Compliance with Residential Building Standards in the Context of Customary Land Tenure System in Ghana

Zoning regulation is considered as a tool used by government to control developments to ensure sustainability. In Ghana where about 80% of lands are held under customary land tenure systems, implementation of residential standards, which is a government function may conflict with customary norms of holding land. This paper uses case study to examine the implementation of residential policies and enforcement of residential standards in areas under customary land tenure in Ghana and if these policies and standards affect the enjoyment of land rights in the context of customary land tenure. Results showed that non-compliance to residential standards and non-conformity to the local plan has minimal interference on enjoyment of land rights. Residents are ignorant of the details of the residential standards and have never seen a zoning regulations document. There is also low level of monitoring and enforcement. Spatial analysis reveals four main types of non-conformity between orthophoto and local plans i) discrepancies in the orientation of the parcel boundaries, ii) discrepancies in the shapes of plot boundaries, iii) houses constructed on the plot boundary or straddle parcel boundaries, and iii) differences in plot sizes. Results suggest the need for planning authority to use efficient approaches such as GIS and UAV’s to communicate, monitor and enforce the residential standards. It is concluded that collaboration between customary land authorities and the Municipality during the allocation and development of plots may improve spatial conformity between orthophoto and the local plans

Study on the functional properties of potential indigenous probiotics isolated from human samples in West Africa

A study was performed to isolate and evaluate potential indigenous probiotic strains in Ghana. A total of 99 strains were isolated from human breast milk (n = 29) and fecal samples (n = 70), which were identified and characterized using methods ranging from plating growth tests and presumptive analysis at species level using MALDI-TOF MS, prior to validation through 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Gastrointestinal tolerance and ability to form biofilms in vitro were determined. Results indicated that out of 99 isolates, 25 were Gram-positive, catalase-negative rods. More than one-third was identified as Lactobacillus fermentum. Others were identified to be Lactobacillus (plantarum, rhamnosus, salivarius, reuteri), Enterococcus faecium, Weissella spp. and Pediococcus spp. Among the 25 isolates, 9 had activity against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive pathogens including reference or local clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella Typhi, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Almost all isolates were effective against P. aeruginosa, E. coli and S. Typhi. Thirteen isolates did not show activity towards S. aureus. The isolates were more effective against local pathogens tested than nonindigenous pathogens. The data showed survival of all studied isolate at pH 2, 3 and 6 followed by a successful growth of the co-cultured biofilm in a 3D Alvatex platform

Screening of cowpea germplasm for resistance to Striga gesnerioides in Niger

The parasitic weed, Striga gesnerioides, is a major constraint to cowpea production in sub-Saharan Africa. It causes significant yield reductions of cowpea, especially in dry areas. The objective of this study was to evaluate the response of 80 genotypes to Striga gesnerioides under natural infestation. The results showed significant variations in the resistance of cowpea lines to Striga; lines IT93K-693-2, IT99K-573-1-1 and IT98K-205-8 being free from Striga infestation; while lines 2491-171, 2472-154 and Suvita-2 supported few Striga shoots. The other lines supported more and varied numbers of emerged Striga shoots. The reduction of yield due to Striga infestation was more pronounced for the susceptible genotypes as compared to the resistant and tolerant lines. The high level of resistance observed in some breeding lines can be exploited in breeding cowpea for resistance to Striga. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and clustering grouped the genotypes in three main clusters as follow: (i) high yielding and tolerant to Striga (ii) moderate yielding and resistant (iii) low-yielding and susceptible.L\u2019herbe parasitaire, Striga gesnerioides est une contrainte majeure de la production du ni\ue9b\ue9 en Afrique subsaharienne. Elle cause des r\ue9ductions de rendement du ni\ue9b\ue9 tr\ue8s importantes dans les zones arides. Un criblage en vue d\u2019\ue9valuer la r\ue9action de 80 g\ue9notypes sous infestation naturelle du Striga a \ue9t\ue9 conduit au champ. Les r\ue9sultats ont montr\ue9 qu\u2019il y a des diff\ue9rences significatives dans la r\ue9sistance des lign\ue9es du ni\ue9b\ue9 au Striga. Les lign\ue9es du ni\ue9b\ue9 IT93K-693-2, IT99K-573-1-1 et IT98K-205-8 \ue9taient indemnes de pousses \ue9merg\ue9es du Striga tandis que les lign\ue9es 2491-171, 2472-154 et Suvita-2 ont support\ue9 peu de pousses \ue9merg\ue9es du Striga. Les autres lign\ue9es ont support\ue9 des nombres vari\ue9s de pousses \ue9merg\ue9es du Striga. L\u2019effet de l\u2019infestation du Striga a entrain\ue9 une r\ue9duction du rendement des g\ue9notypes sensibles compar\ue9s aux r\ue9sistants et aux tol\ue9rants. Le niveau \ue9lev\ue9 de r\ue9sistance observ\ue9 chez certaines lign\ue9es peut \ueatre exploit\ue9e dans l\u2019am\ue9lioration de la r\ue9sistance du ni\ue9b\ue9 au Striga. L\u2019analyse du composant principal et la hi\ue9rarchisation ont permis de grouper les g\ue9notypes en 3 principales grappes\ua0comme suit\ua0: (i) hautement productriceset tol\ue9rantes au Striga (ii) moyennement productrices et r\ue9sistantes (iii) faiblement productrices et sensibles

Groundnut production constraints and farmers’ trait preferences: a pre-breeding study in Togo

Background Groundnut is an important legume crop in Togo. However, groundnut yield has been steadily decreasing for decades as a result of lack of organized breeding program to address production constraints. Though, low yielding varieties and late leaf spot have been often reported as the most important constraints, there is no documented evidence. Identifying and documenting the major production constraints is a prerequisite for establishing a good breeding program with clearly defined priority objectives and breeding strategies. Thus, the objectives of this study were to identify groundnut production constraints and assess farmers’ preferred traits. Methods A participatory rural appraisal approach was used to collect data on agronomic practices, farmers’ preferences, and possible threats to production through individual and group interviews. Three regions and three villages per region were selected based on the representativeness of groundnut production systems. In each village, 20 farmers were randomly selected and interviewed; thus, a total of 180 farmers were interviewed. Content analysis was carried out for qualitative data and for quantitative data generated within and across regions, comparative descriptive statistics were carried out. Differences in perception and preferences were assessed using chi-square tests. Results The study has revealed that, though there were some variation across the regions, traits pertaining to yield such as pod yield (66.66%) and pod size (12.12%) were the most important. Leaf spot diseases, rosette and peanut bud necrosis (37.77%) and insects such as pod sucking bug and bruchid (27.77%) were considered to be the most important constraints limiting groundnut production. Among diseases, farmers in all the three regions indicated that late leaf spot is of economic importance which they associated to various causes such as maturity, drought, or insects. No gender differences were observed for the perception of constraints and groundnut traits preferences. Land size is significantly influenced by age and gender. Besides, farmers have pointed the lack of improved varieties and the unavailability of groundnut seeds highlighting the necessity of a sustainable groundnut seed system linked with a strong breeding program. Conclusion This study has enabled understanding of the farming practices, constraints, and farmers preferred characteristics, thus providing the basis for a participatory breeding program in Togo which should consider that farmers perceive low yielding varieties and diseases as major constraints to production

Innovations in market crop waste compost production: Use of black soldier fly larvae and biochar

Purpose Compost production technology and use are known among Ghanaians farmers. However, the long composting period averaging three months has had adverse effect on adoption. The black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae (BSFL) feed voraciously and breaks down organic wastes fast. Addition of rice husk biochar (RHB) neutralises acidity and aerates the compost. Combined application of BSFL and RHB to feedstocks could therefore reduce composting period and improve compost quality. Method Two studies were conducted with market crop waste (MCW) as feedstock. Firstly, feedstocks at two particle sizes (x 10 mm), with and without BSFL were evaluated to determine degradability, chemical content of the degraded residue and to select appropriate feedstock size ideal for composting. Secondly, the selected feedstocks size of between 5 mm and 10 mm were inoculated with or without BSFL and RHB of 0%, 5% 10% and 15% added. Composting trials were conducted in barrels inclined at 30o to facilitate drainage. Physicochemical and biological parameters of feedstock were monitored until maturity. Results Degradability of MCW by BSFL was feedstock specific rather than feedstock size. Inoculation of BSFL and biochar addition reduced composting period from 76 to 45 days. Biochar addition at 15% increased P availability to 1882 mg kg-1 but reduced total N to 10.5 g kg-1. E coli levels decreased in the BSFL-biochar composts to acceptable limits. Conclusion Composting MCW with BSFL and biochar reduced composting period and improved compost quality

Introgression of drought tolerance traits into adapted Kenyan chickpea varieties using marker assisted backcrossing (MABC)

Drought is the major constraint causing considerable yield reduction in chickpea. Roots play a critical role in enhancing drought tolerance. The main objective of the study was to introgress drought tolerant root traits into Kenyan chickpea varieties through marker assisted breeding (MABC). Eight simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, linked to quantitative trait loci (QTL) for root and yield traits, were used to screen the parents at ICRISAT, India. In addition, 1144 single nucleotide polymorphic markers (SNPs) were also used in genotyping these parents at Legume Genomics Center, United Kingdom. Crosses were made between two selected varieties, ICCV 92944 (Chania Desi II) and ICCV 00108 (LDT 068) and ‘QTL-hotspot’ donor parent ICC 4958 that has extensive rooting system. Polymor- In the face of increasing water scarcity, breeding for higher transpiration efficiency (TE), that is, the biomass produced per unit of water transpired, has become crucial. This could be achieved by reducing plant transpiration through a better closure of the stomatal pores at the leaf surface. However, this strategy generally also lowers growth, as stomatal opening is necessary for the capture of atmospheric CO2 that feeds daytime photosynthesis. Here, we considered the reduction in transpiration rate at night (En), when photosynthesis is inactive, as a possible strategy to limit water use without altering growth. We carried out a genetic analysis for En and TE in grapevine, a major crop in drought-prone areas. A 3 year experiment was conducted on the F1 progeny from a cross between Syrah and Grenache cultiphic SSR and SNP markers were used to select progenies with root QTL at F1, BC1F1 and BC2F1 that were later advanced to BC2F3. The BC2F3 populations were evaluated for root traits at Egerton University in randomized complete block design with two replications in pot experiment. The BC2F3 families were significantly different for root dry weight (RDW), shoot dry weight (SDW), total plant dry weight (PDW) and root to shoot dry weight (R/S) ratio (R/S) for Chania Desi II x ICC 4958 and R/S for LDT 068 x ICC 4958. These lineshad significantly improved root traits compared the recurrent parents. MABC is aneffective and efficient method of introgressing complex drought tolerant traits which leads to improvement in yield especially under drought conditions

Genetic diversity and inter-trait relationships among maize inbreds containing genes from Zea diploperennis and hybrid performance under contrasting environments

Open Access Journal; Published online: 27 Sep 2020Accurate estimation of genetic variability present in tropical maize inbreds with varying reactions to Strigahermonthica infestation is essential for efficient and sustainable utilization to ensure increased genetic gain in a breeding program. Thirty-six early maturing maize inbred lines and 156 single cross hybrids were evaluated under Striga-infested and non-infested conditions in Nigeria during the 2014 and 2015 cropping seasons. Under Striga infestation, grain yield ranged from 1134 kg ha−1 for TZEI 26 × TZEI 5 to 5362 kg ha−1 for TZdEI 173 × TZdEI 280. The average yield reduction of the hybrids under Striga infestation was 44% relative to the performance under non-infested environments. Using 4440 high-quality DArT markers, clustering and population structure analyses separated the inbred lines into three distinct groups based on the genetic distance indicating high level of genetic variability among the lines. The base index of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) identified 50% of the inbred lines as Striga resistant. The genetic diversity study provided an opportunity for selecting divergent parents for tagging candidate genes and quantitative trait loci for marker-assisted introgression of Striga resistance genes into early maturing tropical maize breeding populations. The most reliable secondary trait for indirect selection for grain yield under Striga infestation was the ear aspect

Genome-wide association mapping and genomic prediction for CBSD resistance in Manihot esculenta

Open Access Journal; Published online: 24 Jan 2018Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is an important security crop that faces severe yield loses due to cassava brown streak disease (CBSD). Motivated by the slow progress of conventional breeding, genetic improvement of cassava is undergoing rapid change due to the implementation of quantitative trait loci mapping, Genome-wide association mapping (GWAS), and genomic selection (GS). In this study, two breeding panels were genotyped for SNP markers using genotyping by sequencing and phenotyped for foliar and CBSD root symptoms at five locations in Uganda. Our GWAS study found two regions associated to CBSD, one on chromosome 4 which co-localizes with a Manihot glaziovii introgression segment and one on chromosome 11, which contains a cluster of nucleotide-binding site-leucine-rich repeat (NBS-LRR) genes. We evaluated the potential of GS to improve CBSD resistance by assessing the accuracy of seven prediction models. Predictive accuracy values varied between CBSD foliar severity traits at 3 months after planting (MAP) (0.27–0.32), 6 MAP (0.40–0.42) and root severity (0.31–0.42). For all traits, Random Forest and reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces regression showed the highest predictive accuracies. Our results provide an insight into the genetics of CBSD resistance to guide CBSD marker-assisted breeding and highlight the potential of GS to improve cassava breeding

Structural and Atropisomeric Factors Governing the Selectivity of Pyrimido-benzodiazipinones as Inhibitors of Kinases and Bromodomains

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from American Chemical Society via the DOI in this recordBromodomains have been pursued intensively over the past several years as emerging targets for the devel-opment of anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory agents. It has recently been shown that some kinase inhibitors are able to potently inhibit the bromodomains of BRD4. The clinical activities of PLK inhibitor BI-2536 and JAK2-FLT3 inhibitor TG101348 have been attributed to this unexpected poly-pharmacology, indicating that dual-kinase/bromodomain activity may be advantageous in a therapeutic context. However, for target validation and biological investigation, a more selec-tive target profile is desired. Here we report that benzo[e]pyrimido-[5,4-b]diazepine-6(11H)-ones, versatile ATP-site di-rected kinase pharmacophores utilized in the development of inhibitors of multiple kinases including a number of previ-ously reported kinase chemical probes, are also capable of exhibiting potent BRD4-dependent pharmacology. Using a dual kinase-bromodomain inhibitor of the kinase domains of ERK5 and LRRK2, and the bromodomain of BRD4 as a case study, we define the structure-activity relationships required to achieve dual kinase/BRD4 activity as well as how to di-rect selectivity towards inhibition of either ERK5 or BRD4. This effort resulted in identification of one of the first report-ed kinase-selective chemical probes for ERK5 (JWG-071), a BET selective inhibitor with 1 μM BRD4 IC50 (JWG-115), and additional inhibitors with rationally designed polypharmacology (JWG-047, JWG-069). Co-crystallography of seven representative inhibitors with the first bromodomain of BRD4 demonstrate that distinct atropisomeric conformers rec-ognize the kinase ATP-site and the BRD4 acetyl lysine binding site, conformational preferences supported by rigid dock-ing studies.This work was supported by NIH (Grant No. U54HL127365, to N.S.G. and J.W.; No. NIH P50 GM107618, to X.X. and S.C.B.; Nos. NIH U54 HD093540 and P01 CA066996, to J.Q.), the Medical Research Council (No. MC_UU_12016/2, to D.R.A.), the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) (Grant No. SAF2015-60268R, to J.M.L.), and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) funds (to J.M.L.). D.L.B. was supported as a Merck Fellow of Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation (No. DRG-2196-14)

Transcription control by the ENL YEATS domain in acute leukaemia

Recurrent chromosomal translocations producing a chimaeric MLL oncogene give rise to a highly aggressive acute leukaemia associated with poor clinical outcome. The preferential involvement of chromatin-associated factors as MLL fusion partners belies a dependency on transcription control. Despite recent progress made in targeting chromatin regulators in cancer, available therapies for this well-characterized disease remain inadequate, prompting the need to identify new targets for therapeutic intervention. Here, using unbiased CRISPR-Cas9 technology to perform a genome-scale loss-of-function screen in an MLL-AF4-positive acute leukaemia cell line, we identify ENL as an unrecognized gene that is specifically required for proliferation in vitro and in vivo. To explain the mechanistic role of ENL in leukaemia pathogenesis and dynamic transcription control, a chemical genetic strategy was developed to achieve targeted protein degradation. Acute loss of ENL suppressed the initiation and elongation of RNA polymerase II at active genes genome-wide, with pronounced effects at genes featuring a disproportionate ENL load. Notably, an intact YEATS chromatin-reader domain was essential for ENL-dependent leukaemic growth. Overall, these findings identify a dependency factor in acute leukaemia and suggest a mechanistic rationale for disrupting the YEATS domain in disease.K. LubinE. Wood