Abstract Inherent low soil nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) is one of the major hindrances of increased soybean productivity in Malawian soils. Although, inoculation of legumes with rhizobia, has been advocated for decades as a way of boosting leguminous crops’ productivity through biological nitrogen fixation (BNF), the effectiveness of this strategy, has been low. An experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of the application of small doses of N and P to inoculated soybean. It...
Abstract Determination of crop growth parameters of maize helps assess the performance of the crop for food security. A study was conducted in two seasons covering 2012 and 2013 to establish optimal irrigation and nitrogen fertilizer rates for drought tolerant hybrid maize (Zea mays L.), DK8031 variety, in sandy loam soils using furrow irrigation. Four additive irrigation levels (119.05 mm, 238.10 mm, 357.15 mm and 476.2 mm) were allocated the main plots while five nitrogen fertilizer rates ...
Abstract/Overview Cassava (Manihot esculentaCrantz) is a major source of carbohydrates, calcium, vitamins (B and C), and essential minerals and is the third most important source of calories in the tropics. However, it is not clear if the traditional processing methods expose the products to microbial contamination.) is study assessed the levels of fungi and aflatoxin contamination in traditionally processed cassava products (Akuoga and Abeta). A total of 38 samples were collected from th...
Fall armyworm (FAW), still remains an important pest of many agricultural crops including corn. There is the need to use environmentally friendly to address this current menace. Field experiment was laid in randomized complete block design with three replications, using nine different fertilization regimes to evaluate the influence of enhanced efficiency fertilization on FAW infestations and agronomic performance of maize. Data were collected on FAW larval abundance, damage incidence and impa...
Abstract Background: Diversifcation of global food systems through exploration of traditional varieties and wild edible plant species is a focal mitigation strategy for food security worldwide. The present study determined the phenomic diversity of locally available, afordable and climate-resilient cultivated and wild Crotalaria species for breeding purposes. Methods: Seed samples were collected from diferent administrative counties in Kenya spanning diferent climatic zones. Other seeds were...
Abstract Resistance to Coffee Berry Disease (CBD) in Coffea arabica cv. Ruiru 11 is known to be controlled by among others, the T (Ck-1) gene from Robusta coffee (Coffea canephora Pierre). The cultivar reportedly presents significant variability in resistance to CBD. Previous work identified a microsattelite marker Sat 235 which was linked to CBD resistance and mapped it onto the introgressed C. canephora fragment which carries the Ck-1 gene. This study was aimed at utilizing the Sat 235 mar...
Abstract Africa supports a population of over 1 billion people with over half of them depending on maize for food and feed either directly or indirectly. Maize in Africa is affected by many stresses, both biotic and abiotic which significantly reduce yields and eventually lead to poor production. Due to the high demand for maize in the region, different improvement strategies have been employed in an effort to improve production. These include conventional breeding, molecular breeding, high ...
Abstract Objective: To determine the phenology, dry matter yield, grain yield and yield components of chickpea under four tillage methods and three sowing times within a semi-arid area of Kenya. Methodology and results: Field experiments were carried out at the National Animal Husbandry Research Centre, Naivasha, Kenya, between 2005 and 2007. Four tillage methods (Conventional, Strip, Furrow tillage, and double digging) and three sowing times (at onset, one week, two weeks after onset of rai...
Abstract The wild boar population has increased rapidly during the last 2 decades in Southern and Central Sweden. This rise in population size has caused severe damages to agricultural fields through their foraging behavior. Given the hierarch ical nature of habitat and resource selection, wildlife management needs to under stand the selection on both levels to better understand the ecology of nuisance species and mitigate the damages they infer. Thus, there is an urgent need for more knowle...
Abstract Drought stress affects many maize growing regions in sub-Saharan Africa. As population increases, the gap between maize supply and demand increases. There is, therefore, need to develop maize lines that are tolerant to drought as well as amiable to Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. This study aimed to assess the competence of tropical maize lines after co-cultivation on Yeats Extract Peptone (YEP) media to Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and determine the relative express...
Maize is an important cereal crop that requires a high dose of fertilizer for optimum growth and productivity. While primary nutrients and sulphur are known to impact on the crop’s growth, data remains relatively scanty on the comparative productivity of these four nutrients. A field experiment was conducted at Bolgatanga municipality and Bongo district of Ghana during the 2020 cropping season to assess the relative agronomic productivity of each primary nutrient (N, P and K) and of sulphur...
An experiment to investigate the effects of nitrogen, phosphorus type and inoculation on grain yield of soybeans in two soil series. Soybean ranks first as an oilseed crop in the world and been a legume, it goes through a biological N-fixation process which is the second most important biological process after photosynthesis. Low soil fertility results in low crop yield which affects the livelihood of farmers and increasing yield of oil seed crops such as soybean has the potential to save Gha...
In Sub-Saharan Africa, rice is a staple food as well as a cash crop for both commercial and smallholder farmers. However, the yield is very low, because of inherent low soil fertility, as well as poor agronomic techniques. Multiple-location studies were conducted at Botanga (irrigated) and Nyankpala (rain-fed) to determine the most effective way to apply Zn and S to rice and to assess the effect of Zn and S, on rice grain yield. The treatments evaluated were foliar spray of NPK [Zn + S], NPK ...
Maize is an important cereal crop that requires a high dose of fertilizer for optimum growth and productivity. While primary nutrients and sulphur are known to impact on the crop’s growth, data remains relatively scanty on the comparative productivity of these four nutrients. A field experiment was conducted at Bolgatanga municipality and Bongo district of Ghana during the 2020 cropping season to assess the relative agronomic productivity of each primary nutrient (N, P and K) and of sulphur...
The yield of soybean in Ghana stands at 1.45 t ha-1 out of an achievable harvest of 3 t ha-1 and among the contributory reasons for the low yields are inherent low soil fertility and lack of adequate indigenous bacteria in the soils used for soybean production. Amendment of the soil is believed to hold the key to improve yields of soybean. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of Bradyrhizobium japonicum inoculant (USDA 110 and USDA 136 stains) in combination with soil amendm...