EFFECTS OF VARYING LEVELS OF ORGANIC MANURE AND FERTILIZER APPLICATION ON THE GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF Mansonia altissima (A. Chev.) SEEDLINGS

Mansonia altissima is a good source of timber usually known for its natural durability and medicinal potentials. This study is undertaken to investigate the effects of varying levels of organic manure and fertilizer application on the growth performance of Mansonia altissima seedlings. The organic manure used for this experiment is poultry manure, while the fertilizer application used is urea. The two treatments used are poultry manure and urea, at the levels of 0g (control), 0.1g, 0.3g, 0.5g, and 1g. Each of the levels for both poultry manure and urea was replicated 10 times. Result shows that poultry manure and urea applied improved the growth characteristics but varied significantly among the treatments. For poultry manure, leaf number, plant height and collar diameter, the highest mean value obtained are 11.20g, 22.76g and 10.04g when applied at 1g while 0.1g has the lowest value in all the parameters checked. The same parameters were also checked for urea and 1g performed best with the mean value of 10.80g, 22.08g and 9.32g. The study indicated that Mansonia altissima seedling responded well to the treatments applied and also suggest that the application of 1g of poultry manure and urea is the best for the optimum growth of Mansonia altissima

Effect of Pretreatment and Production Variable on the Sorption and Strength Properties of Cement Bonded Board

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of pretreatment on the sorption and strength properties of board manufactured from Gliricidia sepium sawdust. Twenty four (24) experimental boards were produced at three pretreatment levels of hot water (1 h), cold water (2 weeks and 4 weeks), three mixing ratios (1:1, 2:1 and 1:2), and one board density 700 g/m3. and test for their bonding strength by physical (water absorption-WA and thickness swelling-Th.S) and mechanical properties (modulus of elasticity-MOE, modulus of rupture-MOR). Data obtained was analyzed using analysis of variance at α = 0.05. The result showed that board produced from mixing ratio 1:2 (sawdust to cement) of hot water for 1 h pretreatment is more dimensionally stable since it has the least mean values 44.10 and 50.23 % for water absorption and 1.17 and 2.76 % for thickness swelling in 1 and 6 h immersion and highest mean values of 68.94 and 0.33 N/mm2 for modulus of rupture and elasticity respectively. However, the analysis of variance shows that pretreatment levels and production variables have a significant effect on the physical and mechanical properties examined thus increase in pretreatment and mixing ratio resulted in the improvement of dimensional stability and increase in the strength properties of the board produced. Keywords: sawdust, pretreatment, particleboard, strength properties DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/11-20-03 Publication date:October 31st 202

Comparative Proximate Composition of Maize (Zea mays L.) Varieties Grown in South-western Nigeria

Maize, a highly cultivated multipurpose cereal has different varieties grown globally. Six majorly known varieties (Hybrid red solo- V1, Red solo- V2, Solo- V3, Popcorn- V4, Small white- V5 and Big white- V6) found in south-western Nigeria were purposefully selected because of their abundance across the region and were analyzed for their proximate composition. Their composition of different nutrients varied; % crude fat was significantly higher in V5 (4.25%), V4 had a significantly higher % ash content of 1.93%, % crude protein ranged from 9.32% – 15.75%, V2 had a significantly low % crude fibre of 0.86%, while V1 had a significantly higher % carbohydrate content of 74.40%. Knowledge of the levels of nutrients present in the different varieties will help in choosing the variety that can suit any intended purpose. V6 (Big white) seems to be the most preferable for human and animal consumption because of its significantly high content in protein and crude fibre coupled with a considerably high fat content