Rate of Sediment Yield in the Conveyance Canals of Kano River Irrigation Project (Phase I) North-Western Nigeria

This study examined the rate of sedimentation in the conveyance canals of Kano River Irrigation Project (Phase I). Five canals were sampled from the total number of canals using systematic sampling technique. The base lines of the canals were taken to be the transect line, and all the samples were taken with reference to the transect line using simple random sampling. The method adopted was a combination of volumetric analysis and filtration method for field and laboratory work respectively. Variables investigated include canal discharge at pre and post siltation period, sediment texture, and sedimentation of the canals. Descriptive statistics with the use of tables (as means total and percentages) was used for the analysis and presentation of data collected on canals discharge, sediment texture and suspended and dissolved sediments. The deposit consists of a fine sand fraction (76.3%) with a small amount of clay and silt of about 12.04% and 11.66% respectively. The average canal concentration for the suspended sediment concentration was found to be 8474.4 ton per annum. Although result of student t-test revealed no difference between the present and potential discharge the canals discharge has reduced by 47%. And this in turn affected the farms by reducing the total designed irrigable hectares of land. Many factors are believed to have contributed to the increase of sediments in the canals which include movement of farm tractors across the canals, poor irrigation practice by the farmers, and lack of adequate maintenance. It is recommended among other things that: there should be effective maintenance and monitoring of the canals through regular disilting and cleaning the canals by the participant farmers and the government. Keywords: Canals, siltation, discharge, texture, accumulation

Effect of Hibiscus sabdariffa Calyx (Zobo) on the Growth Performance of Broilers (Obamarshal) Chickens

Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is a leaf use to make a drink locally known as zobo. The seed is considered an excellent feed for chicken because of the presence of certain vitamins especially vitamin C which is known for its antioxidant property hence stimulating the immune system. Farmers are constantly seeking for cheaper and healthier means to improve the quality of meat and weight of broilers. Also cheap and readily available synthetic drugs including antibiotics that were used as growth promoters have been banned due to their side effect in both poultry and human health. Many attempts have been made locally by farmers to use natural plant as supplements for birds to replace synthetic antibiotics. There is also a significant lack of knowledge about the beneficial effect of Hibiscus sabdariffa in poultry. Although other supplements such as anise seed (pinpinell anisume )have been used to improve meat characteristics and carcass weight, there is a suggestion that calyxes of roselle (zobo) may be used as best alternative. The study aims to test the effect of feeding different level of “zobo” in drinking water on the growth performance of broilers.Fifty day old broilers were sourced and exposed to the same feeding, watering and other management conditions like vaccinations and treatment until they were 4 weeks old. They were then divided into groups of 10 and treated with different concentrations of roxelle calyx gotten from water and ethanol extraction. The groups were A1 (broiler chicks on 1g/4l water extract of roselle calyx), A2 (broiler chick on 1g/4L ethanol extract of roselle calyx), B1 (broiler chick on 2g/4L water extract of roselle calyx), B2 (broiler chick on 2g/4L ethanol extract of roselle calyx) and C which were the control (broilers on plain water). Rectal temperatures were taken every Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the mornings and evenings. Live weight, carcass weight, dislocated carcass weight, internal organs and feed intake were the response criteria used when broilers were 8 weeks old. The birds (A2) on Hibiscus sabdariffa had the highest weight gain and consumed the largest quantity of feed as compared to control. This was statistically significant (P˂0.05). It can be concluded from this study that roselle calyx (zobo) tends to enhance weight gain, feed consumption and conversion in broilers. Keywords: Roselle calyx, zobo, water extract, ethanol extract, weight gain

Children who are both wasted and stunted are also underweight and have a high risk of death: a descriptive epidemiology of multiple anthropometric deficits using data from 51 countries.

BACKGROUND: Wasting and stunting are common. They are implicated in the deaths of almost two million children each year and account for over 12% of disability-adjusted life years lost in young children. Wasting and stunting tend to be addressed as separate issues despite evidence of common causality and the fact that children may suffer simultaneously from both conditions (WaSt). Questions remain regarding the risks associated with WaSt, which children are most affected, and how best to reach them. METHODS: A database of cross-sectional survey datasets containing data for almost 1.8 million children was compiled. This was analysed to determine the intersection between sets of wasted, stunted, and underweight children; the association between being wasted and being stunted; the severity of wasting and stunting in WaSt children; the prevalence of WaSt by age and sex, and to identify weight-for-age z-score and mid-upper arm circumference thresholds for detecting cases of WaSt. An additional analysis of the WHO Growth Standards sought the maximum possible weight-for-age z-score for WaSt children. RESULTS: All children who were simultaneously wasted and stunted were also underweight. The maximum possible weight-for-age z-score in these children was below - 2.35. Low WHZ and low HAZ have a joint effect on WAZ which varies with age and sex. WaSt and "multiple anthropometric deficits" (i.e. being simultaneously wasted, stunted, and underweight) are identical conditions. The conditions of being wasted and being stunted are positively associated with each other. WaSt cases have more severe wasting than wasted only cases. WaSt cases have more severe stunting than stunted only cases. WaSt is largely a disease of younger children and of males. Cases of WaSt can be detected with excellent sensitivity and good specificity using weight-for-age. CONCLUSIONS: The category "multiple anthropometric deficits" can be abandoned in favour of WaSt. Therapeutic feeding programs should cover WaSt cases given the high mortality risk associated with this condition. Work on treatment effectiveness, duration of treatment, and relapse after cure for WaSt cases should be undertaken. Routine reporting of the prevalence of WaSt should be encouraged. Further work on the aetiology, prevention, case-finding, and treatment of WaSt cases as well as the extent to which current interventions are reaching WaSt cases is required

Associations of Suboptimal Growth with All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality in Children under Five Years: A Pooled Analysis of Ten Prospective Studies

Background: Child undernutrition affects millions of children globally. We investigated associations between suboptimal growth and mortality by pooling large studies. Methods: Pooled analysis involving children 1 week to 59 months old in 10 prospective studies in Africa, Asia and South America. Utilizing most recent measurements, we calculated weight-for-age, height/length-for-age and weight-for-height/length Z scores, applying 2006 WHO Standards and the 1977 NCHS/WHO Reference. We estimated all-cause and cause-specific mortality hazard ratios (HR) using proportional hazards models comparing children with mild (-2≤Z<-1), moderate (-3≤Z<-2), or severe (Z<-3) anthropometric deficits with the reference category (Z≥-1). Results: 53809 children were eligible for this re-analysis and contributed a total of 55 359 person-years, during which 1315 deaths were observed. All degrees of underweight, stunting and wasting were associated with significantly higher mortality. The strength of association increased monotonically as Z scores decreased. Pooled mortality HR was 1.52 (95% Confidence Interval 1.28, 1.81) for mild underweight; 2.63 (2.20, 3.14) for moderate underweight; and 9.40 (8.02, 11.03) for severe underweight. Wasting was a stronger determinant of mortality than stunting or underweight. Mortality HR for severe wasting was 11.63 (9.84, 13.76) compared with 5.48 (4.62, 6.50) for severe stunting. Using older NCHS standards resulted in larger HRs compared with WHO standards. In cause-specific analyses, all degrees of anthropometric deficits increased the hazards of dying from respiratory tract infections and diarrheal diseases. The study had insufficient power to precisely estimate effects of undernutrition on malaria mortality. Conclusions: All degrees of anthropometric deficits are associated with increased risk of under-five mortality using the 2006 WHO Standards. Even mild deficits substantially increase mortality, especially from infectious diseases

Extended hybrid conjugate gradient method for unconstrained optimization

In this paper, a new search direction vectors are defined for BFGS-CG proposed by Ibrahim et al. by combining it with a term from the search direction vector expression proposed in modified PRP scheme of Zhang et al. in order to keep the descent property of the scheme. In addition, an update parameter of PRP is proposed to improve the performance of the algorithm. This new scheme known as Extended Hybrid BFGS – CG (EHCG) method is globally convergent with Armijo-type line search. Preliminary numerical results show that the method is efficient when subjected to comparison with classical PRP, modified PRP and conventional BFGS – CG algorithms.Keywords: Global convergence, Hybrid Conjugate Gradient Method, Sufficient Descent Condition,Unconstrained Optimization

Comparative analyses of functional, pasting and morphological characteristics of native and modified tigernut starches with their blends

The effect of some physical and chemical treatments on the functional and pasting characteristics of native tigernut starch (TNNS), native sweet potato starch (SPNS) and blends of tigernut-sweet potato starch were studied. Native tigernut and sweet potato starches were subjected to physical (annealing and heat-moisture) and chemical (acetylation) modifications and compared to tigernut (T)-sweet potato (S) starches blends (T75:S25, T50:S50, T25:S75). Only heat-moisture treatment (THMT) significantly (p ≤ 0.05) increased water absorption capacity of the TNNS while only acetylation significantly (p ≤ 0.05) increased the oil absorption capacity of the native tigernut starch. The bulk density was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) reduced by annealing and acetylation. In addition, TNAS, mixture of blends and SPNS had higher swelling capacity than TNNS. The final and peak viscosities of TNNS, SPNS and all the starch blends were between (217–280 RVU) and (214–395.3 RVU) respectively with SPNS having the highest values, followed by T75:S25 (75% tigernut starch: 25% sweet potato starch) and TNNS in that order. TNNS also had the highest setback viscosity. Samples THMT, TANN and TNAS significantly (p ≤ 0.05) reduced the breakdown viscosity and the pasting temperature. The scanning electron micrograph showed that the native and modified starches of tigernut were similar to those of other starches. Overall, the results showed that many of the pasting characteristics of TNNS were comparable to SPNS, while SPNS had with better functional characteristics