Preliminary study on micro area based spatial distribution of Monilinia fructigena in an organic apple orchard

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Folk Literature: An Indispensable Tool in Child Language Acquisition and Development

Researches carried out by various language development experts indicate that babies babble a lot at 3 to 6 months due to biological readiness, and not due to reinforcement. At about 10 to 13 months, they are able to utter their first words. These are followed by two word utterances at 18 to 24 months and by this time, they are aware of the importance of expressing certain concepts and the role of language in communicating with others. These developments can be achieved because these children have been immersed in a network of social interactions among members of the society. This supports the fact that society is an indispensable element in child language development. But language is not learned in a social vacuum. As verbal language is the most pronounced aspect of representation language, children acquire it through modeling and imitation of adult who expand and recast children utterances to improve their linguistic ability. It is on this premise that this paper sees folk literature as an indispensable tool in the language acquisition skill of the children in the pre-primary and primary education sector. This paper adopts the interactionist theory of language acquisition which posits that language learning results from the interaction of the learners innate ability and their language environment, especially the feedback they receive from adult fluent speakers to monitor and improve their output. The result of the findings show that through the use of some instructional devices such as songs, riddles, anecdotes and the like, especially in the mother tongue of the child at the early stage, children’s phonological, syntactical and semantic outputs are greatly improved. The study, therefore, recommends among other things that the use of folk literature as an institutional device taught in the mother tongue of the learner, should be include in the educational curriculum at the early stages of child language acquisition to enable the child acquire the full potentials of language acquisition.

Developing the mental and worldview of the Igbo child through Igbo epic poetry

The study focuses on these and aimed at unraveling how the mental and worldview of the Igbo child can be developed via epic poetry. The study is a documentary research and uses the descriptive approach in the analysis of data collected from Eke Une an Igbo epic poem. The findings of the study indicate that Igbo epic poems Eke Une is capable of developing the mental and worldview of the Igbo child as it is capable of inculcating the belief in the supernatural being, making him be on the know of the Igbo man’s quest to achieve greatness despite the risk involved, communalism among the Igbo nation and more importantly the belief by the Igbo people that lust usually go with negative consequences. The study concludes that Igbo epic poems which are some of the Igbo rich oral heritage are essential in children’s overall development. Keywords: Mental development, Worldview, Epic poem, Communalism, Igb

Evaluation of the anti-diabetic effect of the methanol leaf extract and fractions of Dennettia tripetala G. Bak (Annonaceae) in alloxan- induced diabetic mice

This study evaluated the anti-diabetic properties of the methanol extract and fractions of Dennettia tripetala leaves in alloxan diabetic rats. The crude  methanol extract (ME), n-hexane  (NF), ethyl acetate  (EAF), butanol  (BF) and water  (WF) fractions,  were tested for anti-diabetic activity in  alloxan-induced diabetic mice. The extracts and its fractions were screened for phytochemical constituents. Glibenclamide was used as the standard anti-diabetic treatment   Fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels were determined using a glucometer.  Lipid profile parameters were also assessed.  Histopathological examination of the pancreas was performed. The presence of glycosides, saponins, reducing sugars, fats and oil, alkaloids, carbohydrates, flavonoids, proteins and tannins were detected in ME, and the fractions. Treatment of the rats with the extract and its fractions reduced FBG levels significantly (p < 0.05) within 10 hours of acute treatment and 14 days short term treatment.  The highest reduction was by the crude extract,( ME 500 mg/kg) with percentage reduction of 62.89 %. The study revealed  significant (p < 0.05) reductions in serum triglyceride, serum cholesterol and LDL levels  by the extracts and its fractions  while a significant (p <  0.05) increase  in HDL levels was evident .  The effect of the extract and fractions on body weight indicated a moderate weight gain. Treatment with high dose of the extract and fractions (500 mg/kg) resulted in marked rejuvenation of the pancreatic β cells. The results of this study suggest that the leaves of Dennetia tripetala are endowed with potent anti-diabetic and antilipidemic properties.   Keywords: Dennetia tripetala, Antidiabetic, Alloxan, Lipid profile, Histopathplogy

Farm-scale evaluation of two widely used sanitation practices for reducing primary inoculums of apple scab in organic apple production

Effects of two widely used sanitation practices were evaluated at farm-scale level on leaf degradation and primary infection by Venturia inaequalis in an organic apple orchard (Eperjeske) on two apple cultivars (Jonathan and Prima) from 2011 to 2013. The tested sanitation practices were eradication of fallen leaves by collection and disc cultivation. Treatments of eradication of fallen leaves by collection and disc cultivation reduced signifi cantly (P< 0.001) leaf litter density with 70–85 and 40–55%, respectively, compared to untreated plots in both years. Above treatments in the same order reduced spring scab incidence with 40–50, and 10–20%, respectively, compared to untreated plots. Incidence of leaf scab in autumn was not signifi cantly lower (P< 0.05) in the treatments in the years

Preliminary study on micro area based spatial distribution of Monilinia fructigena in an organic apple orchard

In this study, we aimed to report a preliminary study on micro area based spatial distribution of Monilinia fructigena in an organic apple orchard. Results showed that number of symptomatic fruit ranged between 22 and 42 in 2013 and between 25 and 35 in 2014. Number of asymptomatic fruit ranged between 111 and 187 in 2013 and between 119 and 167 in 2014. Disease incidence of fruit ranged between 19.7 and 23.2% in 2013 and between 19.1 and 26.5% in 2014. Disease aggregation index ranged between 0.111 and 0.335 in 2013 and between 123 and 401 in 2014. Three of the four trees showed significant within canopy aggregation of disease for fruit brown rot symptoms in both years. However, the remaining one tree exhibited random patterns during both years. Disease aggregation indicated a disease spread by fruit-to-fruit contact and/or an aggregatedpattern of insect damage