Tanzanian forests are excessively threatened by increased charcoal production fuelled by increased demand crucially in Dar es Salaam city which consumes nearly 70% of all the charcoal produced in the country. Through use of ecological modeling software STELLA® the environmental burden of charcoal production and use in Tanzania has been established. The study has revealed that the country losses 150,433 ha of forest per year. Due to increase in population by year 2030 almost 2.8 million ha of forests will have been lost. This is equivalent to 8.5% of the total forest cover the country had in 2009. The environmental burden includes air pollution characterized by a total emission of 49, 1.0, and 9.0, 12 million tonnes of CO<sub>2</sub>, SO<sub>2</sub>, NO<sub>x</sub>, and CH<sub>4</sub>, respectively by 2030. Other adverse impacts include loss of forest cover which ultimately causes degradation of soil quality by increased soil erosion, degradation of water sources and disruption of rainfall pattern including inducing draught. Taking into account that the agriculture in Tanzania is primarily rain fed, this has an adverse impact in agricultural production. In the current exploitation of this important natural resource, its sustainability is severely challenged and the whole concept of the forest being renewable is put into question. From these findings, it is recommended that concrete and deliberate efforts be made to reduce and eventually prohibit the use of charcoal in cities and towns
Investigation of microorganisms naturally acclimatized to Agave hybrid H 11648 (sisal bole rot) was conducted, with the aim of isolating and characterizing Aspergillus niger strains for industrial use. Microorganism were identified morphologically and then confirmation made by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results showed the existence of four major groups, listed in order of abundances as follows; Aspergilli (36.0±0.8) %, Penicillin (28.0±0.1) %, Yeast (15.0±1.6) %and Fusarium (10.0±0.12) %. The main groups of Aspergilli strains were A. nidulans, A. tamari and A. niger in ratios (3:2:2), respectively. Several endo-spore forming non-enteric gram (-) rods and coccid bacteria identified by API20 NE identification systemincluded,Brevundimonas diminuta sp, Shewanella putrefaciens sp, Brevundimonas vesicularis sp and Pasteurella sp. Results showed that sisal bole rot stems hosts a high bio-diversity of microorganism species other than A. niger. Exploitation of the individual strains is recommended. This could eventually produce strains forprecursors of industrially and therapeutically metabolites.
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