Response of grain legumes to rhizobial inoculation in two savanna soils of Nigeria

Three inoculation trials with soybean, cowpea and groundnut were conducted on Eutric Cambisols (EC) and Rhodic Nitisols (RN) in a greenhouse. Five rhizobial inoculants: MAR 1495, TSBF Mixture, Legumefix, HiStick and IRJ 2180A were tested on each crop to determine their response to soil type and ability to form symbiotic relationship with the crops. Generally, response to inoculation was found to be significantly higher (P < 0.05) in EC than RN. In soybean and groundnut trials, highest nodulation in both soils was recorded by strain MAR 1495 followed by TSBF Mixture and these were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than other inoculants and control. A similar trend, though only in EC, was observed in N uptake and in nitrogen fixation but no significant difference was observed in dry matter yield. Cowpea trials did not show response to inoculation nor was there difference between the soils. Instead, control treatment surpassed all the inoculated treatments in nodulation at P < 0.05. Nitrogen uptake and N2 fixation of control also surpassed those of inoculated treatments. Rhizobia strains MAR 1495 and TSBF Mixture showed similar ability to improve the productivity of soybean and groundnut thus can be used as common inoculants for the two crops

Geospatial approach to study the spatial distribution of major soil nutrients in the Northern region of Ghana

Open Access Journal; Published online: 10 July 2016Spatial distribution of soil nutrients is not normally considered for smallholder farms in Ghana resulting in blanket fertilizer application which leads to low efficiencies of some applied nutrients. This study focuses on applying geospatial analyses to map 120 maize farms in 16 districts of the Northern region of Ghana to identify nutrient distribution. Soil samples were taken from these 120 locations and analysed for contents of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). Spatial models of the contents were generated through geostatistical analysis to map the status of N, P and K nutrients across the locations. Study results indicated that proportion of area deficient in N is 97%, P is 72% and K is 12%. Distribution pattern for N and K nutrients were clusters of low or high contents at specific locations; and that of P was random. Outcome of this study could enhance site-specific nutrient recommendation in Ghana

Evaluation of microbial inoculants as biofertilizers for the improvement of growth and yield of soybean and maize crops in savanna soils

Open Access JournalCertain rhizobacteria exert considerable influence on plant growth and development, particularly under limiting conditions. The effects of some indigenous soil microbial isolates and commercially produced microbial inoculants, referred to as bio-inoculants, on the growth and dry matter yield (DMY) of maize (Zea mays) and soybean (Glycine max) crops were assessed under greenhouse conditions. In two sets of experiments, one set comprised of free-living nitrogen-fixing microorganisms (Azospirillum spp.), three soils from Ibadan, Mokwa and Shanono located in different agro-ecological zones, and maize as the test crop. The other set consisted of microbial inoculants that can act as biocontrol agents applied to sterilized and non-sterilized soils; soybean was the test crop. The bio-inoculants were applied separately and also in combination. The treatments included a reference termed ‘mineral N’ where macro- and micro-nutrients were supplied at optimal rates, a control where bio-inoculants were not applied, and four replicates. All treatments, excluding the reference, received only macro-nutrients at suboptimal rates. The crops were grown for eight weeks and growth parameters were measured. The shoot DMY of maize was relatively large (42 to 63 g plant-1) and differed significantly among the soils but the bio-inoculants did not improve the shoot DMY significantly (P > 0.05) in any of the soils when compared with the control. However, sole inoculation of Mazospiriflo-2 enhanced nitrogen uptake significantly in maize grown in Shanono soil. For soybean, the shoot DMY was also not improved by the inoculation or the addition of the microbial products compared with the control

Algoritma Kompresi Fraktal Sequential Dan Paralel Untuk Kompresi Citra

Kompresi citra adalah proses mengurangi ukuran dari citra dengan mengurangi kualitas dari citra tersebut. Metode Fraktal yang digunakan bekerja dengan mencari kemiripan pada piksel-piksel citra dan mengelompokkannya dalam beberapa cluster. Semakin tinggi tingkat kemiripan pada citra, rasio kompresi akan semakin baik. Pada citra berwarna (RGB) metode tersebut diulang sebanyak tiga kali, masing-masing untuk satu elemen warna. Hasil akhir dari proses kompresi adalah tiga virtual codebook, masing-masing untuk satu elemen warna, yang menyimpan nilai dari brightness, contrast, dan tipe transformasi affine yang digunakan untuk tiap cluster. Proses dekompresi dari metode ini adalah dengan membentuk citra kosong dengan resolusi yang sama dengan citra asli dan mengisikan nilai RGB pada tiap piksel yang bersangkutan dengan menghitung nilai yang tersimpan pada virtual codebook. Dengan menggunakan nilai Coefficient of Variation (CV) sebagai penyesuaian nilai standar deviasi dan 57 citra BMP24-bit, hasil pengujian menunjukkan rasio kompresi rata-rata sebesar 41.79%. Dengan metode paralel yang digunakan, proses kompresi citra berwarna menunjukkan rata-rata nilai speed-up sebesar 1.69 dan nilai efisiensi prosesor sebesar 56.34%. Image compression is a process of reducing the size of the image by reducing the quality of the image. Fractal method is used to work by searching for similarities in the image pixels, and group them in clusters. The higher the degree of resemblance to the image, the better the compression ratio. In the color image (RGB) the method is repeated three times, each for one color element.The end result of the compression process is a three virtual codebook, each for one color element, which stores the value of the brightness, contrast, and the type of affine transformation are used for each cluster. Decompression process of this method is to form a blank image with the same resolution with the original image and fill in the RGB values at each pixel corresponding to the count value stored in the virtual codebook.By using the Coefficient of Variation (CV) as an adjustment value and standard deviation of 57 pieces of 24-bit BMP images, test results showed an average compression ratio of 41.79%. With the parallel method is used, the compression process of color image shows the average speed-up values of 1.69 and the processor efficiency of 56.34%

Safeguarding public health concerns, livelihoods and productivity in wastewater irrigated urban and periurban vegetable farming

The goal of the project was to develop integrated and user-oriented strategies to safeguard public health concerns without compromising livelihoods and land and water productivity in wastewater irrigated urban and peri-urban vegetable farming. In this project, assessment of land and water productivity in wastewater irrigated farming was done, levels of contamination on irrigation water and vegetables quantified at different levels along the food chain (farms, markets and consumer level) and appropriate lowcost risk reduction strategies identified and participatory testing done with stakeholders at farm and consumer levels. A large number of students were involved in the project, significantly building human capacit

Feed, food and fuel: Competition and potential impacts on small-scale crop-livestock-energy farming systems

CGIAR System-wide Livestock Programm

Willingness to pay for biofertilizers among grain legume farmers in northern Ghana

Open Access Journal; Published online: 27 April 2018Background: The call for use of improved Soil Fertility Management (SFM) technologies is a prerequisite to increase agricultural productivity among farmers. This study assessed farmers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for selected financially rewarding biofertilizer technologies/packages for legume production in northern Ghana. Primary data was elicited from 400 grain legume farmers selected from Northern and Upper West Regions of Ghana through a simple random sampling technique. The double bounded dichotomous choice (DBDC) format of contingent valuation approach was employed to elicit willingness to pay values and determinants of farmers WTP was evaluated using the maximum likelihood estimation procedure. Results: The results showed that about 60%, 25% and 46% of soya, cowpea and groundnuts farmers were willing to pay for the selected biofertilizers (Biofix, BR3267 and Legumefix respectively) at prices not exceeding GHC 14.00, GHC 28.00 and GHC 20.00 per 0.2kg of the respective biofertilizers. Legume farmers in Northern Region were however willing to pay higher for the three biofertilizer technologies as compared to their counterparts in Upper West Region. For 0.2 kg each of Biofix, BR3267 and Legumefix, farmers in Northern Region were willing to pay approximately GHC 17.00, GHC 12.00 and GHC 23.00 respectively whereas those in Upper West Region were willing to pay GHC 14.00, GHC 9.00 and GHC 11.00 for the same quantity of each biofertilizer. The study identified farming experience, FBO membership, awareness and previous use of biofertilizers as significant determinants of farmers’ willingness to pay for Biofertilizers. Conclusion: Comparatively, mean prices farmers are willing to pay for these three technologies are below ex-factory prices, hence subsidizing the cost of production of these biofertilizers in the initial stages would be relevant for improving farmers’ uptake of these fertilizers. Sustained awareness creation through periodic education and sensitization by using FBOs as leverage points is also highly recommended to improve farmers’ understanding of the concept of biofertilizer use

Safe Re-use Practices in Wastewater-Irrigated Urban Vegetable Farming in Ghana

n/