Agriculture

Surveying number entering a particular stage of a stage-structured population (e.g. arthropods) using field sampling data has been subject of many studies in last 60 years. Stage-frequency data consist of count of individuals in different development stages in samples taken from a population over a period of time. Several methods are then available for deriving estimates of stage-specific survival rates and other population parameters that are of interest to the ecologists that Manly (1990) listed 23 methods. The application of some of these methods is limited by their computational difficulty and others are limited by restrictive assumption that they make. Each method has advantages and disadvantages which arise from its assumptions. The first method in this field may be offered by Richards and Waloff (1954). Richards et al (1961), Dempster (1961), and Southwood and Jepson(1962) suggested further methods and the KNM method proposed by Kiritani & Nakasuji (1967) and extended by Manly (1974). There is therefore something of a problem for the data analyst to decide what is the best for a particular set of data. The purpose of this note is presenting a review of some important and applicable methods to show differences among these. So, it is recommend that any method be used with respect to the required information and parameters.

In this study the temporal variations in field soil respiration were investigated over a two year period, together with laboratory soil respiration rates in a park grassland at University of Essex, UK. Field soil respiration was measured with portable environmental gas monitor, while laboratory soil respiration was by incubation and titrimetric methods. Field soil respiration varied over time of day, sites and seasons, with the summer months recording the highest respiratory activity (127.8 and 69.8 mmol m-2 h-1 over two years respectively) while the winter months recorded the lowest field soil respiration rates (27.2 and 29.8 mmol m-2 h-1 for the same periods respectively). Soil temperature and water filled pore spaces (WFPS) also varied seasonally with highest temperature and lowest WFPS recorded in the summer months. Field soil respiration was dependent on either soil temperature or WFPS in first year only. A multiple regression analysis also recorded a significant relation between field soil respiration, temperature and WFPS (R2 multiple = 0.5, FSR = 45.6 + 10.5T + 86.9 WFPS mmol CO2 m-2 h-1) for the two years. Laboratory measurements are vital for explaining the factors that influence C-fluxes in the field.

India is the agriculture based country. Agricultural sector is playing vital role in Indian economy. Our ancient people completely depended on the agricultural harvesting. This paper is a basic implementation to bring Indian agricultural system to the world class standards. Paper is used to find the exact field condition. Irrigation by help of freshwater resources in agricultural areas has a crucial importance. Because of highly increasing demand for freshwater, optimal usage of water resources has been provided with greater extent by automation technology and its apparatus such as drip irrigation, sensors and remote control. Our paper aim is to control the wastage of water in the field by using the drip irrigation and also to provide exact controlling of field by atomizing the agricultural environment by using the components and building the necessary hardware. The humidity and temperature of plants are precisely monitored and controlled. By using drip irrigation the water will be maintained at the constant level i.e. the water will reach the roots by going drop by drop. Irrigation system controls valves by using automated controller to turn ON & OFF. This allows the farmer to apply the right amount of water at the right time, regardless of the availability of the labor to turn valves or motor ON & OFF. This reduces runoff over watering saturated soils avoid irrigating at the wrong time of the day. It improves crop performances and help in time saving in all the aspects. In this paper an ARM LPC2148 Microcontroller based drip irrigation mechanism is proposed, which is a real time feedback control system for monitoring and controlling all the activities of drip irrigation system more efficiently. GSM is used to inform the user about the exact field condition. The information is given on user request in form of SMS. Eg. GSM modem can be controlled by standard set of AT (Attention) commands. These commands can be used to control majority of the functions of GSM modem. GSM serves as an important part as it is responsible for controlling the irrigation on field and sends them to the receiver through coded signals. GSM operates through SMS’s and is the link between ARM processor and centralized unit. The drip method of irrigation has been found to have a significant impact on resources saving, cost of cultivation, yield of crops and farm profitability.

The papaya seed oil was extracted by solvent extraction method. The characteristic of seed oil was studied. Percent seed oil was recorded 30.1 and chemical composition of papaya seed was found to be protein (28.1%), Ash (8.2%), Crude fiber (19.1%) and total carbohydrate (25.6%).The papaya seed oil consists of iodine value (65.5), saponification value (155.5), unsaponifiable matter (1.37%) and free fatty acid (0.32%).The major fatty acid of papaya seed oil were oleic acid(72.5%) followed by palmitic acid (13.5%) and stearic acid (4.5%). Thus it can be concluded that the seed can be utilized for extraction of oil which has various health benefits with respect to essential fatty acids.

The study specifically described the socio-economic status of the people involved in the production, distribution and consumption of convenience foods in Lafia urban of Nasarawa state. It identified the factors that influence the entry into convenience food enterprise, factors necessitating the demand and supply of the products and examined the costs and returns of three convenience foods. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, inferential statistics (multiple regression analysis), the four points likert scale and the enterprise gross margin. The major findings indicated that female producers of convenience foods were more than male producers, the multiple regression result on the effects of socio-economic characteristics of consumers on the amount of money spent on consumer foods revealed that R2 value is 0.697. This implied that 67.7% of the total variation in output (Y) is explained by the combined influences of the independent variables in the model. The gross margin enterprise revealed that the sale of convenience foods in Lafia metropolis is profitable. The study concluded by advocating for provision of credit facilities amongst others to producers and distributors of convenience foods with limited income.

Vetiver grass effectiveness for phytoremediation has received wide publicity. Therefore, a pot experiment was conducted to compare metal tolerance and metal uptake of two vetiver grass varieties; Vetiveria zizanioides (VZ) and Vetiveria nigritana (VN) on soil collected from an abandoned Exide battery site. A pot experiment with treatments of different levels of pollutant; 100% top soil, 100% polluted soil, 75% top soil + 25% polluted soil, 25% topsoil + 75% polluted soil and 50% topsoil + 50% polluted soil.Each treatment consists of a pot filled with 5kg of the dumpsite soil and top soil mixture. These were planted with two vetiver grass varieties and were replicated three times. The vetiver grass was carefully uprooted twelve weeks after planting and was analyzed for lead concentration. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance using SAS 2.0 and the means were separated using Least Significance Difference. The results showed thatVZ had a better growth performance thanVN. Number of tillers and root length were significantly higherfor VZ (7.9, 36.8 cm) than VN (4.0, 23.3 cm), respectively. However, VN had higher uptake of lead (11017mgkg? ?) than VZ (9405 mgkg-1). In summary, both varieties may be well suited for phytoremediation in tropical lead mine areas, but VN could tolerate higher lead concentration than VZ.

Spatial variability of soil properties have been attributed to factors of soil formation, land use and management. Mycorrhizal fungi are associated intrinsically with soil organic matter and have been reported to be spatially heterogeneous and largely influence soil fertility and crop production. The objective of this study was to assess spatial variability of arbuscular mycorrhizal and its relationship with particle size fractions on valley bottom soils in southwestern Nigeria. The study was conducted on a 9 hectare (900m by 100m) undergraduate internship plot in University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Surface (0 - 15cm) and subsurface (15 – 30cm) soil samples were collected at rigid grid nodes (10m by 100m), processed and analysed for particle size distribution, available phosphorus, organic carbon and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Gigaspora, Scultelospora, Acaulospora, Entrophospora, Glomus, etc.). Data collected were analyzed statistically using descriptive statistic, statistics of dispersion and geostatistics. The variables that were normally distributed included silt (surface), silt, clay and organic carbon (subsurface). Status of coefficient of variation of the soil properties ranged from least to moderate (7.6% - 42.3% and 0.7% - 42.7% for surface and subsurface soils respectively. There were significant correlations between clay content and Gigaspora (r = 0.43, p<0.01), clay and Glomus (r = -0.24, p<0.05), Gigaspora and Glomus (r = 0.43, p<0.01) on the surface. Whereas on the subsurface, clay and Glomus (r = 0.23, p<0.05), available phosphorus and Gigaspora (r = 0.23, p<0.05), Gigaspora and Glomus (r = 0.51, p<0.05) were significantly correlated. The semivariance analysis carried out indicated that extent of spatial dependence of the soil properties on both depths varied from strong to moderate (5.9% - 63.3% and 14.3% - 53.0% in surface and subsurface soils respectively) which is as a result of intrinsic variation caused by factors of soil formation. Variability of mycorrhizal spores in the study area is majorly attributable to pedogensis rather than land use and management. Clay and available phosphorus were found to influence distribution of mycorrhizal spores.

This study was conducted in Gedarif town; Gedarif State, Sudan in (2003-2006). The objective was to test the hypothesis that, the wild silkworm Epiphora bauhiniae (Guerin-Meneville) has ability to produce a lucrative silk fiber (cocoons), of commercial value, during the rainy season. A comparative study was done to determine the average values and basic production indices, of the wild silkworm, fed during the various months of rainy seasons August, September and October). The technological traits (cocoon weight, shell weight and shell ratio) of the produced cocoons were investigated under laboratory. Cocoons produced showed high weights, during the rainy season, particularly in August and September. The study revealed that, the cocoon of E.bauhiniae, easy to be degummed and released from cocoon by hand, after treatment using NaoH solution (low con. 0.25%). The fibers have high ability or capability of dyeing absorbency. Sericin percentage was 44%. Cocoon weight, shell weight and shell ratio ranged between (1.5 - 2.98 g, 0.37 - 0.59 g, 22.5 – 24.5 %, respectively). The technological traits were significantly varied, within the period of the rainy season, i.e. the values obtained during August and September was higher than October values. This study showed the potential of E.bauhiniae, as an important wild silkworm, to be a candidate as a commercial insect, for silk production in Sudan, because it is a bi voltine race (generate twice a year) beside that its products covers all quantitative and qualitative traits and accordingly this insect will have prominent concerns to contribute and help in future to defeat poverty and boost farmer income. This study claimed to be the first study that, showing the technological traits of E.bauhiniae in Sudan and open the door widely for the insect not to be placed out in the cold.

This experiment was conducted in a controlled environment, to evaluate the effects of Pre-treatment salts different on the characteristics of seeds Ajowan (Trachyspermum ammi) implemented. Experiment was carried out as completely randomized design with 4 replications. Pre-treatment included: potassium nitrate (1%), potassium phosphate (1%), sodium chloride (1%) and distilled water which was the control experiment. Seeds were submerged for 72 hours with aeration in treatments and then seeds dried and number of 50 seeds were on filter paper 30 x 30 towel method. The results indicated that in the pre-treatment, most positive effect on the germination coefficient of Ajowan plant was potassium nitrate, in other words,the seeds in less time, had the highest percentage of germination . Means comparison showed that the highest and lowest positive effect on the average time required for germination in plant Ajowan were potassium nitrate (6.9 days) and sodium chloride (9.3 days). According to results, the pre-treatment for 72 h with potassium nitrate 1% Seeds Ajowan recommended.

This experiment was carried out at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources Management, Ebonyi State University Abakaliki in order to evaluate productivity indices of spent lubricant oil-contaminated soil bio-remediated with organic wastes for three (2006 – 2008) cropping seasons. The field was laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD). The spent lubricant oil was applied blanket on soil at 5 % equivalent to 50,000 mg kg-1 to all the plots to serve as source of contamination. The organic wastes were burnt rice husk dust, unburnt (fresh) rice husk dust, sawdust and control applied at 20 t ha-1 equivalent to 8 kg ha-1 and replicated five times. Modified Pierce et al. productivity index was used to compute the productivity indices. The modified productivity index entailed use of sufficiencies for bulk density, available water capacity, root weighting factor (RWF), pH and exclusion of sufficiencies for aeration and electrical conductivity. The productivity indices (PI) were highest (P1=0.31, 0.27, 0.27 and 0.27) for oil contaminated soil treated with saw dust (OS), oil contaminated soil treated with unburnt rice husk dust (OU), oil contaminated soil amended with (OS) and oil contaminated soil treated with unburnt rice husk dust (OU) amended plots in 2006, 2007 and 2008 cropping seasons, respectively. These PI were 29, 35 and 80% higher than the control for the three seasons for the respective treatments of OS, OU and OS and OU. The mean productivity indices were (x=0.19, 0.27, 0.24 and 0.27) for control, OU, OB and OS amendments, respectively. Grain yields of maize of 1.72 and 1.70 t ha-1 were obtained for PI of 0.31 and 0.30 for oil contaminated soil treated with saw dust (OS) and oil contaminated soil amended with unburnt rice husk dust (OU) amended plots, respectively. Oil contaminated soil treated with unburnt rice husk dust (OU) (x=27) and oil contaminated soil amended with saw dust (OS) (x=0.27) wastes predicted highly for spent oil contaminated soil amended with organic wastes and could be recommended for bio-remediation of such soil in Abakaliki.