Use of information sources by commercial farmers in three Zobatat of Eritrea

This study identifies the main sources of information used by commercial farmers in three Zobatat (regions) of Eritrea. A survey of 186 commercial farmers was conducted between November 2002 and February 2003. Results show that farmers' main sources of information vary according to enterprise type. For their production decisions, for example, poultry and dairy farmer respondents depend largely on information provided by veterinarians while horticulture and crop farmers rely mainly on the advice of extension agents. Policy recommendations include additional and appropriate recordkeeping training for farmers, improving the road and communications infrastructure, promoting commercial information providers, and for the Ministry of Agriculture to periodically publish an agricultural magazine in a way that farmers can understand the information provided. Keywords: information sources; commercial farmers; EritreaSouth African Journal of Agricultural Extension Vol. 34(1) 2005: 19-3

Analysis of some metals in some brands of tea sold in Kano, Nigeria

Tea leaves can be a source of mineral components and trace elements as well as some undesirable substances due to exposure to the environment. In this study, Mg, Fe, Ca, Zn, Mn, Cu and Pb were analyzed by Atomic Absorption spectrophotometer (AAS), K and Na were also determined by flame photometer. Among the metals analyzed, K was the most abundant, ranging from 30.00mg/dm3 in china sample to 34.60 mg/dm3 in Srilanka sample, followed by Mg with 9.03 mg/dm3 in India sample to 9.21 mg/dm3 in Srilanka sample. Ca, Mn, Fe, Zn, Na and Cu were also found in reasonable amounts. Fortunately, toxic heavy metal (Pb) had the lowest concentration in all the tea samples with concentration ranging from 0.04 mg/dm3 in India and Srilanka samples to 0.09 mg/dm3 in China sample. Keywords: Essential metals, Trace metals, Tea, Kan

Proximate, caffeine and tannin analyses in some brands of tea consumed in Kano Metropolis, Nigeria

The determination of proximate, caffeine and tannin contents of five different (China, Kenya, India, Srilanka and Mambilla) tea leaves samples sold in Kano markets was conducted. The moisture content was generally high in all the tea samples and ranged from 5.6% in Mambila to 7.5% in India samples. Ash content was relatively low and ranged between 4.90% in Srilanka to 7.20% in Mambila and Kenya samples respectively. Crude fibre ranged from 14.00% in China to 18.82% in Srilanka samples, while ether extract content was within the range of 9.30% to 10.60% with the highest value found in Mambila sample and the least value in Kenya sample. Total nitrogen contents were low when compared with other workers’ results and ranged from 0.88% in Kenya to 1.75% in Mambila and Srilanka samples respectively. Caffeine and tannin contents were found to be 1.4% in Kenya to 2.80% in China, 6.00% in Mambilla to 7.80% in India samples respectively. Keywords: Proximate, Analysis, Caffeine, Tannin, Tea, Kan

The risk of misclassifying subjects within principal component based asset index.

The asset index is often used as a measure of socioeconomic status in empirical research as an explanatory variable or to control confounding. Principal component analysis (PCA) is frequently used to create the asset index. We conducted a simulation study to explore how accurately the principal component based asset index reflects the study subjects' actual poverty level, when the actual poverty level is generated by a simple factor analytic model. In the simulation study using the PC-based asset index, only 1% to 4% of subjects preserved their real position in a quintile scale of assets; between 44% to 82% of subjects were misclassified into the wrong asset quintile. If the PC-based asset index explained less than 30% of the total variance in the component variables, then we consistently observed more than 50% misclassification across quintiles of the index. The frequency of misclassification suggests that the PC-based asset index may not provide a valid measure of poverty level and should be used cautiously as a measure of socioeconomic status

Ecological risk assessment of heavy metals pollution on irrigated soil along Salanta River Valley, Kano State Nigeria

This paper assessed the heavy metals pollution in irrigated soil of salanta river valley of Sharada industrial area with aim of assessing the potential ecological risk of Cd, Cu, Cr and Zn. Soil samples were collected from five plots randomly selected along the stream and heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Cr and Zn) and pH were analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer and pH meter respectively. The mean values and standard deviation of heavy metals in the study area shows that there is variation in the mean values among the heavy metal in the study area in which Cr recorded mean values of 2.30mg/kg ± 0.45, Cu 1.01 mg/kg ±0.78, Cd 3.02 mg/kg ± 0.66, Zn 26.4 mg/kg± 5.45 and mean pH 6.8 ± 0.51. The Cd, Cu and Zn were found below European regulatory values, the mean value of Cd (3.02mg/kg) is found above EU regulatory values (3.0mg/kg) and the pH value of the study area shows that the soil is slightly acidic and can influence the availability and solubility of the heavy metals in the area. The assessment also show that Cd (Pij,= 1.0), Cu (Pij,= 0.007) and Zn (Pij,= 0.088) are heavily polluted the soil of the area, and also slightly polluted with Cr (Pij,= 0.025). However, the potential ecological risk assessment show that Cr (Eri = 0.005) and Cu (Eri = 0.003) have low potential ecological risk in the area; Zn (Eri = 0.04) has moderate potential ecological risk while Cd (Eri = 0.088) is considerable potential ecological risk in the soil of study area. It was recommended that the industries should treat their waste water before  discharge and farmers should avoid using waste water directly, sewage sludge and effluent for watering and manure respectively.Key words: Heavy metals, pollution, soil, ecological ris

Profitability, Inputs Elasticities And Resource-Use Efficiency In Small Scale Cowpea Production In Niger State, Nigeria

The study examined profitability, inputs elasticities and resource-use efficiency in small scale cowpea production in Niger State, Nigeria. The primary data for the study were obtained using structured questionnaire administered to one hundred randomly sampled farmers fromtwo Local Government Areas. Descriptive statistics, gross margin, net farm income, gross ratio, operation ratio and return on capital investment and production function using regression model were used to analyze the data. The result showed that estimated gross margin; net farm income; gross ratio; operating ratio; and return on capital investment gives an estimated values of N28,063.63 per hectare, N25,550.50 per hectare, 0.46, 0.30 and 1.46 respectively.The regression model estimated revealed that double log (Cobb Douglass) as the lead equation with the value of coefficient of determination (R2) 0.765, indicated that 76.5% of the variation in output of cowpea production was explained by the inputs included inregression model. The F-ratio estimated as 16.369 was significant at 1% level of probability. The result also showed that land (X1), labour (X2) and fertilizer (X5) were significant at 1%, level of probability while Seed (X3) was significant at level of probability. Elasticity of production (return to scale) estimated as 14.383 implies that the production is characterizedby increasing return to scale Estimated efficiency ratio( r) shows that the resources used were not efficiently utilized. It was therefore recommended that farm inputs, especially improved seeds and agrochemicals, should be supplied to farmers at the right time and at cost that is within their reach. Also extension agents should be provided to disseminate research findings to cowpea farmers on modern technology

Adoption of improved potato varieties in jeldu district, oromia region, Ethiopia: a double-hurdle model

Smallholder potato producers in Jeldu district produce potato for both home consumption and market. Adoption of improved varieties is suggested to improve and diversify farmers’ household income. This study intents to identify factors determining adoption and intensity of adoption of improved potato varieties in Jeldu district of West Shewa zone, Oromia region, Ethiopia. Both primary and secondary data were used. The primary data were collected from 140 sample households’ selected using two-stage random sampling techniques. Descriptive statics and double hurdle econometric model were used to analyze the data. Results indicate that sex of the household head, access to extension services, livestock ownership and farmers’ perception about the technology positively and significantly determined adoption of improved varieties in the district. In contrast, distance from the nearest market affected adoption of improved potato varieties negatively and significantly. Intensity of adoption is measured by the area of land allocated for improved potato varieties by farmers. The truncated result identified improved varieties yield perception, family size, livestock ownership and membership to agricultural cooperative influenced intensity of improved potato varieties adoption positively and significantly. Strengthening extension services to enhance farmers’ awareness about improved potato varieties infrastructure development, family planning, asset ownership and facilitating membership to cooperatives are recommended. Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 9(2): 15-22, December 201

Merging Flows in Terminal Moneuvering Area using Time Decomposition Approach

International audienceWith a continuous growth of air traffic demand, more effort must be made to alleviate the current overloaded airspace charges. This research focuses on the aircraft merging and sequencing problem at Terminal Maneuvering Area. Tactical conflict detection and resolution methods are applied to a predefined route network structure. Speed and time changes are proposed via an optimization methodology to resolve conflicts and maintain separation between aircraft with regard to the wake turbulence constraints and runway occupancy time. A new time decomposition approach is introduced. It consists in partitioning the whole time interval under consideration into several overlapping time windows, and in solving the merging and sequencing problem individually in each such sub-window. Four aircraft status are defined to classify flights according to their temporal position relative to the current sliding window. Moreover, an adapted simulated annealing heuristic is proposed to solve the corresponding sub-problems. Finally, computational experiments of the proposed algorithm, performed on real-world case studies of Paris Charles De-Gaulle airport, show the benefits of this sliding-window time-decomposition approac

Genetic variability of camel (Camelus dromedarius) populations in Saudi Arabia based on microsatellites analysis

The genetic diversity and population genetic structure of dromedary camels (Camelus dromedarius) are poorly documented in Saudi Arabia. The present study was conducted to address some of these genetics using four Saudi Arabian camel populations namely; Magaheem (MG), Maghateer (MJ), Sofr (SO) and Shual (SH). Genomic DNA was extracted from the hair roots of 160 camels, 40 individuals from each population. Sixteen microsatellite markers were used to genotype these 160 camels. Out of these 16 markers, only microsatellite VOLP67 did not produce any polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplicons. There were 139 alleles generated by the 15 microsatellites loci with a mean of 9.27 alleles per locus. Four of the microsatellites loci studied in MG, eight in MJ and six in both SO and SH were found to be deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The fixation genetic indices (Fst) among the four populations were very low, ranging from 0.006 (between SH and SO) to 0.017 (between MG and MJ), indicating low population differentiation among the four Saudi camel populations. No significant heterozygote excess or bottleneck in most nearest past was detected in the four camel populations as indicated by sign, standardized differences and Wilcoxon tests, along with the normal L shaped distribution of mode-shift test. The present study showed that the microsatellite markers are powerful tools in breeding programs, although there is a need for applying more microsatellites in order to be able to discriminate fairly between camel populations of Saudi Arabia.Keywords: Camels, Camelus dromedarius, microsatellite markers, Saudi Arabia, genetic variabilit

Phytochemical screening and antimicrobial efficacy of Alternanthera nodiflora extracts

The phytochemical constituents and antimicrobial activities of Alternanthera nodiflora extracts were analyzed. Plant sample was extracted using  methanol and water. Qualitative phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, carotenoid, flavonoids, terpenoids, cardiac  glycosides, phenols and saponins while tannins were absent in both  extracts. The antimicrobial potential of the extracts was tested against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi, Candidaalbicans and Aspergillus niger. The Susceptibility patterns of the test organisms to varying concentrations (100mg/ml, 75mg/ml, 50mg/ml and 25mg/ml) of both extracts were determined by Kirby Bauer method. From this study, antimicrobial activity of the plant extracts was highest at 100mg/ml with Methanolic extract having more antimicrobial activity than aqueous extract. The extracts showed high activity against Candida albicans but no activity was observed against Aspergilus niger while the highest antibacterial activity of the extract was observed against Staphylococcus aureus.The higher antimicrobial activity in methanolic extract than aqueous extracts could be attributed to the degree of polarity of the extraction solvent.Key words: Alternanthera nodiflora, Phytochemicals, Antimicrobial activity, Extracts