Physicochemical Assessment of Ground Water Quality from Borehole and Hand Dug Wells around Obajana Community, Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria

The groundwater qualities of Obajana in Kogi State were determined. The study consisted of the determination of some heavy metals and physicochemical properties of drinking water samples. The samples were analyzed for the following parameters iron, copper, manganese, zinc, lead,using AAS Varian AA240FS. Nitrates, sulphate, phosphate, colour, dissolved solids, electrical conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), temperature, turbidity, total hardness and total alkalinity using standard method. The data showed the variation of the investigated parameters in samples as follows: temperature 26-30oC,  pH 5.53-7.89, electrical conductivity (EC) 6.210-339.670 μS/cm, total hardness 50.00- 424.20 mg/l, alkalinity 1.10-145.67mg/l, turbidity 0.00-34 FTU, colour 5-15TCU, phosphate 0.02-0.760 mg/l, nitrate 10.24-48.20mg/l, sulphate  24.70-222.13mg/l, dissolved oxygen 0.2-1.8 mg/l,  BOD 0.2-1.0mg/l, COD 1.1-3.2mg/l, Cu 0.00.1-0.10mg/l , Fe 0.01-0.060mg/l, Zn 0.029-5.046mg/l, Mn  0.0-0.44mg/l and Pb 0.0348-1.046mg/l. The concentrations of some of the investigated parameters in the drinking water samples from the research region were above the permissible limits of the World Health Organization standard for drinking water quality guidelines. lead was found to exceed 0.01mg/l which is the WHO maximum limit, also zinc and manganese were found to exceed the WHO maximum limit of 3.0mg/l and 0.1mg/l

Influence of crop residue ration supplementation on the attainment of puberty and postpartum reproductive activities of Red Sokoto goats

The general objective of this study was to come up with an appropriate, affordable and locally available crop residue supplementation package that would enhance reproductive performance in small ruminants. Specifically, 28 Red Sokoto weaner does between 3 and 4 months of age weighing between 2 and 3 kg were used in the first experiment to determine the influence of crop residue supplementation on age and weight at puberty as determined by blood progesterone levels. In the second experiment, another 28 adult does (equal to or greater than 2 years old) of the same breed in the same flock with lactation numbers between 1 and 3 were used to determine the length of postpartum acyclic period. In both experiments, a 3 x 2 factorial experimental design comprising three dietary supplements (A, B, C) at two feeding levels (1% and 2% of body weight) fed in addition to a basal diet of Digitaria smutsii hay and natural pasture ad libitum with an unsupplemented negative control group (D) and four goats per treatment was utilized. In ration A, a conventional concentrate supplement consisting of maize, wheat offal, cottonseed cake and bonemeal was utilized; in rations B and C, the supplement consisted of guinea-corn bran, cowpea husk and groundnut haulms; and maize offal, groundnut shells and groundnut haulms respectively. Unsupplemented (ration D) weaner does reached puberty at a later age and had lighter body weights than all the others. Weaner does on ration 2A (concentrate fed at 2% of body weight) attained puberty at the earliest age and heaviest body weight, although the age at puberty was not significantly different from those on rations 1A (concentrate fed at 1% body weight), 1C and 2C. Blood progesterone profiles before and after puberty ranged from 0.05 to 9.0 ng/ml, respectively, and was highest in does fed rations A and C and least in the unsupplemented does. The mean interval between kidding and initiation of ovarian activity was 54.28 plus or minus 17.61 days and the mean interval between kidding and conception was 63.04 plus or minus 25.34 days. Only 25% of the unsupplemented does conceived again during the period under study compared with 100% in rations 1A, 2A, 1C and 2C; 75% in ration 2B and 50% in ration 1B. It was concluded that implementation of supplementary feeding in the dry season improves reproductive performance in the Red Sokoto doe. Furthermore, ration C, a crop residue-based ration, was a suitable dry season supplementation alternative to the expensive conventional concentrate ration for the smallholder goat farmer in the subhumid tropics of Nigeria

Transalkylation of xylene and benzene over ZnO/SiO2 catalyst

Liquid phase transalkylation of mixture of xylene and benzene was investigated over ZnO/SiO2 catalyst in a batch reactor under continuous stirring using a magnetic stirrer with a temperature regulator. The prepared ZnO/SiO2 was characterized using Brunauer-Emmet-Teller Surface Area Analysis (BET), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), and Fourier Transfom InfraRed Spectroscopy (FTIR). Also, the effect of catalyst loading, reaction temperature and time were studied. The BET results obtained shows that there is an increase in the surface area of ZnO/SiO2 when compared to that of the parent SiO2. Impregnation of ZnO unto the SiO2 does not affect the parent structure of the SiO2 as depicted by the XRD result. Ethylbenzene is the product obtained from the transalkylation reaction and its yield is favored at a lower catalyst loading of 0.4 wt% as compared to 0.7 wt% and 1.0 wt% weight of xylene. A study of the effect of reaction temperature at 45 minutes on the yield shows that the yield is likely to increase with temperature. The maximum ethylbenzene yield obtained was approximately 62% at 60 oC and 75 minutes.Keywords: Transalkylation, ZnO/SiO2, Catalysis, Aromatics, Zinc Oxide, Silic