Gender Differentials and Adoption of Drought Tolerant Maize Varieties among Farmers in Northern Nigeria

This study examined gender differences in farmer’s adoption of drought tolerant maize (DTM) varieties in Northern Nigeria. Specifically, it described the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers by gender; determined their rate of adoption of the DTM varieties; and analysed the factors affecting the rate of adoption of the varieties. The study was conducted in seven: Borno, Bauchi, Kano, Kaduna, Niger, Zamfara, and Kwara states of Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 946 respondents, comprising 626 males and 320 females. Data were collected with the use of a survey questionnaire that contained questions on respondent’s socio- economic characteristics such as age, years of schooling, household size, farm size, access to credit, level of awareness and adoption of DTM varieties and extension contact, among others. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and probit regression model. The results for the entire respondents showed average values of 46 years for age, seven years for year of schooling, 11 for household size, 6.93 for farm size and 5.7 ha for land area allocated to maize, with a significant difference (p<0.05) between male and female farmers for each of the variables. The adoption rate of DTM was 56.3% on the average in the entire sample with a significant difference (p<0.05) between male (61.8%) and female farmers (53.5%). The determinants of adoption of DTM varieties for both male and female farmers were access to credit, participation in field days, household size, fertilizer application, source of seeds and level of awareness of the variety, specific to male farmers was land area allocated to maize and number of livestock while source of information about the DTM variety was specific to female famers. It was concluded that policy strategies aimed at improving the uptake of DTM varieties must consider equality in male and female farmers’ access to basic resources, such as credit, land, labour, and participation in different meetings. Keywords: Gender, Drought tolerant, Maize varieties, Adoption, Nigeria.

Gain enhancement of dielectric resonator antenna for millimeter wave applications

In this paper, dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) with enhanced gain operating on the higher order mode (15 ) is presented. The dielectric resonator antenna with dielectric constant of 10 and loss tangent of 0.002 is used. The DRA is fed by microstrip line through an aperture slot. The proposed antenna is designed at 26 GHz and achieved a gain of 7.9 dBi with corresponding simulated radiation efficiency of 93%. The impedance bandwidth of 1.5 GHz from 25.1 GHz to 26.6 GHz has been achieved. The reflection coefficient, antenna gain, radiation patterns, and efficiency of the antenna are studied. Simulations are performed using CST microwave studio, and their results are presented

Gender Differentials in the Adoption of Drought-Tolerant Maize Varieties among Farmers in the Northern Region of Ghana

This study examined gender differences in farmers’ adoption of drought-tolerant maize (DTM) varieties in northern region of Ghana. Specifically, it described the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers by gender; determined their rate of adoption of the DTM varieties; and analyzed the factors affecting the rate of adoption of the varieties. The study was conducted in the Northern region of Ghana. Simple random sampling technique was used to obtain data from 600 respondents, comprising 551 males and 49 females. Data were collected with the use of a survey questionnaire that contained questions on respondents’ socio-economic characteristics such as age, years of schooling, household size, farm size, access to credit, level of awareness and adoption of DTM varieties and extension contact, among others. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and probit regression model. The results for the entire respondents showed average values of 49.75 years for age, 10.8 for household size, with a significant difference (p<0.05) between male and female farmers for each of the variables. Average farm size of 3.38 ha, with a significant difference (p<0.01) between male and female farmers for the variables. The adoption rate of DTM was 13.3% in the entire sample with a significant difference (p<0.05) between male (13.4%) and female farmers (12.2%). The determinants of adoption of DTM varieties for both male and female farmers were age of the household head, education, source of seed, and level of awareness, specific to male farmers was educational status of the respondents while farm size was specific to female famers. It was concluded that policy strategies aimed at improving the uptake of DTM varieties must consider equality in male and female farmers’ access to resources such as credit, labour and land. Keywords: Gender, Drought-tolerant, Maize varieties, Adoption, Ghana. DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/11-20-04 Publication date:October 31st 202

Determinants of cocoa farmer’s participation in the innovation platform of the humidtropics programme in Southwestern Nigeria

Open Access JournalIn an effort to determine factors influencing cocoa farmer’s participation in innovation platform (IP) activities of the Humidtropics programme, data was collected from purposively selected 177 farmers using multistage technique sampling technique and was gathered through the use of structured interview schedule. Data were collected and analyzed with percentage, frequency counts, mean, standard deviation and factor analysis. The study shows the mean age of the cocoa farmers in the IP to be 51.16±12.64 with about 52% aged above 50 years, female were only (23.73%), with more than 75th percentile literacy level and only about 31% of respondents generate annual income from farming above ₦50,000 while about 70% made below ₦40,000 extra income from other occupation. The mean farm size was 16.87 ±16.04 acre, farming experience 25.42±10.48 years and household size was 9.78±5.52. The six significant determinants of cocoa farmer’s participation in IP arranged in order of magnitude are psychological factor (λ = 3.158), experience factor (λ = 2.164), community related factor (λ = 1.697) educational factor (λ = 1.854), economic factor (λ =1.438) and internal factor (λ = 1.113). The summative effect of the identified factors accounted for 76.17 % variation observed in cocoa farmer’s participation in the IP

Weed Persistence, Crop Resistance and Phytotonic Effects of Herbicides in Maize (Zea mays) Production Under Different Weed Control Method and Poultry Manure in Kano State Nigeria

The research is financed by centre for dry land Agriculture Bayero University Kano for providing financial support and the management of Agronomy Department Bayero University, for providing technical support throughout the duration of the study (Sponsoring information). Abstract Results of experiment conducted during rainy season of 2016 and 2017 at teaching and research farm of Bayero university Kano, Livestock development centre Dangora with two different pre-emergence herbicides and two post-emergence herbicides all applied at two different rates, (S-Metolachlor 290 g/l + Atrazine 370 g/l at 2.0 kg a.i. ha-1 followed by Nicosulfuron at 100 g a.i.ha-1, S-Metolachlor 290 g/l + Atrazine 370 g/l 2.0 kg a.i. ha-1 followed by Bentazone at 2.5 kg a.i. ha-1, Metolachlor 375 g/l + Terbuthylazine 125 g/l + Mesotrione 37.5 g/l at 2.5 kg a.i ha-1 followed by Nicosulfuron at 100 g a.i. ha-1, Metolachlor 375 g/l + Terbuthylazine 125 g/l + Mesotrione 37.5 g/l at 2.5 kg a.i ha-1 followed by Bentazone at 2.5 kg a.i. ha-1, Two hoe weeded at 3 and 6 WAS and weedy check) three levels of poultry manure (0, 4, and 8 t ha-1) and NPK at the rate of 120kg N, 60kg P and 60kg K ha-1 and three maize varieties (SAMMAZ 15, SAMMAZ 21 and SAMMAZ 35). The experiments was laid out in a split-split plot design with variety allocated to the main plot, poultry manure to the sub-plot and weed control method to the sub-sub plot, and was replicated three times. The result from the study showed that two hoe weeding at 3 and 6WAS and Application of 3Maizeforce at 2.5 kg a.i. ha-1 followed by Bentazone at 2.5 kg a.i. ha-1, significantly revealed higher crop resistance index with medium persistence index of the weeds indicating broad spectrum effect in controlling the weeds, the said treatments were best herbicides for maize production. Furthermore the said treatment is recommended for weed control that can improve maize grain yield. Keywords: Weed Occurrence level, Weed persistence index, Crop resistance index and Phytotonic effect. DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/10-10-03 Publication date:May 31st 202

Metabolic Profiling in Maturity-Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY) and Young Onset Type 2 Diabetes Fails to Detect Robust Urinary Biomarkers

It is important to identify patients with Maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) as a molecular diagnosis determines both treatment and prognosis. Genetic testing is currently expensive and many patients are therefore not assessed and are misclassified as having either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Biomarkers could facilitate the prioritisation of patients for genetic testing. We hypothesised that patients with different underlying genetic aetiologies for their diabetes could have distinct metabolic profiles which may uncover novel biomarkers. The aim of this study was to perform metabolic profiling in urine from patients with MODY due to mutations in the genes encoding glucokinase (GCK) or hepatocyte nuclear factor 1 alpha (HNF1A), type 2 diabetes (T2D) and normoglycaemic control subjects. Urinary metabolic profiling by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and ultra performance liquid chromatography hyphenated to Q-TOF mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) was performed in a Discovery set of subjects with HNF1A-MODY (n = 14), GCK-MODY (n = 17), T2D (n = 14) and normoglycaemic controls (n = 34). Data were used to build a valid partial least squares discriminate analysis (PLS-DA) model where HNF1A-MODY subjects could be separated from the other diabetes subtypes. No single metabolite contributed significantly to the separation of the patient groups. However, betaine, valine, glycine and glucose were elevated in the urine of HNF1A-MODY subjects compared to the other subgroups. Direct measurements of urinary amino acids and betaine in an extended dataset did not support differences between patients groups. Elevated urinary glucose in HNF1A-MODY is consistent with the previously reported low renal threshold for glucose in this genetic subtype. In conclusion, we report the first metabolic profiling study in monogenic diabetes and show that, despite the distinct biochemical pathways affected, there are unlikely to be robust urinary biomarkers which distinguish monogenic subtypes from T2D. Our results have implications for studies investigating metabolic profiles in complex traits including T2D.publishedVersio

Effect of Heat Stress on Seed Production of Some Sorghum Varieties Under Irrigation in Northern Nigeria

Exposure of sorghum (sorghum bicolor) during flowering time for a period of 10-15 days to high temperature stress (>36-38oC) reduced pollen germination, failure of fertilization and flower abortion. A number of improved varieties of sorghum have recently been released for the Sudan and Sahel zones of Nigeria, with their dissemination limited by seed availability. To improve the supply of Breeder and Foundation seeds for production of certified, these varieties; SAMSORG 45 and SAMSORG 46 with two old but popular varieties SAMSORG 41 and SAMSORG 17 were grown under irrigation at Dadinkowa (10.18N, 11.27S) to assess their productivity during the dry season at two planting dates (October and January) for 2 seasons (2015 & 2016). Result showed that October planting which flowering and seed set coincided with the average maximum temperature of 27oC recorded in January produced good seed while December/January planting which flowering and seed set coincided with average maximum temperature of 42oC recorded in April had poor or no seed set on panicles especially in 2016. Rise in the average maximum temperature (2016) in the month of March (350C) and April 2016 (410C) resulted to 90-100% no seed set on SAMSORG 17, SAMSORG 45 and SAMSORG 46 as it coincided with the flowering time thus producing sterile panicle. This suggest that planting date and temperature significantly affect seed production of sorghum in the dry season

A dynamic portal for a community-driven, continuously updated classification of Fungi and fungus-like organisms: outlineoffungi.org

The website http://outlineoffungi.org, is launched to provide a continuous up-to-date classification of the kingdom Fungi (including fossil fungi) and fungus-like taxa. This is based on recent publications and on the outline of fungi and fungus-like taxa published recently (Mycosphere 11, 1060-1456, Doi: 10.5943/mycosphere/11/1/8). The website is continuously updated according to latest classification schemes, and will present an important platform for researchers, industries, government officials and other users. Users can provide input about missing genera, new genera, and new data. They will also have the opportunity to express their opinions on classifications with notes published in the 'Notes' section of the webpage following review and editing by the curators and independent experts. The website will provide a system to stay abreast of the continuous changes in fungal classification and provide a general consensus on the systematics of fungi

A wideband dielectric resonator antenna with a cross slot aperture for 5G communications

This paper represents design of a wideband Rectangular Dielectric Resonator antenna fed by an aperture coupled technique. A bandwidth of 2.2 GHz has been achieved using a cross slot aperture in a ground plane for Dielectric Resonator Antenna (DRA). The simulated gain value achieved is 6.5 dBi. The Rectangular Dielectric Resonator which has been designed in this paper can be used in 5G application frequency band of 24.25-27.5 GHz. The calculated percentage bandwidth is 15.38%. An optimization of slot dimensions has also mentioned which can help to select a desired impedance match. The measured gain and bandwidth are efficient to use this design for various 5G applications. This unit cell wideband DRA can be used for millimeter wave frequencies of 5G