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Aims: To evaluate the efficacy and economic benefits of selected pre-emergence herbicides for weed control in cowpea. Study Design: Randomized complete block design with four replications was used. Place and Duration of Study: Research and Teaching Farm of Ambrose Alli University in Ekpoma (Lat. 6 º 45'N, Long. 6 º 8'E), in a forest-savanna transition zone of Nigeria, between August and December 2005 and August and December 2006. Methodology: Five weed control treatments evaluated against unweeded control were; Codal gold(R) (250g prometryne + 162.5 g metolachlor per litre) at a rate of 1.65 kg a.i ha -1 , Galex (R) (Metolachlor 250g + metobromuron 250g per litre) at the rate of 3.0 kg a.1.ha -1 ; Pendilin (R) (Pendimethalin 500g per litre) at a rate of 2.0 kg a.i ha -1 , one hoe -weeding at 3 weeks after planting (WAP) and two hoe weeding at 3 and 7 WAP. Results: Herbicides treatments and hoe weeded twice gave an acceptable (≥70%) weed control in both years. Cowpea yield was best under Codal gold at 1.65 kg a.i ha -1 (with an average yield of ≥ 1600kg ha -1 ) while the unweeded control had the poorest yield (between 800 and 900 kg ha -1 ) in both years. The highest profit was obtained under Codal gold at 1.65 kg a.i ha -1 and the lowest in plot hoe weeded twice. The highest cost benefit ratio

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Lack of suitable variety as well as appropriate growth medium constitutes major problems to flower production. It is against this backdrop that a pot experiment was carried out in the Department of Crop and Soil Science Demonstration Plot, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria between April and May, 2013 to determine the growth responses of two varieties of Heliconia flowers to selected growth media. The experiment comprised of two Heliconia varieties (Jade and Golden Torch) and six (6) growth media namely, topsoil (control), river sand, coconut husk, topsoil + river sand (), topsoil + coconut husk () and river sand + coconut husk (). The experiment was in a 2×6 factorial arrangement fitted into a completely randomized design replicated thrice. Results showed that topsoil + coconut husk () performed best at 4WAP by producing the highest stem height (8.7 cm), stem girth (2.9 cm) number of leaves (3.3), leaf area (41.5 cm 2 ) and longest root length (14.5) and more roots number (4.1) and this was followed by river sandcoconut husk (11) while the sole river sand gave the lowest vegetative traits. There was no significant difference on the vegetative parameters of the two varieties of Heliconia flowers and also on interaction. According to this experiment, topsoil + coconut husk () growth media is the better one for the growth of these Heliconia two varieties of flowers in the area of study. However, it needs more study on soil to recommend for farmers and the continual use of top soil as a candidate growth medium need to be discouraged because it is non-renewable hence, in the absence of top soil, river sand in combination with coconut husk () could serve as next available alternative.

Tolerance of egusi-melon [Citrillus colocynthis (L.) schrad] and susceptibility of weeds to Primextra doses 10747Journal of Applied Biosciences 110: 10747-10760 ISSN 1997-5902 Tolerance of egusi-melon [Citrillus colocynthis (L.) schrad] and susceptibility of weeds to Primextra doses , applied as pre-emergence were compared with a untreated control (no primextra).The 8 treatments were fitted into a Randomized Complete Block Design, replicated three times. Melon was planted 3 seeds per hole at a spacing of 1m ×0.5m (20,000plants/ha). Result from this study showed that both melon and weeds were susceptible to all Primextra rates but melon tolerated low doses of Primextra in the range of 0.25 -0.75 kg ai//ha than higher rates. Weeds were more susceptible to higher Primextra rates between 1.0 and 1.98 g ai/ha. Susceptibility of weeds to Primextra rates of 0.25 -0.75 kg ai /ha and 1.0 -1.98 kg ai/ha accounted for about 76.2 % and 74 % weed control efficiency respectively. Results also showed that melon tolerated Primextra doses of 0.25 to 0.75 kg ai /ha and thus reached a mean ground cover of ≥ 40 % to ≥ 80 % when compared to the untreated plot. Melon fruit yield from the Primextra treated plots had about 23.5% (1659 Kg/ha) yield advantage over the untreated control plot (1269kg/ha). Mean fruit yield with the herbicide rates were as follows: 1959.5 kg/ha (0.25-0.75 kg ai/ha); 1430 kg/ha (1.0 -1.98 kg ai/ha) and 974.5kg/ha (1.50 -1.98 kg ai/ha). Susceptibility of weeds to Primextra increased as application dose increased. The implication of this result is that melon may find a tolerable dose of Primextra-Gold for integration in maize-melon cropping systems. Conclusion and application of results: Farmers can intercrop either simultaneously egusi-melon with maize or relay egusi-melon into maize and use primextra for pre-emergence weed control, at a dose not greater than 0.25-0.75 kg ai/ha for good yield and acceptable weed control. This can be applied in maize-melon cropping systems with melon either simultaneously or in relayed intercropping to reduce the effect manual weeding on melon especially during flowering and fruiting.