Maize (Zea mays)is always preferred to other crops, and it is fast becoming an industrial crop in Sub-Saharan African countries. Nigeria has been divided into low, medium, medium to high and high maize production potential groups. Traditionally, maize was mostly grown in forest ecology in Nigeria but large scale production has moved to the savanna zone, especially the Northern Guinea savanna, where yield potential is much higher. Maize yields in Nigeria is still very low due to biotic, abiotic agronomic factors like soil infertility, pests and diseases, drought, unavailability of improved germplasms, weeds, unremunerative prices, uncertain access to markets etc. Maize pests and diseases in Nigeria include downey mildew, rust, leaf blight, stalk and ear rots, leaf spots and maize streak virus, Striga attack, stem borers, termites, storage insects, beetle etc. Collaborative research efforts in Nigeria led to development of agronomic package for maize production for different farming systems. There are different readilyavailable ethnic maize dishes in Nigeria and due to lower cost and high starch contents, maize is commonly used as roughage feed for livestock, and also included in poultry feeds. Importance of maize as an easily harvested crop food with potential to mitigate food insecurity and alleviate poverty cannot be over-emphasized in the developing world.

Inventory of prey taxa consumed by the Grey Wagtail during an annual cycle and their seasonal distributions in the region of the Babors Mountains. Fo% = Occurrence frequency, Fc% = centesimal frequencies, A = aquatic prey, T = terrestrial prey, und. = undetermined Spring Summer Autumn Winter Global diet Prey taxa Life habitat of prey taxa

Low soil nitrogen limits maize (Zea mays L.) production in the West and Central African subregion. Levels of residual genetic variability were determined in two low‐N populations using selfed progeny evaluations, and results obtained indicate large genotypic and phenotypic variances for grain yield under both low‐ and high‐N environments for effective selection, while heritability estimates were generally low. Ear aspect and stay green were the most important traits contributing to grain yield for both populations. Selection reduced days to flowering, ASI and ear aspect, but increased plant height and yield. Yield gains of more than 25% occurred for the two populations under both low and high N with the most significant change of 42% occurring in one population under high N.

Low soil nitrogen (N) and sub-optimal N fertilizer applications result in poor grain yield (GY) in maize. Genotypes with improved N-use efficiency (NUE) are particularly beneficial to low-input agriculture. Information on the relative importance of the main components of NUE will facilitate genetic improvement of tropical maize for NUE. This study evaluated genetic variation for NUE among tropical maize hybrids selected for contrasting responses to N. The hybrids were grown in replicated trials from 2006 to 2008 where plots received either no (0 kg N/ha), low (30 kg N/ha), or high (90 kg N/ha) levels of supplemental N. The results documented significant genetic variation for GY and measured NUE component traits among the hybrids, as well as significant interactions between hybrid and N level for all traits except nitrogen harvest index. Under low N, NUE, NUPE, and NUTE increased by 61%, 21%, and 42%, respectively. Grain yield was significantly and positively correlated with NUE, NUPE, and NUTE at both low N and high N. Both NUPE and NUTE were significantly and positively correlated to NUE. Five hybrids (4001/4008,

Maximizing seed longevity is important for genebanks to efficiently manage their accessions, reducing the frequency of costly regeneration cycles and the loss of genetic integrity. Research on rice seeds has shown that subsequent longevity in air-dry storage can be improved by drying seeds, which are metabolically active at harvest (moisture contents above a critical value close to 16.5%), for an initial period at a higher temperature (40°C–60°C) than that currently recommended by the current genebank standards (5°C–20°C). The aim of this study was to test whether similar benefits could be achieved in two legume species—cowpea and soya bean—by drying freshly harvested seeds, from two separate harvests, at 40°C and 35% relative humidity, for up to 8 days before equilibrium drying in a drying room (17°C and 15% relative humidity). Improvements in longevity were observed in three of the four accessions of soya bean, with the greatest improvement generally occurring after the maximum duration (8 days) at the higher temperature. However, of the five accessions of cowpea, only seeds of TVu-9698 and TVu-13209 from the first harvest, and of TVu-13193 from the second harvest, showed an improvement in longevity compared with drying following the standard protocol. A negative effect of high-temperature drying was also observed in one accession of cowpea, TVu-11980, but only in seeds harvested later in the season, 13 weeks after planting. This research not only provides evidence of the potential benefits of drying orthodox seeds at an alternative, higher, temperature instead of at the conventional lower temperature, before long-term storage, but also raises awareness of how genebanks can improve the management of their accessions.