Background There is paucity of information on antibiotics utilization amongst farmers, factors associated with administration of antibiotics and farmers' knowledge of the effects of antibiotics on the soil ecosystem in Ghana. Methods A cross sectional quantitative survey across three coastal regions of Ghana was undertaken amongst poultry and livestock farmers. Six hundred respondents were selected from five districts each across the three regions. Pretested and structured questionnaire were used to collect data through face to face interview. Data were summarized using descriptive statistics and regression analysis. Factors associated with antibiotic administration were determined using binary multiple logistic regression at p � 0.05. Results Out of the 600 farmers, 95% administered antibiotics and 84% bought antibiotics over-thecounter without prescription. Approximately 9% of antibiotic administration was carried out by veterinary officers, and the remaining, 91% based on farmer's experience. Approximately 93% had access to antibiotics without any difficulty. Withdrawal period was always observed by only 16% of farmers. Majority (74%) of farmers never had education on antibiotics and none of the farmers screened manure for the antibiotic residuals. Years of farming, income status, level of education of farmers, type of animal kept, access to extension services, registration with farmers' association, employing veterinary services, location of farm, system of production, education on antibiotics and access to antibiotics positively and significantly predicted the administration of antibiotics by farmers. Majority of farmers had inadequate knowledge of the effects of antibiotics on soil ecosystem with mean score ranging between 2.87±0.60 and 2.98 ± 0.7 on a scale of 5.0.

The effect of biochar alone or co-applied with triple superphosphate on rhizosphere soil characteristics, nodule formation, phytoconstituents and antioxidant property of cowpea ( Vigna uguiculata ) is yet to be adequately examined in sub Saharan Africa. A field experiment was conducted where cowpea ( Vigna unguiculata ) was grown in a tropical sandy loam soil amended with biochar at 1.5 t ha −1 and 2.5 t ha −1 solely or together with inorganic phosphate fertilizer (Triple superphosphate), applied at a rate of 60 kg P ha −1 . At 50% flowering, changes in selected rhizosphere soil properties (pH, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, soil organic carbon, cation exchange capacity), nodule count, phytochemicals (phenols, flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins, saponins) and antioxidant property of cowpea roots and leaves were determined by standard laboratory procedures. Differences between means of the measured parameters were established using ANOVA, and relationships among the parameters were explored using Pearson correlation (p < 0.05). Addition of biochar solely or in combination with TSP significantly (p < 0.05) increased soil pH, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, soil organic carbon, cation exchange capacity and root nodule count. Flavonoids, phenols, alkaloids, saponin, tannin contents and antioxidant activity in the roots and leaves were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the amended soils compared with the unamended soil. Similarly, soil flavonoids, phenols, alkaloids and antioxidant activity were significantly higher in amended soils compared with control. Significant, positive inter and intra correlation with varying strength was found between soil properties, nodule number and phytoconstituents. This is an indication that biochar can be co-applied with triple superphosphate to sustain soil fertility, improve nodulation and enhance concentrations of phytoconstituents in soil, cowpea roots and leaves.

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The study was carried out to assess genetic diversity among forty-one sorghum accessions obtained from Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), Nyankpala, Northern Region of Ghana and the germplasm collection of Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Cape Coast. Genetic diversity and relationship among the forty-one accessions were evaluated using 22 microsatellite primers. The 22 markers generated 92 alleles, with a mean of 4.2, indicating an average range of diversity. The average polymorphic information content (PIC) was 0.44, indicating that the microsatellites were informative. The cluster analysis grouped the 41 cultivars into seven distinct clusters. The most genetically distinct genotypes were Edipipii, Jibare and Belkozia, which did not cluster with any other line. The similarity between the sorghum accessions ranged from 77 to 100%. Observed heterozygosity ranged from 0 to 0.17 with an average of 0.03 per locus. Results of this study indicated that the landraces were related, and were probably exchanged between farmers in the collection regions, with some duplication found in the material, indicating that there must have been a common source of material somewhere in the history of the breeding programmes. Nonetheless, the Edipipii, Jibare and Belkozia could be exploited in breeding programmes to transfer desirable traits into elite Ghanaian sorghum cultivars.

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Soil contamination through oil spillage accumulates in the soil and affect plant growth. The study was conducted to examine the effect of spilled engine oil on soil nutrients and germination of seed in the in the Central region of Ghana. Ten samples were collected randomly from selected mechanic and fitting sites in the Elmina municipality. A randomized complete block design using three test crops was used to evaluate soil quality indicators such as N, P, K and soil pH on the polluted soil using standard methods. Maize recorded 3.67, 18.5 and 3.7% germination in contaminated soils from Aponkyedasoro, Nippon and Afitafum, respectively. Cowpea and sorghum recorded no germination in these soils. The three crops showed higher germination rates in the control soils, with the highest being recorded in sorghum (72.2%), followed by cowpea (70.4%) with the least being recorded in maize (66.6%). The results showed that nitrogen (N) level in the experimental soil was very low (0.065-0.075%) as compared to the control (0.115%) in this study. However, polluted soil from Aponkyedasoro, Afitafum and Nippon recorded a higher level of phosphorus (60.84-31.58 µg/g) and potassium (0.52-0.58 µg/g) than control (P=20.97 µg/g; K=0.43 µg/g) despite having a low germination rate. Copper, zinc, sodium and iron concentration were higher in the engine oil-polluted soil. The study revealed that the concentration of heavy metals and spilled engine oil in the soil has a higher effect on plant development; hence, public awareness should be created of its detrimental effect on the ecosystem.

This paper presents a study on the comparisons of the HC and CO emission levels on exhaust gases that expels through an existing home used (imported) car converter, a refurbished catalytic converter with a new honeycomb. The performance of a home used catalytic converter, refurb damaged catalytic converters by replacing the worn-out catalyst elements with imported ceramic honeycomb catalysts and compare the performance of the used catalytic converter to that of refurbished and two other locally developed converter of a Kia Sportage LX exhaust system were studied. The experimental results indicated that the refurbished catalytic converter with welded test and ecoliquid wash, produced lower emission than the home used, locally developed converter 1 (Suame Magazine) and locally developed converter 2 (Abossey Okai). For the locally made ones, the welded part of the case was not uniform therefore creating space for the exhaust gas to escape without proper filtration. The result also indicated that HC emission of 60.0 𝑝𝑝𝑚 was recorded for the refurbished converter at an initial speed of 10.0 km/hr which is relatively lower than the HC emission recorded for the home used (65.8 ppm) catalytic converter. In addition, the refurbished type achieves a significant 𝐻𝐶 emission reduction of 5.8 𝑝𝑝𝑚 when compared with the other types. The CO emission, the refurbished type had a reduction of 0.01% 𝑉𝑜𝑙 when compare with the homeused converter at varying speeds. Furthermore, the maximum test speed of 60 km/hr both the home-used and refurbished converters recorded the highest amount of 𝐻𝐶 (70.9 ppm, 63 ppm) and 𝐶𝑂 (2.52 % Vol, 2.42 %Vol) from the engine exhaust respectively. The refurbished converter yielded about 3.41% reduction in HC emission and 7.92 % CO emission which is better as compared to the Locally Developed converter 1 (Magazine). Again, the refurbished converter attained 4.39% reduction in HC emission when compared to the Locally Developed converter 2 (Abossey Okai) at idling speed.