Abstract: The recurring decimal of rural and urban poverty in
Nigeria, resulting from lack of sustainable livelihood activities by
the people due to non-diversification of the economy, necessitated
this study. One hundred snail farmers were randomly selected in
Akure North and Akure South Local Government areas of Ondo
State, Southwest Nigeria where snail farming is widely practised.
Data collection was through questionnaires administration and onsite
observation of farms. Data obtained were subjected to
descriptive statistics, Student-s t-test and regression analysis. Cost
benefit ratio (CBR) and rate of return on investment (RORI) were
calculated in order to determine the poverty alleviation potentials of
snail farming in the study areas. Although snail farming was
profitable and viable, it was below poverty line. With time and more
knowledge in its farming activities, and with more people taking to
snail production, its poverty alleviation and reduction potentials will
increase.
Abstract: Using 1km grid datasets representing monthly mean
precipitation, monthly mean temperature, and dry matter production
(DMP), we considered the regional plant production ability in
Southeast and South Asia, and also employed pixel-by-pixel
correlation analysis to assess the intensity of relation between climate
factors and plant production. While annual DMP in South Asia was
approximately less than 2,000kg, the one in most part of Southeast
Asia exceeded 2,500 - 3,000kg. It suggested that plant production in
Southeast Asia was superior to South Asia, however, Rain-Use
Efficiency (RUE) representing dry matter production per 1mm
precipitation showed that inland of Indochina Peninsula and India
were higher than islands in Southeast Asia. By the results of
correlation analysis between climate factors and DMP, while the area
in most parts of Indochina Peninsula indicated negative correlation
coefficients between DMP and precipitation or temperature, the area
in Malay Peninsula and islands showed negative correlation to
precipitation and positive one to temperature, and most part of India
dominating South Asia showed positive to precipitation and negative
to temperature. In addition, the areas where the correlation coefficients
exceeded |0.8| were regarded as “susceptible" to climate factors, and
the areas smaller than |0.2| were “insusceptible". By following the
discrimination, the map implying expected impacts by climate change
was provided.
Abstract: Fertilization plays an important role in crop growth and soil improvement. This study was conducted to determine the best fertilization system for wheat production. Experiments were arranged in a complete block design with three replications in two years. Main plots consisted of six methods of fertilization including (N1): farmyard manure; (N2): compost; (N3): chemical fertilizers; (N4): farmyard manure + compost; (N5): farmyard manure + compost + chemical fertilizers and (N6): control were arranged in sub plots. The addition of compost or farm yard manure significantly increased the soil microbial biomass carbon in comparison to the chemical fertilizer. The dehydrogenase, phosphatase and urease activities in the N3 treatment were significantly lower than in the farm yard manure and compost treatments.
Abstract: World population growth drives food demand, promotes intensification of agriculture, development of new production technologies and varieties more suitable for regional nature conditions. Climate change can affect the length of growing period, biomass and carbon accumulation in winter wheat. The increasing mean air temperature resulting from climate change can reduce the length of growth period of cereals, and without adequate adjustments in growing technologies or varieties, can reduce biomass and carbon accumulation. Deeper understanding and effective measures for monitoring and management of cereal growth process are needed for adaptation to changing climate and technological conditions.
Abstract: Two seperate experiments by barley and alfalfa were
conducted to a 2×8 factorial completely randomised design, with four
replicates. Factors were inoculation (M) with Gomus mosseae or uninoculation
(M0) and seven levels of contaminants (Co, Cd, Pb and
combinations) plus an uncontaminated control treatment (C). Heavy
metals in plant tissues and soil were quantified by Inductively
Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES) (Variant-
Liberty 150AX Turbo). Phytoextraction coefficient of contaminants
calculated by concentration of heavy metals in the shoot (mgkg-1) /
concentration of heavy metals in soil (mgkg-1). In the barley, the
highest rate of phytoextraction coefficient of Pb, Cd and Co was in
M0Pb, M0PbCoCd and MCo, respectively (P
Abstract: This study was carried out to evaluate concentration
of micro minerals (Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu and Se) of forages and their
distribution in fiber fraction (neutral detergent fiber/NDF and acid
detergent fiber/ADF) in South Sumatra during dry and rainy seasons.
Seven species of commonly forages namely Axonopus compressus,
Panicum maximum, Pennisetum purpuphoides, Leucaena
leucocephala, Centrocema pubescens, Calopogonium mucunoides
and Acacia mangium were collected at native pasture during rainy
and dry seasons. The results showed that micro minerals
concentration of forages and their distribution in fiber fraction varied
among species and season. In general, concentration of micro
minerals was slightly higher in rainy season compared to dry season
either in grass or legumes forages. In grass, concentration of Fe and
Mn were above the critical level, while 33.3 %, 100 % and 16.7 % of
evaluated grass were deficient in Zn, Cu and Se. Data on legume
forages show that 75 % of legumes were deficient in Zn and Mn, 62.5
% deficient in Cu and 50 % deficient in Se. There was no species of
legume deficient in Fe. Distribution of micro minerals in NDF and
ADF were also significantly affected by species and season and
depends on the kinds of element measured. Generally, micro minerals
were associated in fiber fractions much higher during dry season
compared to rainy season. Iron (Fe) and selenium (Se) in forages
were the highest elements associated in NDF and ADF, while the
lowest was found in Copper (Cu).
Abstract: In this paper spatial variability of some chemical and
physical soil properties were investigated in mountain rangelands of
Nesho, Mazandaran province, Iran. 110 soil samples from 0-30 cm
depth were taken with systematic method on grid 30×30 m2 in
regions with different vegetation cover and transported to laboratory.
Then soil chemical and physical parameters including Acidity (pH),
Electrical conductivity, Caco3, Bulk density, Particle density, total
phosphorus, total Nitrogen, available potassium, Organic matter,
Saturation moisture, Soil texture (percentage of sand, silt and clay),
Sodium, Calcium, magnesium were measured in laboratory. Data
normalization was performed then was done statistical analysis for
description of soil properties and geostatistical analysis for indication
spatial correlation between these properties and were perpetrated
maps of spatial distribution of soil properties using Kriging method.
Results indicated that in the study area Saturation moisture and
percentage of Sand had highest and lowest spatial correlation
respectively.
Abstract: Drying characteristics of rough rice (variety of lenjan) with an initial moisture content of 25% dry basis (db) was studied in a hot air dryer assisted by infrared heating. Three arrival air temperatures (30, 40 and 500C) and four infrared radiation intensities (0, 0.2 , 0.4 and 0.6 W/cm2) and three arrival air speeds (0.1, 0.15 and 0.2 m.s-1) were studied. Bending strength of brown rice kernel, percentage of cracked kernels and time of drying were measured and evaluated. The results showed that increasing the drying arrival air temperature and radiation intensity of infrared resulted decrease in drying time. High bending strength and low percentage of cracked kernel was obtained when paddy was dried by hot air assisted infrared dryer. Between this factors and their interactive effect were a significant difference (p
Abstract: The case study was conducted to show the effect of milking method in goat called half day milking on the milk production and the growth of kids. Data were collected by interviewing farmers and investigating goat production in the communal goat housing from June 2008 to May 2009. The interview was conducted to collect data about goat management. The observations were conducted on 10 goats, which were selected based on the uniformity of age, number of kid born/goat and the milking method in practice. The samples were divided into two groups; those were full 3 months nursing and half day milked goats (in this group the kids were separated from goat during the previous night milking and then the kids were allowed to suck the goat during the day). The result showed that the communal goat housing had 138 goats and 25% of the farmers milked the goat. The implementation of half day milking increased the milk production significantly (P
Abstract: The main purpose of this research was to analyze Socio-Cultural obstacles of disseminating of nanotechnology in Iran's agricultural section. One hundred twenty eight out of a total of 190 researchers with different levels of expertise in and familiarity with nanotechnology were randomly selected and questionnaires completed by them. Face validity have been done by expert's suggestion and correction, reliability by using Cronbakh-Alpha formula. The results of a factor analysis showed variation for different factors. For cultural factors 19/475 percent, for management 13/139 percent, information factor 11/277 percent, production factor 9/703 percent, social factor 9/267 percent, and for attitude factor it became 8/947 percent. Also results indicated that socio-cultural factors were the most important obstacle for nanotechnology dissemination in agricultural section in Iran.
Abstract: Some physical properties of musk lime (Citrus
microcarpa) were determined in this study. The average moisture
content (wet basis) of the fruit was found to be 85.10 (±0.72) %. The
mean of length, width and thickness of the fruit was 26.36 (±0.97),
26.40 (±1.04) and 25.26 (±0.94) mm respectively. The average value
for geometric mean diameter, sphericity, aspect ratio, mass, surface
area, volume, true density, bulk density and porosity was 26.00
(±0.82) mm, 98.67 (±2.04) %, 100.23 (±3.28) %, 10.007 (±0.878) g,
2125.07 (±133.93) mm2, 8800.00 (±731.82) mm3, 1002.87 (±39.16)
kgm-3, 501.70 (±22.58) kgm-3 and 49.89 (±3.15) % respectively.
The coefficient of static friction on four types of structural surface
was found to be varying from 0.238 (±0.025) for glass to 0.247
(±0.024) for steel surface.
Abstract: Following harvest, fresh produce needs to be cooled
immediately in a room where the air temperature and the relative air
humidity are controlled to maintain the produce quality. In this paper,
an experimental study for forced air cooling of fresh produce
(cauliflower) is performed using a pilot developed within our
laboratory. Furthermore, a numerical simulation of spherical
produces, taking into account the aerodynamic aspect and also the
heat transfer in the produce and in the air, was carried out using a
finite element method. At the end of this communication,
experimental results are presented and compared with the simulation.
Abstract: The mechanism of abiotic stress tolerance is crucial
for plants to survive in harsh condition and the knowledge of this
mechanism can be use to solve the problem of declining productivity
of plants or crops around the world. However in-depth description is
still unclear and it is argued, in particular that there is a relationship
between high salinity tolerance and the ability to tolerate high light
condition. In this study, Dunaliella salina, which can withstand high
salt was used as a model. Chlorophyll fluorometer for nonphotochemical
quenching (NPQ) measurement and high-performance
liquid chromatography for pigment determination was used. The
results show that NPQ value and the amount of pigment were
increased along with the levels of salinity. However, it establish a
clear relationship between high salt and high light but the further
study to optimized the solutions mentioned above is still required.
Abstract: Studies regarding the determination of population
trend of Lipaphis erysimi (kalt.) and its associated natural enemies in
different Brassica lines along with the effect of gamma radiation on
their population were conducted at Agricultural Research Farm,
Malakandher, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Agricultural University
Peshawar during spring 2006. Three different Brassica lines F6B3,
F6B6 and F6B7 were used, which were replicated four times in
Randomized Complete Block Design. The data revealed that aphid
infestation invariably stated in all three varieties during last week of
February 2006 (1st observation). The peak population of 4.39 aphids
leaf-1 was s recorded during 2nd week of March and lowest population
of 1.02 aphids leaf-1 was recorded during 5th week of March. The
species of lady bird beetle (Coccinella septempunctata) and Syrphid
fly (Syrphus balteatus) first appeared on 24th February with a mean
number of 0.40 lady bird beetle leaf-1 and 0.87 Syrphid fly leaf-1,
respectively. At the time when aphid population started to increase
the peak population of C. septempunctata (0.70 lady bird beetle leaf-
1) and S. balteatus (1.04 syrphid fly leaf-1) was recorded on the 2nd
week of March. Chrysoperla carnea appeared in the 1st week of
March and their peak population was recorded during the 3rd week of
March with mean population of 1.46 C. carnea leaf-1. Among all the
Brassica lines, F6B7 showed comparatively more resistance as
compared to F6B3 F6B6. F6B3 showed least resistance against L.
erysimi, which was found to be the most susceptible cultivar. F6B7
was also found superior in terms of natural enemies. Maximum
number of all natural enemies was recorded on this variety followed
by F6B6. Lowest number of natural enemies was recorded in F6B3.
No significant effect was recorded for the effect of gamma radiation
on the population of aphids, natural enemies and on the varieties.
Abstract: The beneficial effects of Si are mainly associated with
its high deposition in plant tissue and enhancing their strength and
rigidity. We investigated the role of Si against cadmium stress in
(Echium C) in house green condition. When the seventh leaves was
be appeared, plants were pretreated with five levels of Si: 0, 0.2, 0.5,
0.7and 1.5 mM Si (as sodium trisilicate, Na2(SiO2)3) and after that
plants were treated with two levels of Cd (30 and 90 mM). The
effects of Silicon and Cd were investigated on some physiological
and biochemical parameters such as: lipid peroxidation
(malondialdehyde (MDA) and other aldehydes, antocyanin and
flavonoid content. Our results showed that Cd significantly increased
MDA, other aldehydes, antocyanin and flavonoids content in
Echium and silicon offset the negative effect and increased tolerance
of Echium against Cd stress. From this results we concluded that Si
increase membrane integrity and antioxidative ability in this plant
against cd stress.
Abstract: This paper presents the development of analysis tools
for Home Agriculture project. The tools are required for monitoring
the condition of greenhouse which involves two components:
measurement hardware and data analysis engine. Measurement
hardware is functioned to measure environment parameters such as
temperature, humidity, air quality, dust and etc while analysis tool is
used to analyse and interpret the integrated data against the condition
of weather, quality of health, irradiance, quality of soil and etc. The
current development of the tools is completed for off-line data
recorded technique. The data is saved in MMC and transferred via
ZigBee to Environment Data Manager (EDM) for data analysis.
EDM converts the raw data and plot three combination graphs. It has
been applied in monitoring three months data measurement for
irradiance, temperature and humidity of the greenhouse..
Abstract: The article deals with the relation between rainfall in selected months and subsequent weed infestation of spring barley. The field experiment was performed at Mendel University agricultural enterprise in Žabčice, Czech Republic. Weed infestation was measured in spring barley vegetation in years 2004 to 2012. Barley was grown in three tillage variants: conventional tillage technology (CT), minimization tillage technology (MT), and no tillage (NT). Precipitation was recorded in one-day intervals. Monthly precipitation was calculated from the measured values in the months of October through to April. The technique of canonical correspondence analysis was applied for further statistical processing. 41 different species of weeds were found in the course of the 9-year monitoring period. The results clearly show that precipitation affects the incidence of most weed species in the selected months, but acts differently in the monitored variants of tillage technologies.
Abstract: Groundwater is an essential and vital component of our life support system. The groundwater resources are being utilized for drinking, irrigation and industrial purposes. There is growing concern on deterioration of groundwater quality due to geogenic and anthropogenic activities. Groundwater, being a fragile must be carefully managed to maintain its purity within standard limits. So, quality assessment and management are to be carried out hand-in-hand to have a pollution free environment and for a sustainable use. In order to assess the quality for consumption by human beings and for use in agriculture, the groundwater from the shallow aquifers (dug well) in the Palakkad and Chittur taluks of Bharathapuzha river basin - a paddy dominated agricultural basin (order=8th; L= 209 Km; Area = 6186 Km2), Kerala, India, has been selected. The water samples (n= 120) collected for various seasons, viz., monsoon-MON (August, 2005), postmonsoon-POM (December, 2005) and premonsoon-PRM (April, 2006), were analyzed for important physico-chemical attributes. Spatial and temporal variation of attributes do exist in the study area, and based on major cations and anions, different hydrochemical facies have been identified. Using Gibbs'diagram, rock dominance has been identified as the mechanism controlling groundwater chemistry. Further, the suitability of water for irrigation was determined by analyzing salinity hazard indicated by sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), residual sodium carbonate (RSC) and sodium percent (%Na). Finally, stress zones in the study area were delineated using Arc GIS spatial analysis and various management options were recommended to restore the ecosystem.
Abstract: One field experiment was conducted on corn (Zea
mays L.Var. SC 704) to study the effect of three different basic levels
of nitrogen (90, 140and 190 Kg/ha as urea) with 0.01% and 0.02%
pyridoxine pre-sowing seed soaking for 8 hours. Water-soaked seeds
were treated as controled. biomass production was recorded on 45,
70 and 95 days after sowing. Total dry material (TDM), leaf area
index (LAI), crop growth rate (CGR), relative growth rate (RGR) and
net assimilation rate (NAR) was calculated form 45until 95 days after
sowing. Yield and its components such as kernel yield, grain weight,
biologic yield, harvest index and protein percentage was measured at
harvest. In general, 0.02% pyridoxine and 190 Kg pure nitrogen/ha
was shown gave maximum value for growth and yield parameters.
N190 + 0.02 % pyridoxine enhanced seed yield and biologic yield by
57.15% and 62.98% compared to 90kg N and water – soaked
treatment.
Abstract: Physical and mechanical properties of Russian olive
fruits were measured at moisture content of 14.43% w.b. The results
revealed that the mean length, width and thickness of Russian olive
fruits were 20.72, 15.73 and 14.69mm, respectively. Mean mass and
volume of Russian olive fruits were measured as 1.45 g and 2.55 cm3,
respectively. The sphericity, aspect ratio and surface area were
calculated as 0.81, 0.72 and 8.96 cm2, respectively, while arithmetic
mean diameter, geometric mean diameter and equivalent diameter of
Russian olive fruits were 17.05, 16.83 and 16.84 mm, respectively.
Whole fruit density, bulk density and porosity of jujube fruits were
measured and found to be 1.01 g/cm3, 0.29 g/cm3 and 69.5%,
respectively. The values of static coefficient of friction on three
surfaces of glass, galvanized iron and plywood were 0.35, 0.36 and
0.43, respectively. The skin color (L*, a*, b*) varied from 9.92 to
16.08; 2.04 to 3.91 and 1.12 to 3.83, respectively. The values of
rupture force, deformation, energy absorbed and hardness were found
to be between 12.14-16.85 N, 2.16-4.25 mm, 3.42-6.99 N mm and
17.1-23.85 N/mm.