A Study of Hospital Waste Generation and Management Practice in Akure, Nigeria

This study was carried out in Akure, the capital of Ondo State, Nigeria to assess the current practice of hospital wastes management, the magnitude and variety of wastes and the awareness of the stakeholders on the implications of their activities. The composition of wastes found in the 20 healthcare facilities visited included garbage, syringes, swabs, gauze, pads, sharps, paper, glass materials, plastics and allied, clothing materials, wastewater with blood traces and the likes. The results revealed that there is no uniform practice of hospital waste management among the hospitals studied. The study recommended that there should be source segregation of waste within each hospital as all wastes are often mixed in the same waste basket. It further recommended that government and the relevant agents should be at alert to their responsibilities of regulating the waste management practices among the hospitals in the city. Keywords: Diagnosis, Hospital, Infectious wastes, Generation, Segregation, Management, Pathogenic organisms.African Research Review Vol. 2 (3) 2008: pp. 292-30

Effects of Weeding Frequency on the Yield and Shelf-life Performance of Tomato (Lycopersicon Lycopersicum (L) Mill.)

This study assessed the effects of different weeding frequencies on the yield, performance and shelf life of tomato. Plants under two weeks weeding interval, excelled in terms of growth, yield and storage performance compared to control and other plants under different weeding frequencies. The loss of frit it quality and rate of decay depended on the weeding frequencies and storage methods. For all the parameters investigated, fruits from no weeding (control) appeared to be more perishable in all the three storage methods than 2 weeks weeding interval. Incubator was the most effective storage method but not significantly different from that of evaporative coolant structure irrespective of the weeding frequencies Evaporative coolant structure was discovered to be more beneficial and convenient for the rural farmers because it is cheaper, accessible and stores tomato fruits well for a considerable length of time

Comparative Study of Biogas Yield Pattern in Some Animal and Household Wastes

This research was a laboratory based work which compared Biogas yield patterns in some animal and household wastes. The parameters studied included dilution and concentration of substrates, the effect of available space in the digester, and the comparative biogas yield from different wastes. The method of research involved keeping all parameter constant and varying just one, to enhance accurate experimental results. Hence, parameters such as ambient temperature, volume of pyrex, weight of substrate, was kept constant while the water dilution ratio was being varied to achieve the optimum dilution ratio. In the same vein, all other parameters were constant while the volume of pyrex was varied to achieve the optimum digester space. The results showed that the optimum dilution and concentration were 2ml/g and 500mg/l respectively and the tighter the digester, the more the volume of biogas produced. It was also discovered that rabbit waste produced the highest volume of biogas, followed by pig waste. African Research Review Vol. 2 (4) 2008: pp. 54-6

Effect on some management practices on the performance of tomato (Lycopersicon eseulentum: mill)

Two experiments were conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm, University of Ibadan, Ibadan during thel997 and 1998 cropping seasons, to investigate the combined effects of tillage, staking and mulching on the grow.th and yield fJel"fonnance of tomatoes. Growth, yield and yield parameters of tomato were significantly (P<0.05) affected by all the treabnent combinations. Treabnent with full complement of management practices (i.e. tillage, staking and mulching) gave the best result for all parameters  considered while the control (no tillage, no staking and no mulching) gave the poorest performance in temis of growth and fruit yield A combination of tillage, staking and mulching was found to be one of the cultural inputs capable of enhancing tomato production in the sou/hem guinea savanna ecological zone

Effect of plant age and injury on the pathogenicity of Choanephora cucurbitarum in okra Abelmoschus esculentus Moench

No Abstract

Evaluation of the pathogenic responses of some okra lines to cucumber mosaic virus

A screenhouse experiment was carried out at the Crop production pavilion of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ilorin to evaluate the symptom and growth responses of some okra lines obtained from the National Horticultural Institute (NIHORT) Ibadan, Nigeria to a pepper isolate of cucumber mosaic virus (CMV, genus- Cucumovirus, Family - Bromoviridae). The lines evaluated were OLA99/3A, OLA99/7, OLA99/12-2, OLA99/R2-1 and OLA99/LB. The results showed all the lines as susceptible manifestingdisease symptoms, which included initial leaf mottling that later developed pale green to dark green mosaic pattern and in severe cases there were leaf rugose and stunting of plant some three to four weeks after inoculation. However, the degree of susceptibility was observed to vary with the lines. A tolerance rating system, based on cumulative mean losses incurred in selected growth and yield attributes, showed OLA99/LB as very tolerant and OLA99/3A as moderately tolerant. The others were judged as not tolerant to CMV infection. The results indicate the possibility of further breeding efforts leading ultimately to the production of resistant varieties.Keywords: Okra lines, CMV, Pathogenicity, mock- and viral-inoculation,tolerance ratin