Performance of Large Seeded Faba Bean Genotypes for Yield and Related Agronomic Traits in Different Parts of Ethiopia

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is a high value crop in Ethiopia and has versatile uses. The national faba bean breeding program concentrates on the three major traits (grain yield, disease resistance and seed size) of the crop for varietal release for commercial production. Hence, ten faba bean genotypes were evaluated at Adet, Areka, Bekoji, Haramaya, Holetta and Jimma during the main cropping seasons of 2018 and 2019 using a randomized complete block design with four replications with the objectives to select the genotype with best performance in terms of important agronomic traits like grain yield, disease resistance, large seed size and other desirable agronomic traits for high potential production areas in Ethiopia. The combined analysis of variance across locations revealed that there is highly significant (P < 0.01) variation among the tested genotypes for grain yield, 1000-seeds weight, number of pods per plant, and days to 90% physiological maturity. The genotype EH011089-3 showed better performance than the tested genotypes having comparable grain yield performance (3803 kgha-1) with the two standard checks, Numan and Gora (3790 and 3897 kgha-1, respectively) while it had the highest 1000-seeds weight (1065 g) compared to the two standard checks, Numan and Gora (937 g and 786 g, respectively), i.e., 13.7% and 35.5% advantage, over the two standard checks, respectively. Additionally, EH011089-3 had better resistance for chocolate spot and rust diseases. Therefore, EH011089-3 was the best over the tested varieties and breeding lines. Genotype EH011089-3 is recommended for varietal release for commercial production all over in Ethiopia.

Potential of Human Urine as a Nutrient Medium for the Biomass Production of Microalga Scenedesmus sp

Microalgae have value-added chemicals, but their biomass production is costly due to the expensive nutrient chemicals. Meantime human urine (HU) is considered wastewater and has basic nutrients for autotrophs. This study tested the potentials of being cheaply available in HU as a nutrient source for the biomass production of microalga Scenedesmus sp. HU was collected, sterilized, and made different dilutions. Microalga of Scenedesmus sp., was isolated from the urine contaminated site, purified, inoculated into the HU medium, and incubated under Sunlight for 7 days at 25 °C. The maximum growth was observed in 15 % HU as 0.795 OD670nm with 0.57 g/L biomass production with a significant difference (p<0.01). The productivity of 81 mg/L/day was reached. The concentrated urine of more than 20 % was not supporting the growth of microalga. This study concluded that human urine can be used as a nutrient medium for microalgae growth at certain dilution.

Assessing Smallholder Farmers’ Perception on Climate Variability in Relation to Climatological Evidence: A Case Study of Benguene in the Sudanian Zone of Mali

Sudanian zone is one of the regions in West Africa most confronted with high climate variability, challenging agricultural sustainability and rural livelihoods. Despite multiple research efforts devoted to exploring how farmers in this region perceive climate variability and how perceptions relate to adaptive responses, much remains to be done. This study examined farmers’ perception of climate variability compared with scientific evidence in the terroir of Benguene, between 1983 and 2018. Data was collected from twenty-nine (29) farmland heads (representing 49% of the total farmland heads in the village) through a survey conducted in October 2019. Monthly temperature data from ground measurement and daily rainfall data extracted from the gridded African Rainfall Climatology version 2 (ARC-2) time series was used. Descriptive statistic was used to analyse survey data. Climate data analysis included Mann Kendall trend analysis and computation of growing season parameters (Onset, Duration and Cessation) and its trend. In the end, a conformity index was used to compare farmers’ perceptions to climatological evidence. Conformity graph showed that apart from temperature, the farmers have low, to a weak perception of the other variables used to assess their perception. Results showed that many smallholder farmers have observed a rise in temperature (90%), delay onset (93%) and early cessation (93%) of rainfall. The analysis of the climate data showed high variability in the climate during the study period as observed in the increasing trends in temperature (p-value of 0.0007) and in the rainfall (p-value of 0.0001). Concerning the season parameters, the results show increasingly early-onset (June 1st ± 22 days) increasingly late cessation (October 09th ± 14 days) and consequently a long duration of the rainy season (130 ± 27 days). Conversely, farmers thought the opposite. These results imply the urgent need to increase smallholder farmers awareness of climate variability and change by providing climate information for better adaptation

Effect of Production Management Skills on the Production Level of ESP Financed Aquaculture Farms in Kisumu West Constituency, Kenya

The Kenyan Economic Stimulus Program was developed with an objective to spur regional development. The program targeted the establishment of 200 fish ponds in the selected constituencies in Kenya. Farmers were trained on production management skills and capacity building by the department of fisheries and other institutions sharing similar objectives. In spite of this intervention, there has been a declining trend in the production of fish in Kisumu West Constituency. This study therefore sought to establish if a significant relationship existed between the decline in the performance of aquaculture farms and acquisition of production management skills. The main objective of the study was to establish the effect of farmer production management skills on production levels of the Economic Stimulus Program financed aquaculture farming projects in Kisumu West Constituency, Kisumu County, Kenya. A total of 389 farmers were interviewed. The population of 417 farmers consisted of farmers with different forms of financing including economic stimulus, personal, and Sacco/group loans. A descriptive survey design was employed to collect both quantitative and qualitative data to achieve the objective of the study. Data was collected using guided interview schedules, key informant interviews, observation, and the use of periodicals, publications, and journals for secondary data. Data was summarised using pivot tables analysed using thematic analysis, percentages, mean, frequency distribution, chi-square and Pearson’s correlation coefficient between the variables. The data was then presented using text, tables and graphs. It was established that capacity building and training on technical and post-harvest management skills was not effectively done by the extension officers at the initiation stage of the projects and subsequently during the project implementation. This led to a decline in the performance of farms and a high dropout rate of farmers. As a result, the objective of ESP as far as commercialisation of aquaculture farms was not achieved. The study recommends the development of aquaculture best production management practice and integrated farmer training program across the Constituency.

Evaluation of Ethiopian Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Genotypes Under Terminal Drought Stress Condition

The aim of this study was to evaluate twenty-five common bean genotypes for terminal drought stress. Simple lattice designs were used with two replications under stress and non-stress growing conditions on the field. The experiment was performed using irrigation water during the dry season (December-March). Up to flowering, the stress plots were irrigated and the non-stress plots were provided with water up to physiological maturity. Under both stress and non-stress conditions, several plant characteristics related to yield were assessed. The generated data in this study was subject to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SAS software version 9.0.0. Data from non-stress (NS) and drought stress (DS) treatments were compared to assess the effect of drought stress or water regime on yield-related traits. In order to perform a combined analysis of variance, the datasets from the two treatments were combined (ANOVA). In this experiment, all the genotypes used showed significant differences in yield and some of the components of yield. For all the characteristics measured, except for flowering days, there were substantial variations between the two water treatments. There was no significant correlation between genotypes and water treatments for almost all the traits tested, with the exception of days to flowering, harvest index and root pulling resistance. Genotypes such as SER 125, MALB-67, MALB-65, MALB-51 and MALB-3 performed better under the two water treatments on the basis of mean productivity (MP) and geometric mean (GM). Understanding the relationships between plant characteristics related to drought stress tolerance and their genetic variability for stress-related grain yield, especially terminal water stress conditions, should prompt common bean breeders to take better measurements of yield and more comprehensive features of drought response.

Serosurveillance for Avian Influenza in Local Chickens in Households and Live Bird Markets in Enugu State, Nigeria

Enugu State, Nigeria has previously reported an outbreak of avian influenza in three local governments namely Igoetiti, Nkanu west and Udi following the resurgence of avian influenza in 2015. Traceback investigation on affected farms showed a direct link of confirmed outbreaks to the presence of apparently healthy asymptomatic local chicken roaming freely as resident local chicken within intensive farms. However, there was a paucity of data to support this hypothesis. Two hundred (200) serum samples were obtained from apparently healthy local chicken at the live bird market (Ibagwa Nkwo Nsukka) and purposively selected households within Enugu state. Serology for Avian influenza-specific antibodies was conducted using the Agar Gel immunodiffusion test. Semi-structured questionnaires were used to access the level of awareness of respondents to avian influenza (AI), management practices that may be associated with suspected cases of avian influenza and accessibility to veterinary care within the study area. The level of awareness for avian influenza was low, 31(48.4%), there was no association between gender, education of respondents and level of awareness about avian influenza within the study area, (P = 0.348, χ² = 1.035; df = 2), (P = 0.329, χ² = 2.225; df = 2). 53(82.8%) of the respondents reported to be aware of the availability of veterinary care; however, 21(39.6%) reported that limited fund was militating factor in accessing the services. Risk factors to avian influenza zoonosis included consumption of dead poultry “Morta,” (22, 34.4%); open disposal of carcasses (23, 35.9%) and mixing of local chickens with known reservoirs of avian influenza where ducks (76, 17.2%) and pigeons (119, 26.9%) were very common. Serological findings showed that all 200 samples (serum) were negative for avian influenza antibodies, premised on this finding, it was concluded that local chickens may not serve as reservoirs of avian influenza in the study area within the time frame.

Identification of Blast Resistant Genotypes among Drought Tolerant Finger Millet in Uganda

Finger millet is an important food security crop among many subsistence farmers living in marginal and especially semi-arid regions of Eastern Africa. However, crop production is affected mainly by terminal drought and blast disease caused by fungus Pyricularia grisea. Both collectively lead to over 90% grain yield loss depending on environmental conditions, cropping systems and varietal differences. Therefore, resistance breakdown remains high owing to variability in the blast pathogen and weather conditions. Stable varieties should possess both blast resistance and drought. In order to initiate breeding for multiple resistance to blast on drought-tolerant background, a study was conducted to identify variability for blast resistance from adapted germplasm as an initial step in developing a breeding strategy for incorporating resistance. Thirty genotypes from drought-prone agro-ecologies and including mini core germplasm from NARO-NaSARRI national Finger Millet improvement programme were assessed. They were screened using a local virulent pathogen isolate (NGR1) from Ngora, representing Teso major farming system and is a hot spot for the blast. The screening was under controlled conditions from in Makerere University Agricultural Research Institute (MUARIK) in 2012b. The results showed significance (p<0.01) for Area Under Disease Progressive Curve (AUDPC). Subsequently, the study identified IE927, Seremi1, Seremi3, Sec220 and Kabale as highly resistant to foliar blast infection comparable to Gulu-E a standard broad-spectrum resistant check and they could be used to improve finger millet for blast resistance. Meanwhile DR33, IE9 and IE2576 as most susceptible compared to non-race -specific susceptible check E11 from Uganda.

Agrowastes Potentials in Releasing Soil form of Nitrogen

A laboratory incubation study to determine the decomposition rate of Sunflower (SF), Gliricidia sepium (GL), Kola Pod Husk (KPH), and Cocoa Pod Husk (CPH) on soil forms of nitrogen was carried out at the Department of Agricultural Science, Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo South-Western Nigeria. The soil sample was collected from the farmers’ field in Ondo. The soil was air-dried and sieved through a 2mm diameter laboratory sieve. 200g of the soil samples were weighed into cups and 1g of each CPH, SF, GL and KPH was added. The treatments were replicated five times to give 45 cups of soil samples and arranged on a Completely Randomised Design. The cups were covered with absorbents. The treatments were analysed 30, 60 and 90 days to determine total N, NO3-N and NH4-N using destructive analytical method. Compared with control, all the treatments significantly increased total N and NO3-N while SF and GL significantly increased (p <0.05) NH4-N at 30 days of incubation. All the treatments significantly increased (p <0.05) total N, NH4-N and NO3-N at 60 and 90 days. Cocoa Pod Husk had the highest increase in total N while KPH recorded the highest NH4-N and NO3-N. Cocoa Pod Husk (CPH), KPH, GL and SF could be used to increase soil forms of N for optimum crop production in Ondo, South-Western Nigeria.

Retrospective Study of the Burden of Avian influenza in Kano State, Nigeria: A secondary Data Analysis 2015-2017

Over 1.2 million poultry birds were infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) (H5N1) in Nigeria between 2006 and 2008. A resurgence of HPAI in 2014 in Kano and its spread to other states plagued the poultry subsector with job losses, increased poultry mortality and a drastic fall in revenues. We carried out this study to determine the pattern, trend and burden of HPAI in poultry birds between 2015 and 2017 in Kano State Nigeria. We obtained Avian Influenza (AI) surveillance data for 2015-2017 from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Abuja. Variables analyzed were the number of poultry chicken affected, mortality in infected poultry, the number of poultry depopulated by local government areas (LGAs), and trends of avian influenza within the study area. In the years under review, over 3.7 million poultry chickens were affected across 26 states in Nigeria. Kano State accounted for 30% of the total mortality in Nigeria. In 2015, 648,686 poultry chickens were exposed to HPAI, H5N1 across 21 LGAs in Kano, 34,504 (5.3%) died, 561,126 (94.7%) was depopulated. In 2016, 382,963 poultry birds were exposed, 9,737 (2.5%) died and 375,026 (94.7%) poultry was depopulated. In 2017, targeted surveillance conducted on a pool of ducks at Sabon Gari market in Kano led to the isolation of HPAI. H5H8. The decline in the incidence of AI cases from week 17-31 of 2015 and week 13-33 of 2017 was in tandem with supplies of AI control kits and equipment to Kano State. These measures should be complemented with the training of poultry stakeholders on biosecurity measures on the farm with a view of preventing a future outbreak of avian influenza. These findings have been communicated to the Chief veterinary officer of Nigeria for consideration.

Efficacy of Guava (Psidium guajava) Mulch Allelopathy in Controlling Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) Weeds

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of the most important vegetable crop whose production involves the use of synthetic herbicides with detrimental impact on biodiversity. Allelopathy effectively controls horticultural crop weeds. Different plant parts (flowers, leaves, stems, bark, roots) have allelopathic activity that varies over a growing season when used as mulch. Mulching is a horticultural technique that protects the roots of plants from heat and cold by use of mulch to cover the soil surface around plants. Tomato production in Kakamega County is below 2% and weeds are ranked high among the yield reducing factors. This study assessed the allelopathic effect of guava leaves mulch type (18.0 cm thick) as a management tool for weed control in tomato crops and no mulch as control treatment with three most popular determinate tomato varieties. The mulch treatments were arranged as factorial in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) to minimize non–experimental bias. Tomato variety sub-treatments were replicated three times in the experimental plots at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (00171N, 340451E). The field project was conducted during the short rains and long rains season of 2016-2017. Data obtained was subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SAS software, version 9.3 at p<0.05 confidence level. Least Significance Difference (LSD) was used to separate the means. Weed density incidence was significantly highest in control plots up to 100% and lowest in mulched plots (13.41%). Allelopathic control of weeds sustains global food and nutrition security for future generations.