Effect of gas flaring on plants in a tropical fresh water swamp forest in Nigeria

An oil field in a fresh water swamp forest was visited during the wet and dry seasons to assess the impact of gas flaring on vegetation in the area. Gas flaring attracts yam beetles (Heteroligus spp.) and grasshopper (Zonocerus variegates) to the area, and these attack crops. Generally, the nearer plantain (Musa sp.) and oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) are to gas flare, the poorer is their plant aspect (i.e. general appearance). At the control site, some 45 km away from the flare site, plant aspect was good for plantain and oil palm, and very good for mango (Mangifera indica) and bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris). Bamboo, a graminaceous plant appears tolerant to gas flaring, and thrives well in the area. Sooty mould (Meliola sp.) incidence on sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) is higher during the dry season than during the wet season, and also higher when located close to gas flares than when further away. Gas flaring in the area tends to promote sooty mould incidence. Reasons have been presented to explain these observations. Résumé Un gisement pétrolifère dans une forêt inondable d'eau douce était inspecté pendant les saisons des pluies et sèches pour évaluer l'impact de dégagement des gaz sur la végétation de l' environnement. Le dégagement des gaz attire les coléoptères (Heteroligus spp.) et la sauterelle (Zonocerus variegatus) à l'environnement et ces attaquent les cultures. Dans l'ensemble, plus le plantain (Musa sp.) et le palmier (Elaeis guineensis) sont proches au dégage des gaz, plus sont faibles leurs aspects de plante (c. -à - d. apparence générale). Au site de contrôle, quelques 45 km loin du site de dégage, aspect de plante était élevé pour le plantain et le palmier, et plus élevé pour le manguier (Mangifera indica) et le bambou (Bambusa vlgaris). Le bambou, une plante graminacée semble tolérante au dégagement des gaz et pousse bien dans l'environnement. Le terreau de suie (Meliola sp.) une fréquence sur l'orange douce (Citrus sinensis) est plus élevé pendant la saison sèche que pendant la saison des pluies, et encore plus élevé lorsqu' elle se trouve prè de dégage des gaz que lorsqu'elle est plus éloignée. Le dégagement des gaz à l'environnement a la tendance de favoriser la fréquence de terreau de suie. Des raisons ont été présentées dans l'œuvre pour expliquer ces observations. Ghana Journal of Science Vol. 46 2006: pp. 3-1

Effect of Bonny Light Crude Oil Pollution of Soil on the Growth of dayflower (Commelina benghalensis L.) in the Niger Delta, Nigeria

The effect of Bonny Light Crude oil pollution of soil and successive plantings in the same soil at 4 - week intervals on the growth of dayflower ( Commelina benghalensis L. ) was investigated. The factorial sets of treatments were two levels of oil pollution (0 and 50 mg/g) and 5 successive plantings. Characters assessed were mean plant height, leaf area per plant and mean dry matter weight. At each of the 5 croppings mean plant characters assessed were significantly higher (P = 0.05) at 0 mg/g oil pollution than at the 50 mg oil/g soil pollution level. In the control treatments, a declining trend in plant growth was observed from the 1st to the 5th crop. In contrast, in the oil-treated soils, an increasing trend was observed. @JASE

Litterfall production in a tropical mangrove of Sarawak, Malaysia

Assessment of litterfall production is essential to ascertain the status of nutrient cycling and forest health. Sarawak, Malaysia, is endowed with numerous pristine and estuarine mangroves; however, research on primary productivity of these forests is scanty. Therefore, litterfall production in a pristine Sibuti mangrove of Sarawak was estimated using litter traps for one year (January–December 2013), and forest structure was studied through tree census. The forest was dominated by Rhizophora apiculata (relative density [RD] was 77.11%), followed by Xylocarpus granatum (RD was 16.92%) and other species (RD was only 5.97%). The annual dry weight of litterfalls was estimated to be 1640.82 g m−2, of which R. apiculata contributed 92.94%, followed by X. granatum (4.01%) and other species (3.05%). Leaves were the most abundant (57.21%) contributory component of litters, followed by propagules (11.89%), flowers (10.85%), twigs (8.56%), and stipules (8.45%). No significant correlations were found for total litterfall and its major components with climatic variables and forest structure. Total litterfall of R. apiculata and X. granatum did not show any seasonal variations. However, leaf litter of R. apiculata showed a significant seasonal variation between intermediate (January–April) and wet (September–December) seasons. The litterfall production of Sibuti mangrove forest is higher in comparison to other tropical mangroves of the world. The higher productivity of the forest could be due to nutrient availability, pristine nature, and stand maturity of the forest rather than climatic influences. The findings of the study suggest that litterfall production of the pristine Sibuti mangrove is not influenced by the variability of climatic factors

Assessment of abattoirs operations and hygiene practices in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area, Rivers State, Nigeria

A survey was conducted to appraise the location, infrastructures, and slaughter operational activities in three abattoirs at Rumuokoro, Trans-Amadi  and Rumuosi in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. Thirty butchers of 10 per abattoir were purposively sampled for the study. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages and mean  statistics. Results of the socio-demographic characteristics of the butchers revealed that they were all males, married, within the age of 35 - 44years, literate, with a butchering experience of 16 years upwards in private or public/Government owned abattoirs. The slaughter houses were located in areas devoid of bad odours, smoke, dust and close to coastal areas affected by tides to promote good sanitation. There were no adequately  constructed lairages, Ante-mortem inspection and isolation pens were inadequate. There were no facilities and rooms for handling hides and skins, treatment of inedible and condemned carcass and meat. Animals were poorly restrained and not stunned before slaughtering. The slaughter  houses had planned and controlled cleaning programs but lacked efficient disinfection operations and this will contribute to bacterial  contamination of carcasses. The operational lapses by butchers were due to the use of obsolete facilities that lacked maintenance and inadequate supervision. This condition had brought about poor hygienic practices that undermine the quality of carcasses. The recommendations proffered  are: the provision and maintenance facilities for effective operations to ensure carcass quality, to adequately enforce enacted laws on abattoir operations, there should be enlightenment for butchers and meat sellers, and there should be effective management of the wastes from  slaughterhouses through regular fumigations and disposal systems. Keywords: Abattoir, infrastructures, slaughter operations, hygiene and meat qualit

Yield and disease resistance of plantain (Musa spp., AAB group) somaclones in Nigeria

This study examined the potential of somaclonal variation for the improvement of plantain. Approximately 500 somaclones each of ‘Agbagba’ (False Horn plantain) and ‘Bise Egome’ (French plantain) were field evaluated for their agronomic performance and response to the black Sigatoka disease. The micropropagated populations were independently generated from a number of suckers from each accession. Significant differences between micropropagated accessions and crop cycles were observed. Differences between plants derived from suckers of the same accession were also expressed, indicating the chimerical nature of variation in the traits studied. None of the plants of the micropropagated populations from ‘Bise Egome’ exhibited significantly better disease tolerance and agronomic performance than the source accession. However,one somaclonal variant of ‘Agbagba’ (‘AO 2B2-2’) expressed lower susceptibility to the black Sigatoka disease. Compared to ‘Agbagba’, ‘AO 2B2-2’ had a higher bunch weight, more fruits per bunch with higher average weight, greater average length, and greater average girth. These data clearly show that, in contrast to previous reports, it is possible to recover superior somaclonal mutants in Musa

Domestic energy demand assessment of coastline rural communities with solar electrification

The coastline rural communities in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria have long suffered from the consequences of poor rural electrification, environmental degradation, and health challenges. There is an urgent need to provide an optimal sustainable and environment-friendly energy system for the coastline rural communities in Nigeria, which has the potential of ameliorating the climate change in this country. The HOMER hybrid optimization software and the estimated domestic energy demand of the coastline rural communities were used to determine the best PV solar energy system. The NASA SEE database with monthly averaged values for global horizontal radiation over a 22-year period was considered in the current analysis. The daily energy demand of a typical household in the communities was estimated for the existing energy demand (EED), future electric energy demand (FEED), and future base energy demand (FBED) scenarios as 5.640, 8.830, and 7.233 kWh, respectively. The suggested best energy system has a cost of electricity of 0.651, 0.653, and 0.674 $/kWh for the EED, FEED, and FBED, respectively. The best energy system gives the best components with an appropriate operating strategy to provide an efficient, reliable, cost-effective, and environment-friendly system. It is shown that both positive energy policies of the Federal Government of Nigeria toward renewable energy penetration and the support from the oil-producing companies toward their operational areas would see the cost of electricity being significantly reduced. It is envisaged that the implementation of the suggested energy system with other environmentally responsible interventions would support the Niger-Delta’s coastline rural communities, whose livelihoods have been impaired by gas and oil exploration, to attain their full environmental and socioeconomic potentials