Problems and Prospects of Information and Communication Technologies Application in Agriculture in Nigeria.

Information and communication technology (ICT) has become a veritable tool being used to solve agricultural related problems ranging from site selection to sale of farm produces in many parts of the world. In Nigeria, the application of ICT in farm enterprises is not widespread. This research was designed to assess the prospects and problems/factors limiting the awareness and usage of ICT in Nigerian agriculture. Also, it identified and described the available ICT technologies in Nigeria. Primary data were obtained from the respondents through the use of structured questionnaire. The information collected was analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics and multiple regression technique. Results of the analysis showed that the educated respondents were more aware and made use of ICTs than those with out formal education at 5% level of probability. The major problems identified with regards to the usage of ICTs by the respondents include poor access to ICT facilities, low sensitization on available ICTs, poor source of power supply and high cost of software and hardware. It was therefore recommended that government and NGOs should collaborate to improve sensitization drive, to not only increase awareness but also to encourage application, improve on power supply, provide accessible network at cheaper price, translate technology to local languages and more training on ICT usage in the agroindustry.The Information Manager Vol. 8 (1) 2008: pp. 7-1

Evaluation on the growth response of Peanut (Arachis hypogaea) and Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) to crude oil contaminated soil

This study examined the cytotoxic response, germination, survival, morphological deviations as well as enzyme activities of Arachis hypogaea and Sorghum bicolor in crude oil contaminated soil. Crude oil spillage was simulated to achieve 1%, 2%, 3% (w/w) contamination levels in pot experiments. Treatments without crude oil were used as control. Cytotoxicity, germination and survival were determined by using percentages while enzyme activity was measured by using spectrophotometric methods and standard curves. S. bicolor had lower mitotic index (3.7) with higher percentage aberrations (65.56%) compared to A. hypogaea. However, difference in mitotic index and percentage aberration between A. hypogaea and S. bicolor was not significant at P≥0.05. Percentage germination and survival of both plants were not different. Enzyme study showed that enzyme activity in A. hypogaea and S bicolor were the same in control but increased with crude oil contamination. Laccase activity was significantly higher (P≤0.05) in A. hypogaea than in S. bicolor in 1% and 2% crude oil concentrations. The same applies to soluble methane monoxygenase activity in all crude oil concentrations. Tyrosinase activity was not significantly different in both plants in all concentrations. The study shows A. hypogaea to have better tolerance in crude oil contaminated soils than S. bicolor. Keywords: S. bicolor, A. hypogaea, crude oil, pollution, respons

Effect of gasoline diesel fuel mixture on the germination and the growth of Vigna unguiculata (Cowpea)

The effects of gasoline fuel/diesel mixture on the germination of seeds of Vigna unguiculata, the survival of the seedlings and the growth of the plant were evaluated in this study. It involved adding 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 ml of mixture of equal proportions of the two petroleum products to 5000 g of soil and sowing seeds of the V. unguiculata in the soils after which the survival and the growth of the plants were evaluated. Although the percentage germination of the seeds of the plant decreased as the quantity of the mixture added to the soil increased only the 40 and 50 ml treatments led to significant reduction of the percentage germination of the seeds (p < 0.05). The seedling survival decreased as the volume of the mixture added to the soil increased with no seedling surviving in the soil treated with 50 ml mixture of diesel and gasoline fuels 38 days after the germination of the seeds. The shoot length of the plant was adversely affected by the mixture of the petroleum products especially at week 9 of growth (p < 0.001). The dry weight of the plants grown in the soils treated with gasoline/diesel fuel mixture increased as the quantity of the mixture added to the soil increased with the 40 and 50 ml treatments having significant effects on the dry matter content and the root length of the plants (p < 0.001). All the treatments significantly inhibited the leaf area development of the plant at week 9 (

Farmers' Perception and Extent of Use of Insecticides in Cabbage Production in Giwa and Zaria LGAs of Kaduna State

Farmers have been skeptical and reluctant in the use of pesticides in vegetable production for fear of contamination and negative effects on humans during consumption. This study focuses on identifying farmers' perception and extent of use of insecticides in cabbage production. Using structured questionnaire, primary data were collected from 70 randomly selected cabbage farmers in Giwa and Zaria LGAs of Kaduna State. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and Likertscale of measurement. The results show that most (70%) of the farmers use Karate, followed by neem extract (66%) which is usually mixed with the chemicals. Nearly all (94%) of the respondents perceived that the use of the insecticides are highly effective on insect control, pollute the air and improves the market value of cabbage due to lack of perforations and insect excrements on them. Respondents suggested that farmers should be adequately trained on insecticide use and subsidise its cost to make it readilyaccessible

Biomonitoring of Heavy Metals Level in Wetland Plants of Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria

The purpose of this research was to monitor the distribution of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn in plants of Lagos lagoon wetlands in Nigeria. Water, soil and dominant plants were collected from 46 sampling points for a period of 1 year and analysed using ICP-AES. The order of heavy metals presence in soil samples was as follow: Zn&gt;Cr&gt;Cu&gt;Pb&gt;Cd&gt;Ni. The Zn concentration was the highest whereas the lowest concentration was Ni. All water samples showed varying degrees of contamination across all the sampling points in these wetlands. A greater percentage of all metals concentration for Pb, Cd, Cr and Ni were higher than the permissible limit set by World Health Organisation. Pb ranged from 0.01±0.00 to 0.91±0.04 mg/L, Cd from 0.01±0.00 to 0.31±0.02 mg/L, Cr from 0.05±0.00 to 1.15±0.01 mg/L, Ni from 0.01±0.00 to 0.52±0.03, Cu from 0.21±0.01 to 1.11±0.01 mg/L and Zn ranged from 0.15±0.00 to 10.28±0.02 mg/L. The median values of each metal that the shoots and roots of individual plants accumulated metals in the order: Zn&gt;Cu&gt;Pb&gt;Cr&gt;Ni&gt;Cd. Ipomea aquatica had the highest concentration of Pb in its shoot (1.12 mg/kg) while Ludwigia adscendens had the least (1.12 mg/kg) in its shoot. Pb level in the roots was highest in Eichonia crassipes (5.69 mg/kg). The highest level of Cr in shoot (2.23 mg/kg) and root (5.41 mg/kg) was observed in Commelina benghalensis while Cr concentration is lowest in the shoot (0.04 mg/kg) and root (0.18 mg/kg) of Althernathera philoxerrides. Ludwigia adscendens had the lowest concentration of Ni in its root (0.01 mg/kg). The highest shoot concentration of Cu (4.21 mg/kg) was observed in Eichonia crassipes while Ipomea aquatica had the lowest concentration in its shoot (0.23 mg/kg). Paspalum vaginatum’s root had the highest Cu concentration (12.32 mg/kg) while lowest concentration of Cu was observed in the root of Sagittaria sagittifolia (0.69 mg/kg). Transfer factors for most of the plants species were less than 1, indicating that metals accumulated by these plants were largely retained in the roots. A. philoxerrides had translocation factor greater than one for Ni (10.30), while for Cr was 1.25 and 1.40. This present findings indicate that, despite ecological similarities, the different plant species tend to respond differently to exposure to heavy metals and also in their ability to accumulate the various metals. Thus, heavy metals sequestration from the soil to these plants characterized them as metals pollution indicators.Keywords: wetland plants, heavy metals, biomonitoring, bioaccumulation capacity, translocation facto

Mycoremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon polluted soil by Pleurotus pulmonarius

Mycoremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon polluted soil was investigated using Pleurotus pulmonarius for a period of 62 days. Hydrocarbon (Petrol + diesel + spent petrol engine oil + spent diesel engine oil in ratio 1:1:1:1) polluted soil in 2.5%, 5%, 10% and 20% concentration were inoculated and incubated with pure culture of P. pulmonarius obtained from commercial mushroom laboratory of Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (F.I.I.R.O.) Lagos Nigeria. Inoculation was done by adding 20 g of vigorously growing spawn of P. pulmonarius. A set of control treatment was used where different concentrations of the petroleum hydrocarbon were added to all soils but no inoculation with the fungus. The results showed that the initial organic matter content of the soil increased with increase in the concentration of petroleum mixture added to the soil.  The highest impact of P. pulmonarius on the organic matter content of the soil was noticed in soil with 10% concentration treatment (68.34%) and the least was in soil with 2.5% treatment concentration (22.12%). The initial nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus contents of the soils samples decreased with increase in the petroleum concentration. The difference was significant at 2.5%, 5%, 10% and 20% concentration of contamination for organic matter, nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus (p&lt;0.05). A significant (p&lt;0.05) reduction in concentration of the heavy metals (manganese, copper, and zinc) after 62 days of incubation with P. pulmonarius suggested that the mushroom is a good agent for heavy metal remediation. The highest reduction of Mn was at 10% concentration (24.00±0.04 to 1.73±0.10), Cu at 10% concentration (37.24± 0.02 to 0.00), and Zn was at 10% concentration (63.03±0.02 to 5.75±0.14). The percentage loss of the TPH due the growth of P. pulmonarius decreased with increase in the concentration of petroleum added to the soil. The percentage loss for 2.5%, 5%, 10% and 20% concentration are 52.60%, 38.71%, 27.20% and 8.31% respectively. Heptane, toluene, octane, M-p xylene, Alpha xylene, nonane, propylbenzene, decane, tridecane, tetradecane, anthracene and pentadecane had high reduction; however, the reduction is more significant (p&lt;0.05) in soil inoculated with P. pulmonarius. Our results suggest that P. pulmonarius can be used to clean soils polluted with moderate level of petroleum products mixtureKey Word: Mycoremediation, petrol, diesel, spent engine oil, P. Pulmonarius, TP

Comparison of start back screening tool and simmonds physical performance based tests battery in prediction of disability risks among patients with chronic low-back pain

Objectives: This study identified disability sub-groups of patients with chronic low back pain (LBP) using the Subgroup for Targeted Treatment (or STarT) Back Screening Tool (SBST) and Simmonds Physical Performance Tests Battery (SPPTB). In addition, the study investigated the divergent validity of SBST, and compared the predictive validity of SBST and SPPTB among the patients with the aim to enhance quick and accurate prediction of disability risks among patients with chronic LBP. Methods: This exploratory cross-sectional study involved 70 (52.0% female and 47.1% male) consenting patients with chronic non-specific LBP attending out-patient physiotherapy and Orthopedic Clinics at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals, Ile-Ife and Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Nigeria. Disability risk subgrouping and prediction was carried out using the SBST and SPPTB (comprising six functional tasks of repeated trunk flexion, sit-to-stand, 360-degree rollover, Sorenson fatigue test, unloaded reach test, and 50 foot walk test). Pain intensity was assessed using the Quadruple Visual Analogue Scale. Data on age, sex, height, weight and BMI were also collected. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data at p<0.05 Alpha level. Results: The mean age, weight, height and body mass index of the participants were 51.4±8.78 years, 1.61±0.76 m and 26.6±3.18 kg/m2 respectively. The mean pain intensity and duration were 5.37±1.37 and 21.2±6.68 respectively. The divergent validity of SBST with percentage overall pain intensity was r = 0.732; p = 0.001. Under SBST sub-grouping the majority of participants were rated as having medium disability risk (76%), whilst SPPTB sub-grouped the majority as having high disability risk (71.4%). There was a significant difference in disability risk subgrouping between SBST and SPPTB (χ²=12.334; p=0.015). SBST had no floor and ceiling effects, as less than 15% of the participants reached the lowest (2.9%) or highest (1.4%) possible score. Conversely, SPPBT showed both floor and ceiling effects, as it was unable to detect ‘1’ and ‘9’, the lowest and highest obtainable scores. The ‘Area Under Curve’ for sensitivity (0.83) and specificity (0.23) of the SBST to predict ‘high-disability risk’ was 0.51. The estimated prevalence for ‘high-disability risk’ prediction of SBST was 0.76. The estimate for true positive, false positive, true negative and false negative for prediction of ‘high-disability risk’ for SBST were 0.77, 0.23, 0.31, and 0.69 respectively

Mapping inequalities in exclusive breastfeeding in low- and middle-income countries, 2000–2018

Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF)-giving infants only breast-milk for the first 6 months of life-is a component of optimal breastfeeding practices effective in preventing child morbidity and mortality. EBF practices are known to vary by population and comparable subnational estimates of prevalence and progress across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are required for planning policy and interventions. Here we present a geospatial analysis of EBF prevalence estimates from 2000 to 2018 across 94 LMICs mapped to policy-relevant administrative units (for example, districts), quantify subnational inequalities and their changes over time, and estimate probabilities of meeting the World Health Organization's Global Nutrition Target (WHO GNT) of ≥70% EBF prevalence by 2030. While six LMICs are projected to meet the WHO GNT of ≥70% EBF prevalence at a national scale, only three are predicted to meet the target in all their district-level units by 2030.This work was primarily supported by grant no. OPP1132415 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Co-authors used by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (E.G.P. and R.R.3) provided feedback on initial maps and drafts of this manuscript. L.G.A. has received support from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brasil (CAPES), Código de Financiamento 001 and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (grant nos. 404710/2018-2 and 310797/2019-5). O.O.Adetokunboh acknowledges the National Research Foundation, Department of Science and Innovation and South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis. M.Ausloos, A.Pana and C.H. are partially supported by a grant from the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CNDS-UEFISCDI, project no. PN-III-P4-ID-PCCF-2016-0084. P.C.B. would like to acknowledge the support of F. Alam and A. Hussain. T.W.B. was supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation through the Alexander von Humboldt Professor award, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. K.Deribe is supported by the Wellcome Trust (grant no. 201900/Z/16/Z) as part of his international intermediate fellowship. C.H. and A.Pana are partially supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CNDS-UEFISCDI, project no. PN-III-P2-2.1-SOL-2020-2-0351. B.Hwang is partially supported by China Medical University (CMU109-MF-63), Taichung, Taiwan. M.Khan acknowledges Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University for their support. A.M.K. acknowledges the other collaborators and the corresponding author. Y.K. was supported by the Research Management Centre, Xiamen University Malaysia (grant no. XMUMRF/2020-C6/ITM/0004). K.Krishan is supported by a DST PURSE grant and UGC Centre of Advanced Study (CAS II) awarded to the Department of Anthropology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. M.Kumar would like to acknowledge FIC/NIH K43 TW010716-03. I.L. is a member of the Sistema Nacional de Investigación (SNI), which is supported by the Secretaría Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (SENACYT), Panamá. M.L. was supported by China Medical University, Taiwan (CMU109-N-22 and CMU109-MF-118). W.M. is currently a programme analyst in Population and Development at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Country Office in Peru, which does not necessarily endorses this study. D.E.N. acknowledges Cochrane South Africa, South African Medical Research Council. G.C.P. is supported by an NHMRC research fellowship. P.Rathi acknowledges support from Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India. Ramu Rawat acknowledges the support of the GBD Secretariat for supporting the reviewing and collaboration of this paper. B.R. acknowledges support from Manipal College of Health Professions, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal. A.Ribeiro was supported by National Funds through FCT, under the programme of ‘Stimulus of Scientific Employment—Individual Support’ within the contract no. info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/CEEC IND 2018/CEECIND/02386/2018/CP1538/CT0001/PT. S.Sajadi acknowledges colleagues at Global Burden of Diseases and Local Burden of Disease. A.M.S. acknowledges the support from the Egyptian Fulbright Mission Program. F.S. was supported by the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (grant no. KQTD20190929172835662). A.Sheikh is supported by Health Data Research UK. B.K.S. acknowledges Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal for all the academic support. B.U. acknowledges support from Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal. C.S.W. is supported by the South African Medical Research Council. Y.Z. was supported by Science and Technology Research Project of Hubei Provincial Department of Education (grant no. Q20201104) and Outstanding Young and Middle-aged Technology Innovation Team Project of Hubei Provincial Department of Education (grant no. T2020003). The funders of the study had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. The corresponding author had full access to all the data in the study and had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication. All maps presented in this study are generated by the authors and no permissions are required to publish them

Severe effects of long-term drought on calcareous grassland seed banks

Climate change models project shifts in precipitation patterns at regional and global scales. Increases in dry areas and the occurrence of drought predicted in future scenarios are likely to threaten grassland ecosystems. Calcareous grassland seed banks have proven to be resistant to short-term drought, but their responses to long-term drought are unknown. Here we show that 14 years of summer drought changed calcareous grassland seed bank composition, reducing its size and richness, and that these responses do not simply reflect patterns in the above-ground vegetation. Moreover, the effect of drought was larger on seed banks than on vegetation, and above-ground responses mediated by soil depth were less evident in the seed bank than in the vegetation. These results demonstrate that the severity of drought effects on calcareous grasslands is larger than previously thought, and show that this ecosystem is highly vulnerable and has low resilience to predicted decreases in soil moisture