Background: Studies have shown that a good number of students admitted into Agricultural Science Education program in Nigerian universities exhibit irrational career interest which affects their perceptions, feelings, and academic behaviors. This study, therefore, explored the effect of rational emotive career education on irrational career beliefs among students enrolled in agricultural education program in federal universities in Enugu state. Three null hypotheses guided the study. Method: Of the population (N = 79 students) targeted for the study and who underwent a screening exercise, 61 students were recruited as participants/sample size for the study. Sequence allocation software was used to assign 31 students into experimental groups and 30 into waitlisted control group. Participants in the intervention group received a rational emotive career education program that lasted for 12 sessions while those in waitlisted group did not receive the intervention. The participants in both groups were assessed at three points (Time 1, Time 2, and Time 3) using rational and irrational belief scale. A repeated measure (ANOVA) and partial eta square statistical tools were used to analyze the data collected. Result: This study result showed that rational emotive career education significantly reduced irrational career beliefs among students enrolled in Agricultural Science Education program exposed to intervention group compared to those in waitlisted control group. It also showed that there was time × group interaction for irrational career beliefs. The follow-up assessment indicated that the efficacy of rational emotive career education was sustained overtime. Conclusion: This study concluded that rational emotive career education is beneficial in reducing irrational career beliefs of university students enrolled in Agricultural Science Education program. Recommendations were also made in line with the results.

Occupational Stress and Burnout has become a serious challenge to Lecturers in recent time due to increased job and family role conflicts and student's population explosion resulting in more workload on the side of the lecturers. This study aimed to investigate occupational stress and burnout prevalence among agricultural education lecturers in Nigerian universities. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey research design and was conducted in Nigerian universities. A self- structured questionnaire was used as an instrument for data collection. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data collected. The results indicated the presence of occupational burnout in the studied sample. The study, therefore, recommended further investigations on the appropriate preventive measures and equally supports some research findings on the importance of developing interventions or therapies to reduce existing problems.

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The objective of the study was to determine the effect of climate-smart integrated fertilizer management on proximate qualities and lycopene contents of three watermelon (Citrullus lanatus)varieties grown in sandy loam soil. The experiment was conducted at the experimental farm of the Department of Agricultural Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka between the months of Augustto October 2017cropping season. The experiment was laid out in a split-plot design, with three replications, three main plots (Citrullus lanatus varieties (Sugar baby, Koalack and Charleston grey))and six sub-plots (fertilization treatments). Climate-smart integrated fertilizer considered was combination of Goat manure (GM) and Nitrogen Phosphorus PotassiumNPK15: 15: 15 fertilizer which is regarded as most nutrient-rich fertilizer with climate change mitigation and adaptation potential. The study found that the pH of the watermelon varieties were statistically similar and that Charleston grey treated with 50 kg ha-1NPK + 15 t ha-1GM had the highest interactive effect on pH value which was statistically similar with 100 kg ha-1NPK + 10 t ha-1GM treatment. It was discovered that Koalack variety had the highest moisture contents when treated with 100 kg ha-1NPK + 10 t ha-1GM, crude protein content when treated with 150 kg ha-1NPK + 5 t ha-1GM, crude fibre content when treated with 20 t ha-1GM, ether extract and total soluble solid contents when treated with 50 kg ha-1NPK + 15 t ha-1GM. For the lycopene content, it was found that Sugar baby variety had the highest mean value (0.61g/100g) when compared with Charleston grey and Koalack varieties. Sugar baby variety treated with 20t/ha-1GM had highest (0.89g/100g) interactive effect when compared with other varieties and fertilizer treatments. In conclusion, the proximate qualities and lycopene contents of the three varieties increased with the increase in the amount of GM contents of the fertilizer combinations in sandy loam soil. Climate-smart integrated fertilizer improves the proximate qualities of Koalack variety and the lycopene contents of Sugar baby variety more than in other varieties grown in the same sandy loam soil. Therefore, climate-smart integrated fertilizer is recommended for the production of the identified Citrullus lanatus varieties as a nutrition sensitive production strategy in sandy loam soils by farmers in study area.

This study determined the effects of dietary intake of Moringa Oleifera (M. oleifera) leaf meal on growth performance of pullets. Two hundred and forty Isa Brown day-old chicks were randomly allotted to 4 different treatment groups and each treatment had 3 replicates of 20 chicks each. At 4th week of age, birds in group 1 (T1)were fed with 16% crude protein (CP) grower diet (control feed; 0.0% M. oleifera) whereas birds in groups 2 (T2), 3 (T3) and 4 (T4) received the control feed supplemented with 2.5%; 5.0% and 7.5% M. oleifera leaf meal, respectively. Results indicate that although intake of M. oleifera leaf meal did not affect final body weight and weight gain of the pullets (P greater than 0.05), feed intake of the pullets declined significantly (P less than 0.05) as the amount of dietary M.oleifera intake was increased from 2.5% to 7.5%. Feed conversion ratio of T4 group was better (P less than 0.05) than those of control birds.

Cashew apple juice is a good source of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. Cashew apples are being wasted due to lack of processing and are not much cherished because of its astringency. Some of the available clarifying agents are costly and are mainly imported. The study was, therefore, aimed at finding out the effect of M. oleifera seed powder on the clarity and phytochemical and nutritional contents of cashew apple juice. The study adopted an experimental design where 5 g, 10 g, 15 g, and 20 g of M. oleifera seed powder were used to clarify 250 cm3 of cashew apple juice. The setups were filtered using a filter paper after standing for an hour to get the clarified juice. The clarity of each filtrate was determined using an atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS). Similarly, the tannin, lignin, pectin, protein, starch, calcium, zinc, copper, magnesium, and vitamin C were determined following the procedure of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC). Results showed that cashew apple juice clarified with 10 g/250 cm3 gave the best clarity. The colloidal particle contents of cashew apple juice were significantly reduced by the use of M. oleifera seed powder. It was equally found out that the clarified cashew apple juice contained an appreciable amount of nutrients. The flavour, colour, and general acceptability of the clarified cashew apple juice were very much liked by the panellist while the aroma was moderately liked. The study recommended that M. oleifera seed powder should be used for clarifying cashew apple juice and be included at the rate of 10 g/250 cm3.

Home background and locality are two significant factors that affect the academic performance of students in agriculture. The home determines the comfort of the students for academic activities while locality provides a conducive environment for students to study. The study was aimed at determining the impact of home background and locality on the secondary school students’ academic performance in agriculture. Survey research design was adopted. The study population was 14,750 where 1,616 respondents were selected. The sample size was made up of 624 teachers of agriculture and 992 students of agriculture from 291 secondary schools in the 17 local government areas of Enugu state, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Data collected were subjected to mean and t-test statistic to answer research questions and test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Results show that there was the statistically significant difference in the impact of home background on the students’ academic performance in agriculture. It provides the parents with insights on the needs to make the homes conducive for learning and provide the necessary environment that would promote their children’s academic performance in agriculture.

Moringa oleifera leaves richly contain numerous nutrients that can be used to induce performance in animals and when supplemented in layer feeds can improve the feed intake, body weight, egg qualities and mineral content of the eggs. The study was aimed to determine the performance of layers, egg quality and mineral profile of the eggs produced by inclusion of varying percentages of M. oleifera leaf powder in the feed of layers. Two hundred and forty Isa-brown layer birds were offered 0%, 2.5%, 5.0% and 7.5% M. oleifera leaf powder supplemented feeds respectively, using a completely randomized design. The mineral analysis was done following the procedure of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Data collected were analysed using analysis of variance at 0.05 level of significance. The results indicated that the body weight, feed intake, FCR, egg weight, egg length and shell thickness were significantly higher in layers fed M. oleifera leaf powder. However, the laying percentage was significantly higher in the control. The phosphorous, sodium, zinc, manganese, iron, copper, selenium and chromium contents of the eggs increased as the percentage of moringa inclusion increased. The eggs produced by layers fed with 5% M. oleifera leaf powder had significantly highest contents of magnesium, potassium and calcium, but decreased with further supplementation of moringa. The findings indicated that the supplementation of M. oleifera leaf powder at various levels improves the mineral contents of eggs but this is significantly achieved at a higher inclusion rate.