TABLF OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE DECLARATION CERTIFICATION DEDICATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF PLATES CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW CHAPTER THREE: MATERIALS AND METHODS COLLECTION OF SPECIMEN C COLLECTION OF BLOOD -i HAEMATOCRIT DETERMINATION HEMOGLOBIN DETERNINATION RED BLOOD CELL COUNT WHITE BLOOD CELL COUNT DATA ANALYSIS CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS REFEREN...
ABSTRACT African horned melon (Cucumis metuliferus) is an indigenous crop belonging to the family Cucurbitaceae. The crop has been neglected despite its high potential. Therefore, to conserve the biodiversity of this crop, there is need to promote its domestication and production. However, this can only be realized if its morphology, agronomic and nutritional value is understood. The objective of this study was to determine the agro-morphological performance and nutritional composition of hor...
ABSTRACT Forests are believed to play critical ecological, social, cultural, and economic role to the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Kenya and even all over the world. Forestry Provisioning Ecosystem Services (FPES) contribute significantly to smallholder farmers‘ livelihoods though this contribution is sometimes not accounted for. Understanding the role played by FPES to the livelihood of smallscale farmers is crucial for sustainable management of the forest resources. This study th...
ABSTRACT This experiment was conducted to determine the best time to introduce finisher diets in the humid tropics. Four treatments (3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th week) were tried in this study that lasted for 9 weeks. A total of one hundred and eighty birds were used for the experiment. The birds were randomnly assigned into 4 treatments that were replicated three times with 15 birds in each replicate. The following were measured, growth performance, carcass quality and cost benefit analysis. On gr...
ABSTRACT Declining size of the farm holdings in most high agricultural potential areas as a result of continuous land fragmentation is currently a major policy concern in Kenya. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of land fragmentation and agro-ecological zones (AEZs) on food security and farm efficiency in Kenya. The study used data collected from 384 farm-households that were randomly selected from three AEZs in the Embu County, using a multistage stratified sampling techni...
ABSTRACT Mangroves occupy only 0.4% of forested areas globally but are among the most productive ecosystems on earth. They account for about 11% of the total input of terrestrial carbon into the oceans. The above ground carbon stock in mangroves in some parts of the World has been estimated to be as high as 8 kg C m-2; with a similar amount reported for below ground components. Although a lot of research has been done on estimates of mangrove biomass in Kenya, there is no information on bioma...
ABSTRACT In the early 1990’s, the Kenyan government implemented reforms in the agricultural sector that affected the volatility of agricultural product prices. However, there is lack of empirical evidence on the effects of these reforms on the level and volatility of Irish potato prices. This study evaluates the effects of market reform policies involving the decontrol of input and output prices on the evolution and volatility of Irish potato prices in Nyandarua district. The purpose of thi...
x ABSTRACT The study is primarily an assessment of groundwater quality in the Yatta Plateau of Kitui County. The study focused on the spatial temporal distribution of key chemical parameters namely pH, TDS, Colour, Total hardness, Turbidity, Conductivity, Total alkalinity, Fluoride and Iron. Yatta Plateau is a volcanic formation which is characteristically flat at the top thus limiting overland flow and depression storage necessary for other methods of water supply to the community resident o...
ABSTRACT African nightshade (Solanum scabrum Miller) is a vegetable, widely distributed throughout the tropics including East Africa. It is an important vegetable in Kenya but consumer demands have not been met due to low yields and partly due to attack by Aphis fabae Scopoli. The aphids cause serious damage through sucking plant cell sap from phloem leaving the plant weakened, dehydrated, stunted in growth and eventually under heavy infestation the leaves curl making the vegetables unattract...
Abstract Drought is the most important limiting factor in the production of crops in agriculture; it is becoming an increasingly severe problem, sharpening its ends due to dynamic changes in climatic variables. Tobacco is one of the major cash crops that is being grown by many farmers, but its production potential is often constrained by the scarcity of water and poor productivity of sandy soil. In order to counteract the problem of water scarcity, the researcher hereby sought to investigat...
ABSTRACT Declining soil fertility in general and nitrogen (N) in particular limit crop production on many smallholder farms in western Kenya. Soil N deficiency is usually ameliorated with inorganic N fertilizers but their high costs preclude their use by resource poor smallholder farmers. In addition there are concerns that increased use of inorganic fertilizers could lead to environmental degradation. Organic inputs offer sustainable alternatives to expensive inorganic N fertilizers but the ...
ABSTRACT Continued use of traditional sources of energy for cooking in rural areas of Tanzania is associated with human health problems such as lung diseases and environmental problems including soil erosion and air pollution. This paper aimed at determining the types of energy sources used for cooking and the determinants of their choices in rural areas of Tanzania. Cross-sectional survey research design through questionnaires was used to collect data from 384 heads of households from rura...
ABSTRACT The obligate root hemi-parasite, Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth., native to sub-Saharan Africa causes serious economic constraint to cereal production. There has been limited study to understand the genetics of Striga tolerance or resistance in maize in Kenya and the information on mechanisms of resistance to Striga in maize in very limited. T he use of maize ( Zea mays L.) genotypes that support reduced Striga hermonthica emergence can form an important basis for developing Striga ...
ABSTRACT Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky is the major insect pest seen damaging stored maize in Zimbabwe. The environmental hazards of synthetic insecticides, the unreliability supply and high costs of these chemicals resulted in the search for cheaper and safer use of the naturally available plant material to control this pest. This study evaluates effective rates for L. javanica leaf powder. Bioactivity of Lippia javanica leaf extracts was evaluated under average room temperature, at three ...
ABSTRACT Tea provides income and employment to rural populations in many countries. Tea, grown in east and west of the Rift Valley, is the leading export commodity crop in Kenya. Variable responses among genotypes to different environments and fertilizer influence growth, productivity, leaf nutrients, and quality. However, husbandry practices are uniform in all tea growing regions. These recommendations may not be optimum universally. Genotypes planted and management practices may therefore n...