'If she gets married when she is young, she will give birth to many kids': a qualitative study of child marriage practices amongst nomadic pastoralist communities in Kenya

Child marriage is associated with adverse health and social outcomes for women and girls. Among pastoralists in Kenya, child marriage is believed to be higher compared to the national average. This paper explores how social norms and contextual factors sustain child marriage in communities living in conflict-affected North Eastern Kenya. In-depth interviews were carried out with nomadic and semi-nomadic women and men of reproductive age in Wajir and Mandera counties. Participants were purposively sampled across a range of age groups and community types. Interviews were analysed thematically and guided by a social norms approach. We found changes in the way young couples meet and evidence for negative perceptions of child marriage due to its impact on the girls’ reproductive health and gender inequality. Despite this, child marriage was common amongst nomadic and semi-nomadic women. Two overarching themes explained child marriage practices: 1) gender norms, and 2) desire for large family size. Our findings complement the global literature, while contributing perspectives of pastoralist groups. Contextual factors of poverty, traditional pastoral lifestyles and limited formal education opportunities for girls, supported large family norms and gender norms that encouraged and sustained child marriage

COMBINING ABILITY AND GENETIC ANALYSIS OF FRUIT AND LEAF YIELD IN GBOMA EGGPLANT

Gboma eggplant ( Solanum macrocapon L.) of the family Solanaceae is an important fruit and leafy indigenous vegetable in Africa. Despite the numerous nutritional, medicinal and economic benefits derived from the crop, little is known about the genetic parameters governing the inheritance and combining ability of the yield components. Thus, a study was conducted to investigate genetic information on the relevant yield components of the crop. Results showed significant mean squares for General Combining Ability, Specific Combining Ability effects for number of leaves per plant, fruit width and plant height, indicating the combining effect of additive, non-additive and maternal effects for expression for those traits. Conversely, significant (P< 0.05) SCA effects for number of branches per plant, leaf length, leaf width and fresh leaf weight indicated the preponderance of non-additive gene effect. GCA/SCA ratios for the various traits indicated that the relative contribution of additive to non-additive effects varied widely from trait to trait. Significant reciprocal effects for most of the traits were an indication that cytoplasmic or maternal gene effects played a major role in modifying the inheritance of the yield parameters, and that the choice of the maternal parent is relevant in breeding for these traits. Estimated GCA effect among the parents revealed that CAGRIC 03 has a breeding value for number of branches, plant height, fruit length, leaf length and fresh leaf weight, which makes it a valuable material for development of improved varieties. CAGRIC 01 was the promising combiner to increase fruit weight and number of leaves per plant. Hybrid P1xP2 was the best specific combiner to increase fruit width, leaf width and fruit width. High heritability estimates for most of the traits indicate that genetic variation was higher than the environmental variation in the study.Aubergine gboma ( Solanum macrocapon L.) de la famille des solanac\ue9esest un fruit important et l\ue9gumes indig\ue8nes feuillues en Afrique. Malgr\ue9 de nombreux avantages nutritionnels, m\ue9dicinaux et \ue9conomiques d\ue9coulant de la culture, peu est connu sur les param\ue8tres g\ue9n\ue9tiques r\ue9gissant l\u2019h\ue9ritage et la capacit\ue9 de combinaison des composants de rendement. Ainsi, une \ue9tude \ue9tait initi\ue9e pour g\ue9n\ue9rer del\u2019information g\ue9n\ue9tique sur d\u2019importants composants de rendementde la culture. Les r\ue9sultats ont montr\ue9 des carr\ue9s moyens significatifs pour \ue0 l\u2019aptitude generale de combinaison, les effets de la capacit\ue9 sp\ue9cifique de combinaison pour le nombre de feuilles par plante, la largeur des fruits et la hauteur de plant, ce qui t\ue9moign edes effets additifs et non additif et maternels combin\ue9s pour l\u2019expression de ces traits. Inversement, les effets significatifs (P <0,05) de CCSsur le nombre de branches par plant, la longueuret la largeur des feuilles ainsi que le poids de feuilles fra\ueeches indiquent la pr\ue9pond\ue9rance de l\u2019effet du g\ue8ne non-additif. Les rapports GCA/SCA pour les diff\ue9rents traits indiquent que la contribution relative de l\u2019additif aux effets non additifs variait largement d\u2019un trait \ue0 l\u2019autre. Des effets r\ue9ciproques significatifs pour la plupart des traits indiqueque les effets g\ue9n\ue9tiques cytoplasmique sou maternels ont jou\ue9 un r\uf4le majeur dans la modification de l\u2019h\ue9ritage des param\ue8tres de rendement et que le choix du parent maternel est pertinent dans l\u2019am\ue9lioration de ces traits. L\u2019effetestim\ue9 deGCA chez les parents a r\ue9v\ue9l\ue9 que CAGRIC 03 est d\u2019 une valeur ameliorative pour le nombre de branches, la hauteur de la plante, la longueur des fruits, la longueur des feuilles et le poids des feuilles fra\ueeches, ce qui en fait un mat\ue9riel pr\ue9cieux pour le d\ue9veloppement de vari\ue9t\ue9s am\ue9lior\ue9es. CAGRIC 01 \ue9tait le combinateur prometteur pour augmenter le poids de fruits et le nombre de feuilles par plant. L\u2019hybride P1xP2 \ue9tait le meilleur combineur sp\ue9cifique pour augmenter la largeur du fruit, la largeur des feuilles et la largeur du fruit. Des valeurs \ue9lev\ue9es d\u2019h\ue9ritabilit\ue9 pour la plupart des traits indiquent que la variation g\ue9n\ue9tique \ue9tait plus \ue9lev\ue9e que la variation environnementale dans l\u2019\ue9tude

Determination of flow patterns in industrial gold leaching tank by radiotracer residence time distribution measurement

The carbon-in-leach (CIL) process is one the most efficient methods of gold recovery from gold bearing ores. The efficiency of the leaching process greatly depends on the flow structure created by mechanical agitation (in some cases air agitation) in the leaching tanks. Residence time distribution (RTD) measurement was conducted in the CIL section of a gold processing plant in order to determine the flow structure in the first tank using the 131I radioactive tracer. The shape of the experimental data revealed that the flow behaviour in the tank was close to an ideal mixer. Modelling of the experimental data, however, revealed that the tank was not behaving as a single perfect mixer, but consisted of two mixing zones. The flow structure in the tank was best described by the “perfect mixers with exchange” model consisting of two mixing zones. The model allowed the determination of flow parameters including the mean residence time, flow rate and volumes of the mixing zones