Influence of inorganic fertilizer and spacing on growth and yield of two maize cultivars under Striga hermonthica infestation

Field experiment was conducted during the 2013 rainy season at Lapai and Mokwa in the Southern Guinea savanna of Nigeria, to evaluate the reactions of maize cultivars to nitrogen and intra-row spacing in a Striga hermonthica infested field. The treatments consisted of two maize cultivar (Local (kabako) and SAMMAZ 16), four levels of nitrogen fertilizer (0, 60, 120 and 180 kg N ha-1) and three intra-row spacing (20, 25 and 30 cm). The treatments were factorial combined and laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design and replicated three times. Results revealed that plant height, number of leaves and days to 50 % anthesis of Local maize cultivars responded significantly with 60 kg N ha-1 at 9 WAS. 180 kg N ha-1 and 25cm intra-row spacing in combination with SAMMAZ 16 recorded the highest grain yield, 100 grain weight, stover yield, shelling percentage and harvest index. The local cultivars supported greater Striga infestation at 20 cm intra-row spacing and 180 kg N ha-1 was found remarkable for Striga suppression at 9 WAS in this study. From these findings, it could be concluded that the above combinations can be used for effective management of Striga hermonthica for optimum yield of maize.Keywords: spacing, maize cultivar, nitrogen fertilizer, Striga hermonthic

Assessment of Wind Energy Alternative in Nigeria from the Lessons of the Katsina Wind Farm

The harnessing of kinetic energy through the wind has been used for centuries, be it in form of powering sail boats, windmills or furnaces. However it was not until 1979 that the modern wind power industry began in earnest with the production of wind turbines. The use of wind energy as a form of renewable energy gained momentum in the 80s and 90s and there are now thousands of wind turbines operating all over the world (Abdelaziz et al 2011; Fangbele et al 2011). The modern and most commonly used wind turbine has a horizontal axis with two or more aero-dynamic blades mounted on the shaft. These blades can travel at over several times the wind speed, generating electricity which is captured by a medium voltage power collection system and fed through to the power transmission network. Wind farms can range from single turbines for domestic use, through to large commercial farm either onshore or off-shore. The energy emitted is measured in watts per hour (kilowatts, megawatts and gigawatts), the turbines currently in manufacture have power ratings ranging from 250kW to 5MW. To put that into perspective, a 10kW turbine will generate enough electricity generation to meet the annual electricity consumption of an average house hold in the US or 10 rural villages in Nigeria. Regardless of the size of the farm, the placement of the turbine is the key to its success. Wind farms are often opposed and refused planning permission, due to general belief that they ruin the natural environment; in very remote locations, there may be a lack of available transmission lines, protected fauna that may be displaced by the farm, not to mention the difficulties in transporting the turbines to the site in the first instance. Despite its setbacks, wind power is still seen to be cheap, low maintenance form of renewable energy which makes it imperative for Nigeria to adopt among its energy mix (Kwon 2010). The study area  is in Katsina State of Nigeria. Katsina State extends from the arid southern Sahara (where there are important towns such as Jibiya, Katsina, Maiadua and Daura), Southwards through the semi-arid dry lands (with important towns like Dutsin-ma and Kankia) to the semi-arid savannah (with important towns like Malunfashi and Funtua). These settlements mentioned could be placed on an effective wind energy alternative for domestic electricity generation. The Katsina wind project could achieve this but there are several misgivings from the critics of the project. This chapter is intended to review the factors considered necessary in setting such a project i.e project’s cost, wind penetration, wind predictability, wind reliability and energy storage. The objective of the research was to assess the extent at which these factors were considered in the project

Urban Vegetation Study of Kaduna Metropolis using GIS and Remotely sensed Data

Kaduna metropolis is an example a careful urban planning by the colonialists in 1920’s which gradually deteriorated in quality due to poor development control and city management. This study on urban vegetation using Remote Sensing and GIS technique was a follow up on Al-Amin 2005 which used quadrant urban vegetation was studied by the quadrant method. The use of GIS technique has revealed several minute details that were not exposed by the quadrant study of 2005. The analysis shows that only 1.267km2 out of the total study area segmentation of 11.832km2 are covered with a regular pattern vegetation distribution. This only constituted about 10.72% vegetation area while 89.28% Lack vegetation. The study also shows that part of the study area that are without vegetation was (89.28%) equivalent to 10.56km2 is densely populated with high commercial activities and high traffic, while the area classified with vegetation cover (10.72%), equivalent to only 1.267km2 has scarcity population with very low commercial activities and low traffic. This situation is attributed to people’s adaptation to a city without vegetation and seems to lack or ignore its consequences. Keywords: Vegetation, Kaduna, GIS, Segmentation, classification, Satellit

Pozzolanic and mechanical properties of Date Palm Seed Ash (Dpsa) concrete

This paper presents the findings of a research work conducted on how to improve the mechanical properties of concrete using Date Palm Seed Ash (DPSA) as partial replacement of cement. The DPSA used was obtained by controlled burning of date palm seed in a kiln at a maximum temperature of 630oC for eight hours and air cooled afterwards. The ash obtained was sieved through 75μm sieve and its oxide composition analysed using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) procedures. DoE method of mix design was used to produce concrete ingredients for grade 30N/mm2 giving a water-cement ratio of 0.53. The effect of partial replacement of cement with DPSA on cement paste and concrete using 0, 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 15 and 20% DPSA was investigated through consistency and setting times tests, workability test, compressive strength test (at 7, 21, 28 and 56 days curing duration), pozzolanic activity index evaluation and water absorption test. Results show that DPSA has high silicon dioxide (45.50%), aluminum oxide (20.75%) and Iron oxide (7.25%). Findings indicate that the consistency and setting times of cement-DPSA paste increased with increase in the replacement of cement with DPSA. The workability of DPSA concrete decreased with increase in cement replacement. Compressive strength test results show that cement can be replaced with DPSA up to 10% as the compressive strength at 10% replacement is 31.5N/mm2 as against the 31N/mm2 of the normal concrete, at 56 days. The pozzolanic activity index result also show that DPSA concrete meets up the minimum requirement of 75% specified by ASTM C618-15. Also, the water absorption capacity of DPSA concrete at the highest replacement (20%) is 11% less than that at 0%. Keywords: Cement, Compressive strength, Concrete, Date palm seed ash, Partial replacement, Pozzolan

Haematological Indices and Blood Urea Nitrogen of Yankasa Ram Lambs Fed Urea, Poultry Droppings and or Urea Treated Pennisetum pedicellatum (Kyasuwa Grass)

A study was conducted to evaluate the haematological indices and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) of Yankasa ram lambs fed urea and/or poultry droppings treated Kyasuwa (Pennisetum pedicellatum). There were no significant differences (P>0.05) between control treatment (K) and other treatment means observed in the values of packed cell volume (PCV), neutrophils, lymphocytes, eosinophils and basophils. Treatments KU and KPD are significantly different (P < 0.05) from the rest of the treatments in which treatment KPD had the highest value WBC. Blood urea nitrogen from all the treatments were not significantly different (P>0.05) from each other. No ill-health was encountered as a result of feeding treated Kyasuwa with urea and or poultry droppings

ADOPTION OF SYNCHRONOUS INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN ACCOUNTING IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA

The main purpose of the study was to determine the effect of adoption of synchronous instructional strategies on students’ academic performance in Accounting in secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State. This study adopted a quasi-experimental research design using the post-test only static-group comparison. The population of the study was 1250 senior secondary two (SS2) students offering Accounting in public secondary schools in Uyo Metropolis, Akwa Ibom State. The sample of the study was 90 students grouped into 3 intact classes without randomization. In order to measure and compare students’ levels of academic performance, achievement test in Accounting was used. The instrument was face validated by three experts in Department of Business Education, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. The internal consistency reliability of the instrument was determined using test-retest method. A reliability figure was calculated using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Co-efficient which gave a reliability index of 0.82. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while independent t-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results revealed that students taught Accounting using traditional (face-to-face) method perform better than those taught using synchronous (video conferencing or virtual classroom) instructional strategies. The findings also revealed that there is a significant difference in academic performance of students taught Accounting using synchronous (video conferencing or virtual classroom) instructional strategies and those taught using traditional method in public secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State. It is therefore recommended that school administrators and stakeholders should provide functional technologies that would enable teachers to adopt video conferencing and virtual classroom in teaching and learning in secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State.  Article visualizations

Comparative Study on The Potency of Antibiotic Discs With Commercially Sold Antibiotics on Clinical Isolates From Urinary Tract

A total of 250 urine samples were collected from patients attending Ahmadu Bello University Health Service Clinic (Sick bay), Salama Hospital and Major Ibrahim Abdullahi Memorial Hospital (Kaduna State Ministry of Health). The samples were screened for UTI and forty-three (43) were positive for Klebsiella and Escherichia coli. Of all the isolates, 24 were K. species and 19 were Escherichia coli. Their susceptibilities to Ampicillin, Ciprofloxacin and Gentamicin were examined using the antibiotics disc and the commercially sold antibiotics. The susceptibility of K. species to Ampicillin, Ciprofloxacin and Gentamicin for the antibiotics disc was 16.7%, 62.5% and 41.7% respectively. For the commercially sold antibiotics its susceptibility was 0%, 8.3% and 50.0% to Ampicillin, Ciprofloxacin and Gentamicin respectively. The susceptibility of Escherichia coli to Ampicillin, Ciprofloxacin and Gentamicin for the antibiotics disc was 31.6%, 52.6% and 57.9% respectively. For the commercially sold antibiotics its susceptibility was 0%, 36.8% and 31.6% to Ampicillin, Ciprofloxacin and Gentamicin respectively. Our results showed that antibiotics disc was more effective than the commercially sold antibiotics and that both organisms were resistant to Ampicillin but susceptible to Gentamicin and Ciprofloxacin.Keywords: Potency, Antibiotics, Disc Isolates, Urinary tractNigerian Journal of Basic and Applied Science (2011), 19(2):231- 23

Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B surface antigenaemia among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at General Hospital Aliero, Kebbi State, Northern-Nigeria

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Petroleum Product as Substrate for the Production of Biosurfactive Amphiphlies by Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

Biosurfactant production by Pseudomonas aeruginosa by utilizing diesel as the source of energy and carbon was studied in this research. Biosurfactant-producing strain of the organism was isolated from hydrocarbon-contaminated water and grown in a mineral medium supplemented with diesel. Production of biosurfactant was assayed by monitoring the increase in cell concentration, biosurfactant concentration, emulsification index and decrease in surface tension. Highest level of cell concentration and biosurfactant concentration (3.3^108CFU/ml and 0.0108mg/ml respectively) were obtained at 132hrs. Emulsification index reached its maximum with 33.3% at 108hrs. Surface tension reached its minimum at 120hrs with a value of 1.1^10-6N/m. The results showed that diesel can be utilized by P. aeruginosa to produce biosurfactant and early stationary phase isolates can be used to obtain higher yield. It also revealed the increasing potentiality of microorganisms in the aspect of oil spill cleanup and rapid reclamation of contaminated lands and water bodies.Keywords: Biosurfactant, diesel, surface tension, emulsification index, cell biomass, Pseudomonas aeruginosa