The experiment was conducted to observe the inhibitory effects of the leaf extract derived from neem (Azadiracta indica) on germination and growth behavior of some cowpea varieties (receptor). Experiments were set on sterilized petridishes with a photoperiod of 24 hours at room temperature of 27-30 o C. The effects of the different concentrations of aqueous extracts were compared with distilled water (control). The aqueous extracts of leaf caused significant inhibitory effects on germination, root and shoot elongation and development of lateral roots of treated plants. Bioassays indicated that the inhibitory effect was proportional to the concentrations of the extract, as concentration increased the extent of inhibition also increased. The study also revealed that inhibitory effect was much pronounced in root and lateral root development rather than germination and shoot growth.
Field experiment was conducted in 2014 rainy season at the Agricultural Research Station Farm, Minjibir (12 0 11ˈN and 8 0 25ˈE), and Bayero University, Kano (11 0 58ˈN and 8 0 25ˈE), Teaching and Research Farm. This work was aimed at studying the nature and magnitude of the associations of some growth characters and grain yield in Soybean, a basis of selection for further improvement. Treatments consisted of two levels of rhizobium inoculation, three (0, 10, and 20 kgN/ha) levels of nitrogen and three (0, 30, and 60 kg P 2 O 5 ha-1) levels of phosphorus. These were laid out in split-split plot design with three replications. Results of the study showed that number of branches was positively (p< 0.01) correlated to grain yield. The path analysis also revealed that number of branches has the greatest direct effect on the grain yield. The greatest combined contributions of growth characters to grain yield were recorded from number of leaves and number of branches. Based on these findings, attention can be given towards improvement of number of branches per plant and number of leaves as criteria for selection of Soybean for increased grain yield.
This study assessed the activities of GIZ (German International Corporation) intervention technology on shea nut processors in Niger State, Nigeria. A two-stage sampling technique was adopted for the study. The first stage involved a purposive selection of 15 Local Government Areas of GIZ’s intervention. The second stage involved a proportionate random selection of 297 beneficiaries constituting 10% processors in the GIZ profile list. Also, in the same LGAs, snow-balling technique was used to randomly select 297 Shea nut processors that were GIZ non-beneficiaries, thereby making a total sample size of 594. Data were collected through interview schedule and were analysed using percentages and mean and multiple regression analysis. The study revealed that majority (75.1 %) of the respondents had non-formal education, 76.6 % were between 41-60 years with mean age of 48.1 years. All the respondents (100.0 %) were female and married with average of experience of 15.5 years. The most severe constraints were; inadequate funding (=1.875), poor market channels (=1.737) and inadequate extension contact (=1.542), and there was positive relationship between some selected socio-economic characteristics and the level of adoption of GIZ’s technologies (F=23.59, p <0.001). The results from this study showed that the processors were constrained by inadequate fund, poor market channels and inadequate extension services because the gap from the existing one is lower before the intervention of GIZ Shea nut technology due to high quality of production of premium shea butter produced by the beneficiaries which attracted income. The continuity of the GIZ’s intervention with effective extension services and provision of credit facilities to ameliorate the problem of inadequate fund is highly recommended.
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