Assessment methods as effective tools for learning outcomes of students in senior secondary schools in Ila-Orangun, south western Nigeria

Different methods of assessment on the students learning outcomes in Agricultural Science at five different secondary schools in Ila-Orangun, Osun State were studied. An arm of a class was used for each test; Continuous Assessment (CA) and Conventional Method (CM) were used for each arm. Students were taught during their normal school times for the maximum time of forty minutes thrice a week. There were ten objective questions weekly for each assessment of the students in the CA method for six weeks. The same questions were used throughout for all the schools, done simultaneously for CA. Also, sixty questions at once at the end of the sixth week for CM. Standard deviation and regression equations for the mean values were used in the analysis. The results show that CA could be adjudged to be better off than the CM because of its higher mean values in all the schools than the CM. The higher R2 values of 0.99 and 0.88 revealed stronger correlation between different methods of assessment and the targeted learners. The CA test should be used instead of CM; the CM does not make learners to gain much cognitive knowledge when compare with what CA does to students

Yield performances of tomatoes (Lycopersicum esculentum) on organic manure buffered lateritic soils

Lateritic soils are found in many farms even though they have not been known to be encouragingly productive to farmers because of their non-supportive of agricultural products. This experiment was to help farmers whose lands are lateritic to produce more crops/ha when buffered with organic manure. There were six treatments namely: laterite soil, laterite soil buffered with organic manure, laterite soil buffered with NPK 15-15-15, sandy loam soil, sandy loam soil buffered with organic manure (OM) and sandy loam soil buffered with NPK 15-15-15. There were three replicates for each treatments, the arrangement was 2 × 6 × 3 factorial design of 36 pots, parameters measured during the experiment were days to emergency, days to flowering, days to fruiting, number of branches, number of fruits per plant, nodes and internodes, stem girth length, leaf length of plant, plant height (from the surface of the soil to the apex (tip) of the plant) at twice a week and number of leaves per plant counted and recorded each week. The whole arrangements were subjected to the same environmental and climatic conditions. Chemical and physical characteristics of the soil in different treatments were done in the laboratory before and after. The data collected were subjected to two-way ANOVA. The results revealed that seed germination percentage was higher in sandy-loam buffered soil, 92.5%, followed by lateritic buffered soil 87.5%. Statistical analysis showed statistical differences among the yield and yield parameters for types of soil. However, the growth parameters taken as height, number of leaves, fresh and dry weight were found to be higher in sandy-loam soil followed by laterite soil and finally alluvium soil. Statistical analysis of these also showed significant differences between the types of soil used. Laterite buffered soil could yield as high as sandy loam soil in the production of tomatoes.Keywords: buffered laterite, number of leaves, sandy-loam, soil factor

Fungi associated with a dry invasive white patches on trunks of economic fruit trees in south-west Nigeria

An unprecedented number of fungal and fungal-like diseases are the main threat to the diversity and productivity of economic fruit trees in south-west Nigeria. The objective of this study was to investigate the fungi associated with dry invasive whitish patches, noticeable on trunks and branches of cocoa ( Theobroma cacao ), kola-nut ( Cola spp.) and sweet orange ( Citrus sinensis ) trees prevalent in south-west Nigeria. A total of 108 whitish patch scraped samples were aseptically obtained from the affected cocoa, kola-nut and sweet orange trees in Osogbo, Ife, Ejigbo and Ilesha plantations in south-west Nigeria for this study. Viable fungal populations, were determined using the spread-plate techniques; and pure fungal isolates were identified through their morphological appearance, microscopic features and sporing structures. Mean viable fungal count in the samples ranged from 3.85 x 104 \ub1 0.00 to 9.75 x 103 \ub1 0.00 CFU g-1. Viable fungal counts were significantly different (P < 0.05) between fruit tree species and across locations. A total of 52 fungal species belonging to 21 genera were isolated, with Aspergillus and Penicillium as predominating and occurring at 23 and 17%, respectively. Other isolated genera included seven from cocoa trees; ten from kola-nut trees and five from sweet orange trees. There is need for appropriate control strategies to prevent further spread in contiguous plantations.Un nombre sans pr\ue9c\ue8dent de champignons et de maladies fongiques sont les menaces principales \ue0 la diversit\ue9 et \ue0 la productivit\ue9 des fruitiers \ue0 valeur \ue9conomique dans le sud-ouest du Nig\ue9ria. L\u2019objectif de cette \ue9tude \ue9tait d\u2019investiguer les champignons associ\ue9s aux taches invasives s\ue8ches blanch\ue2tres, visibles sur les troncs et les branches du cacaoyer ( Theobroma cacao ), colatiers ( Cola spp.) et l\u2019oranger sucr\ue9 ( Citrus sinensis ) pr\ue9valent dans le sud-Ouest du Nig\ue9ria. Un total de 108 \ue9chantillons de taches blanch\ue2tres racl\ue9es a \ue9t\ue9 aseptiquement obtenues des pieds de cacaoyer, colatier et oranger sucr\ue9 dans les plantations de Osogbo, Ife, Ejigbo et Ilesha dans le sud-Ouest du Nig\ue9ria pour cette \ue9tude. Des populations viables de champignons, ont \ue9t\ue9 d\ue9termin\ue9es en utilisant les techniques de plaque de diffusion\ua0; et des isolats purs de champignons ont \ue9t\ue9 obtenus \ue0 travers leur apparence morphologique, les caract\ue9ristiques microscopiques et les structures de production des spores. Le nombre moyen de champignon dans les \ue9chantillons variait de 3,85 x 104 \ub1 0,00 au 9,75 x 103 \ub1 0,00 CFU g-1. Les nombres de champignons viables ont \ue9t\ue9 significativement diff\ue9rents (P < 0,05) parmi les esp\ue8ces fruiti\ue8res et \ue0 travers les localit\ue9s. Un total de 52 esp\ue8ces de champignons appartenant \ue0 21 genres ont \ue9t\ue9 isol\ue9es, avec Aspergillus et Penicillium as les plus pr\ue9dominants et apparaissant \ue0 23 et 17%, respectivement. Autres genres d\u2019isolats comprennent sept de cacaoyers, dix des colatiers et cinq des orangers sucr\ue9s. Il y a n\ue9cessit\ue9 de d\ue9termines des strat\ue9gies appropri\ue9es de contr\uf4le pour pr\ue9venir la propagation avanc\ue9e dans les plantations contigu\uebs

Response of Sweet Potato Storability with Different Pre-storage Treatments at Ambient Temperature

The storage of sweet potato tuberous roots in tropical countries is a major challenge to farmers and retailers due to unfavourable climatic conditions. In this study, the storage performance of sweet potato roots in an ambient condition was investigated over a 12-week duration. The three different pre-storage treatments used were ash, alkaline solution (1.5 mol dm-3) and Siam weed (Chromolaena odorata) extract – to evaluate their effects on weight loss, shrinkage, weevil damage and sprouting. The control comprised tubers with no pre-treatment. It was observed that weight loss increased linearly from the inception of storage while shrinkage became apparent only after two (2) weeks. The percentage shrinkage of the tuber pre-treated with Siam weed increased at decreasing rate from 8 WAP. Treatment of tuber with Siam weed extract provided significantly higher protection against weevil damage (p > 0.05). After this, sprouting was initiated. By the 12th week, the Siam weed (Chromolaena odorata) extract treatment yielded better results. The Siam weed (Chromolaena odorata) treatment also recorded the lowest weight loss of 28% and lowest shrinkage of 2.8%. It also sustained less weevil damage at 33.5% compared with the other treatments. Sprouting was higher in the tuber without pre-storage treatment. The alkaline solution and ash treatments had varied degree of performance for all the indicators. Keywords: Sweet potato storability, Ambient condition, Pre-storage treatment, Chromolaena odorat

Testing for equality of means with equal and unequal variances

In this paper, we are interested in comparing the conventional t –test with the proposed t – test for testing equality of means with unequal and equal variances. Here, we proposed harmonic mean of variances as an alternative to the pooled sample variance when there is heterogeneity of variances. Two sets of secondary data were obtained from Agricultural Development Project (KWADP) and the Ministry of Agriculture in Ilorin, Kwara State to demonstrate the two test statistics used and the results show that the proposed t – test statistic is found to be appropriate than the conventional t – test statistic when we have unequal variances but the conventional t – test perform better when we have equal variances