Industrial pollution and vegetable farming in sharada industrial layout of Kano municipal area council

This work examined the effects of industrial effluents on surface water used for vegetable irrigation in Kano City of Kano State. As the population of Kano increases, more demand is placed on these industries for products thus leading to the generation of large volumes of effluents that are discharged directly into nearby streams without treatment. The usage of this surface water for vegetable irrigation by a significant number of vegetable farmers is a matter of major concern due to the presence of pollutants. Some of the field measurements were carried out insitu while others were taken to the laboratory for analysis. Groundwater samples were taken from a borehole and two hand-dug wells while surface water was taken from point of discharge and two other points along the Challawa River which is the main source of water for vegetable irrigation. Composite soil samples were taken from four points within the vegetable farms. The Federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Ministry of Environment standards were used as baseline standards for limits. Results show that presence of Fe, Pb, Mn, Cr and Cd were found to be above the FMEnv limits in the soil, the presence of SO4, Cu and K were also found to be above the FMEnv limits as well in groundwater while BOD, NO2 and Cr were above the FEPA limit for surface water. Some of the recommendations include constant monitoring for the presence of heavy metals in soils and irrigation water and that the need for the construction of both primary and secondary treatment plants has become essential.

An efficient 4-step block method for solution of first order initial value problems via shifted chebyshev polynomial

In this paper, we develop a four-step block method for solution of first order initial value problems of ordinary differential equations. The collocation and interpolation approach is adopted to obtain a continuous scheme for the derived method via Shifted Chebyshev Polynomials, truncated after sufficient terms. The properties of the proposed scheme such as order, zero-stability, consistency and convergence are also investigated. The derived scheme is implemented to obtain numerical solutions of some test problems, the result shows that the new scheme competes favorably with exact solution and some existing methods.

Comparative analysis of the economic returns to management in single crop, fish, poultry and an integrated farming system in Obudu, Cross River State

A four year (2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019) field experiment was conducted to compare the economic returns to investment in single enterprise with integrated farming comprising of rice farm alongside with fish culture and poultry farm using mostly organic waste as feeds. In 2016 a rice farm was cultivated on a piece of land already procured for the experiment, fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides were all applied. At maturity the rice was harvested, processed, bagged in 100kg bags and sold. Economic returns to management were calculated according to the methods of CIMMYT, (1988). In 2017, only fish farm was established, fed and harvested at maturity and sold to consumers. Economic returns to management were also calculated and recorded. In 2018, a poultry farm was established, 200 broilers were reared to maturity and sold, economic returns to management were calculated and recorded. Then in 2019, an integrated farm comprising rice farm, fish farm and poultry farm were all established in the same field. About 70% of the feeds used were organic waste collected mostly from poultry droppings. The silt from the pond was also used as fertilizer for the rice farm, while the rice bran was also fed to the poultry. The output from the farms were harvested and sold, and the economic returns to investment for each farm calculated. The result showed that the returns to investment were significantly (p<0.05) higher in integrated farming system than in the single enterprise farm, due to the low cost of production using low cost inputs in integrated farming compare to the use of high cost synthetic inputs in single enterprise. The paper therefore recommended that farmers should adopt integrated farming system with low cost inputs for higher profit than the single enterprise farming.

Prediction of mild Steel weld properties using artificial neural network and regression analysis

Safety hazards resulting from structural material failure occur mostly in less developed countries where material standard specifications are not strictly adhered to, due to failure of government policy implementation. These hazards often result in loss of life. Failures tend to occur at welded joints, and various research institutions are making attempts to prevent such failures by developing new methods that could predict and improve welded joint qualities. The concern goes beyond safety, but also encompasses economic and other similar long term considerations. In this study, experimental methods were used to obtain the Bead Height (BH), Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) and Brinell Hardness Number (BHN) of mild steel welded joints. Thereafter, the artificial neural network (ANN), and Regression analysis methods were applied to predict the corresponding values of the BH, UTS, and BHN. The resulting performance of these two predictive methods was compared side by side to determine which one of the two methods better predicted these quality properties. This comparative analysis was carried out by comparing the percentage error of ANN to that of the Regression analysis. From the results obtained, it was found that for the bead height, Regression analysis method produced a total of 1.72% error. For UTS, ANN method produced a total of 63.31% error whereas Regression analysis produced a total of 0.39% and for BHN, ANN method produced a total of 353.86% error whereas, Regression analysis method produced a total of 2.58% error. The results shows that overall, regression analysis method predicted the properties better. Also, the effect of the process parameters on the weld properties were investigated. In this study, a step by step method is applied.

Comparative analysis of the repellency activity of single compounds and the synthetic blends of semiochemicals from Aframomum melegueta (R.schum) and Dennittia tripetala (Bak.F) against Rhizopertha dominica in Calabar, Nigeria

Bioassay experiments were carried out in Calabar to compare the repellency activity of single compounds and the synthetic blends of Semiochemicals extracted from Afromomum melegueta and Dennittia tripetala. The aim of the experiment was to determine the efficacy of single compounds and the synthetic blends in suppressing the reproductive potential and adult emergence of Rhizopertha dominica, (Fabricius), a primary pest of stored cassava pellets and cereal grains in Sub-Saharan Africa. Insect culture of the adult R. dominica was set up in the laboratory at Federal College of Education Obudu to obtain fresh insects for the bioassay experiments. Dried seeds of A. melegueta (R. Schum) and D. tripetala (Baker f.) Schatz were procured from the main market in Obudu for the purpose of the research work. 100g each of the dried fruits of the spice plants were pounded separately with the laboratory pestle and mortar for the extraction of the essential oils (EOs). The oils extracted were tested for toxicity and reproductive potential deterrence against R. dominica. The chemical constituents of the essential oils were isolated, identified and tested against R. dominica. Synthetic blends of individual compounds were prepared based on their natural ratios and were also tested for toxicity and reproductive potential deterrence against the insect pests in the laboratory. The result showed that both the single compounds and the synthetic blends were toxic and repellent to the insect pest, and could significantly suppress the reproductive potential thereby inhibiting the emergence of adult insect. However, synthetic blends exhibited a stronger efficacy in their toxicity against the pest thereby providing a broad spectrum of insecticidal bioactivity against R. dominica than the single compounds. This action of the synthetic blends of extracts from the spice plants demonstrated their potential for development in stored products protection especially at the small scale resource poor farmer’s level in Nigeria.