repeated 3 times and number of dead insects in was counted at an interval of 8, 24, 48 hours respectively.
Conclusion: Percentage mortality was calculated. It has been results that the C. zeylanicum, T. vulgaris, F. assafoetida L essential oils showed 13%, 56%, 10% mortality adult of C. maculatus at dose of 5 µl of C. zeylanicum, 0.25 µl of T. vulgaris, 30 µl of F. assafoetida L respectively. Further concentration increase to 300 µl of C. zeylanicum oil, 30 µl of T. vulgaris, 150 µl F. assafoetida L yielded mortality of 100% against adult C. maculatus respectively
Determination of the Development Performances of Pecan Saplings in Aydin ecological Conditions
No full textIn this research, the sapling growth performances of Pecan cultivation in Aydın ecological conditions were investigated. "Burkett" Pecan rootstock and "Mahan14", "Wichita7" and "Choctaw2" pecan cultivars were used. Starting from the date of planting; Sapling stem diameters were measured 5 cm above the graft site. Diameters of rootstocks was measured 5 cm below the graft site, bud burst dates are determined (min %70 of buds), shoot diameters were measured at 15-day intervals from the place after the first two buds. Shoot lengths were measured at 15-day intervals. The measurements were carried out for 2 consecutive years. Repeared Measures Anova is used to determine whether there are significant differences in the data. The development difference between cultivars in both regions was investigated. In the analysis, averages of five replicate measurements in two years and 12 different periods. Pecan saplings showed a good development in the ecological conditions of Aydin (37°45′ 0″N - 28°0′0″E). These results show that in the province of Aydın, Pecan cultivation can be done except in very cold and very dry places. However, the study should be supported by future fruit productivity studies. The present research findings will be useful for regions with similar climatic conditions
Improvement of Nutrient Concentration in Rice Grain by Zinc Biofortification
No full textThe experiment was conducted in the research farm at Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) to investigate the nutrient biofortification ability of rice grain at different doses of zinc fertilization. In this experiment two rice varieties (BRRI dhan28 and Binadhan-16) and five doses (0, 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 and 6.0 kg ha-1) of zinc fertilization were used following split -plot design with three replications. The concentrations of N, Zn and Fe were significantly and positively influenced by the Zn treatments. The crop varieties did not differ significantly in respect of N and Fe concentrations, but the grain Zn concentration was considerably higher in BINA dhan16 than in BRRI dhan28. The grain N content as well as grain protein content increased with the rates of Zn application. Application of Zn increased the protein concentration in rice grain showing that zinc had helped protein synthesis. The grain Zn concentration increased with Zn application rates in a quadratic line which indicates that Zn concentration in rice grain was increased by Zn fertilization, but it attained a maximum value up to Zn6.0 treatment which was 12.2% increase over control
Mechanization of Ginger Slicing for Peasant Farmers
No full textDual (cushion and spring) compartment ginger slicing machine was developed to address the dificulties associaed with manual slicing of ginger. However, there is no establisbed operational perfomance on record for this particular machine; thus, the need for this study. To achieve this, the machine perfomance was evaluated at the Department of Agricultural and Bio-Environmental Engineering, Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi in April, 2019 interms of Slicing Efficiency and Percent Broken and Bruises at a ginger moisture content of 80.2 and 78.5%, using completely randomized Design (CRD) with 5 x 2 x 2 factorial experiment. The experiment was conducted with one horse power petrol engine. The data collected were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for significance level of the experimental factors and their interactions and those found significant were further analyzed using Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) for mean separations at (P0.05), respectively. The results showed that, the highest mean Slicing Efficiencies for cushion and spring compartments were: 61.2 and 45.1%, respectively. The lowest mean Percent Broken and Bruises was with cushion compartment as 38.8% and 54.9% spring compartment, respectively
Line × Tester Method Used to Evaluate the Inbred Lines of Field Corn
No full textNineteen selected lines of field corn were crossed in a line × tester method with two testers to produce 38 hybrids during rabi 2018-2019. In the following year, all the hybrids were raised along with five commercial checks in an alpha lattice design with two replications. The lines E34, BML75, BML76, BML249, BIL106, CML465, CML481 and CML487 were better among the parents, showing GCA effects for yield and other traits could be used extensively in hybrid breeding program owing to increase yield. Furthermore, based on mean, SCA effects and standard heterosis of yield value, the crosses BML75 x BIL79, E34XBIL157, BML76 x BIL157 and BML249 x BIL157 were found to be better to increase the grain yield along with other traits and play pivotal role to development of commercial hybrid
Analysis of Environmental Factors Determining the Adoption of Land Management Practices in Guinea Savanna Agro-Ecological Zone of Kaduna Using Principal Component Analysis (PCA)
No full textThis study analyzed the various determinants of land management practices in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State and determined most sustainable practice(s), with the specific focus on: Socio-economic characteristics of farmers; types of land management practices in relation to the determinant factors; effects of land management practices on the farm productivity; determine the most sustainable land management practice in the study area. A purposive sampling technique was adopted in collecting data from three hundred and eighty (380) rural farmers with structured questionnaires administered in Buruku, Chikun Local Government area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. Five land management practices showed positive effects on the farm productivity as compared to the mean of 3 points; these were cover crop, crop rotation, irrigation, organic manure and fertilizer application. Two land management practices as perceived to have good effects on farm productivity of respondents were agro-forestry and bush fallow as shown in the component one of the result of Principal Component Analysis (PCA). It was concluded that the farming population was ageing and was adversely affected the choice of best practices due to lack of education and knowledge to adopt the best land management practice. Sustainable land management practices has the potential to reverse the trend of food scarcity and environmental disasters, help to improve local livelihoods, restore natural ecosystems and also contribute significantly to climate change adaptation and mitigation. There is clear evidence that the productivity of soils in Buruku Village will continue to decline if strategic measures are not put in place to manage soil fertility in different soil units to support agricultural land
Factors Influencing Sustainable Agricultural Practices among Smallholder Farmers in Ogun State of Nigeria
No full textThe importance of adopting Sustainable Agricultural Practices (SAPs) approach to improve food production cannot be overemphasized in policy development and research agenda of many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This study investigates how socio-demographic factors influence farm-level decision process associated with the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices among smallholder farmers in Ogun State. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 196 farmers. Primary data were collected with the aid of structured questionnaires. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Likert scale rating and multivariate probit model. The results showed that majority of the farmers were male with mean age of 35 years cultivating an average farm size of 5.8 hectares. The use of improved variety was adopted by 95.41% and this was rank first among the practices adopted by the farmers. Agroforestry was rank second and adopted by 85.71% of the respondents. The extent of adoption by the respondents showed that 94.39 and 72.45 were practicing the use of improved variety and agroforestry regularly. The factors influencing adoption of sustainable practices were age, education, farm size, farming experience and membership of social organization. The result further revealed that young farmers are more likely to adopt sustainable agricultural practices as option to increase productivity and reduce vulnerability of environment to ecological problems. This suggests that campaign for adoption of sustainable agricultural practices should target young farmers. However, this is not to discriminate older farmers in the sustainable agriculture policy agenda. The study established that there are complementary and substitute effects between the sustainable agricultural practices. This showed that policy changes that affect adoption of a given practice can have spillover effect on the other. Hence, extension services and promotion agenda should always emphasize the effects between different practices to enhance farmers’ choice
The Effects of Chicken Manure Application Rates on Growth and Yield of Swiss Chard (Beta vulgaris var. cicla L.)
No full textSwiss chard (Beta vulgaris var. cicla) is a leafy vegetable that belongs to the Chenopodiaceae family. The leaves are cooked, if still tender they are used in salads. Over the years, Emawati have adopted the use of inorganic fertilizers as they are easy to apply and come with recommended application rates. However, their main drawback is that they are environmentally unfriendly especially when washed into rivers, streams and other water bodies. For this cause, the use of animal manures has been promoted. Four-week-old Swiss chard seedlings were transplanted on the 4th of February, 2016 in 1.5 x1.5 m plots with an inter and intra row spacing of 45 cm and they were irrigated twice a day during the first week and every second day from the second week until the end of the experiment. The experiment was conducted at the Horticulture Department Farm, Faculty of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences, Luyengo Campus of the University of Swaziland to determine the effects of chicken manure application rates on growth, yield and quality of Swiss chard. Four chicken manure application rates (10, 20, 40 and 80 t/ha) and a recommended 900 kg/ha, inorganic basal fertilizer with a 125 kg/ha LAN top dressing fertilizer used as a control. A Randomised Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replicates was used. The study showed that the application of 80 t/ha of chicken manure improved the growth and yield of Swiss chard. It is recommended that farmers may use 80 t/ha of chicken manure because it gave the best results compared to the other treatments. The highest fresh shoot mass (237.5 g) was obtained in plants treated with 80 t/ha of chicken manure while the lowest fresh shoot mass (100.0 g) was obtained in plants fertilized with inorganic fertilizers. It was concluded that 80 t/ha was the best under the conditions of this study and it was found that fresh mass at the end was the most important parameter to consider