Effects of diet supplementation with copper sulphate on growth performance and heamatological parameters of broiler chickens

Diets of ninety-six day-old Abor-acre chicks were supplemented with different levels of copper sulphate (CuSO4) to assess the growth performance and haematological parameters. The birds were conventionally brooded for two weeks after which they got allotted to; T1 (control), T2 (100 mg CuSO4 kg-1), T3 (200 mg CuSO4 kg-1), and T4 (300 mg CuSO4 kg-1 of diet), in a completely randomized design. Each treatment had three replicates (n = 8). The supplements were given for 49 days during which feed intake and weekly weight gain were recorded. At the 49th day (63 day old), blood was aseptically collected via the wing vein using sterile syringe and needle for haematological studies. All data were subjected to analysis of variance and means separated using Duncan’s New Multiple Range Test. The results showed that T3 had superior (p<0.05) weight gain and best FCR with enhanced feed intake similar (p>0.05) to T1 and T2 but differed (p<0.05) from T4 that had the worst growth performance. PCV, Hb and RBC of treated groups differed (p<0.05) from T1 that recorded the least haematological values. The WBC and its differentials did not statistically differ (p>0.05) except eosinophils where T3 spiked above others though statistically similar to T1 and T4 whereas T2 was the least. It could be concluded that CuSO4 supplementations at 100 and 200 mg kg-1 diets had beneficial effects on growth performance whereas there was no detrimental effect of CuSO4 supplementations on all the haematological parameters of the broilers

Vermiremediation of soils contaminated with mixture of petroleum products using Eisenia fetida

In this paper, vermiremediation, a biological technique was utilized in order to clean-up soil contaminated with gasoline, diesel and spent engine oil using an earthworm - Eisenia fetida. The contaminated soils were analyzed for the total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) level every 24 hours over a period of 120 hours using gas chromatography. It was observed that at each sampling time, the soils samples without the earthworm had more quantity of TPH than the corresponding samples with the earthworms. Pentadecane, 2,6,10, trimethyl had 100% reduction after 120 hours followed by octadecane with 67.30 % reduction and tetracosane with 50.28% reduction. In all sampling time, the initial octadecane level was significantly higher than the final octadecane level in soil with E. fetida (P<0.05). Also, the initial hexadecanoic acid methyl ester level was significantly higher than the level of the hydrocarbon in the soils with E. fetida after 96 hour incubation and soil without the earthworm after 72 hours incubation (P<0.05). After the 24 hours incubation the octadecane level in soil with E. fetida was significantly lower than the initial level and the level in soil without the earthworm (P<0.01).The results showed that E. fetida enhances the degradation and reduction of TPH levels in soils and therefore can be used for cleaning up of soils contaminated with mixture of petroleum products. This is useful in reclaiming mechanic workshop soils for agricultural purposes hence increase in food production.Keywords: Vermiremediation, petroleum, contamination, earthworm, Eisenia fetid

An Assessment of Adherence to Professional Ethics and Practices among Medical Radiographers in Lagos State, Nigeria.

Background: Radiography practice integrates scientific knowledge and technical skills which has to be complemented by regular exercise of sound professional and ethical judgment in order to ensure qualitypatient care and acquisition of useful diagnostic information. This study investigated the extent of adherence to professional ethics and practices by practicing radiographers in Lagos state, Nigeria.Methodology: A structured, self administered questionnaire was randomly distributed to two hundred practicing radiographers in various public and private healthcare facilities in Lagos state. The respondents were broadly assessed on ethical handling of patients, adherence to continuous professional development & training, and participation in other professional responsibilities. The completed questionnaires were verified and corroborated by substantiated proof of claim by each respondent. Data analysis was by a statisticalsoftware Epi-Info.3.5.1 version.Results: Majority (85%) of the respondents rated ethical handling of patients excellent. However, none of the respondents had regular implementation of quality assurance on their equipments while only 28.8% of the respondents attended at least one mandatory continuous professional development programme within the past one year. The adherence of the participants to other evaluated professional and ethical issues was found to be 51.6%.Conclusion: The adherence of Radiographers to professional ethical handling of patients was rated excellent. However, implementation of quality assurance programmes on equipments and adherence to continuous professional development were grossly low. It is recommended that efforts towards increased emphasis on the importance of practitioner adherence to professional/ethical issues during training in continuous development programmes, conferences, seminars and short courses or direct enrolment in further postgraduate degrees, be intensified

Assessment of remediation Potentials of maize (Zea mays) on sites co-contaminated with Pb and antracene

Phytoremediation is a promising technology for the remediation of sites co-contaminated with inorganic and organic pollutants. A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the remediation potential of Z.mays in soil co- contaminated with Pb and antracene. Pristine sandy loam soils were polluted with Pb chloride salt and antracene at three different levels (50mg/kg of Pb, 100mg/kg of Pb, and 100mg/kg of Pb+100mg/kg of antracene) and laid out in completely randomized design with 3 replicates. Shoot dry matter weight was significantly reduced (p≤0.05) when compared with control treatments by 40% when exposed to100mg kg-1 of Pb. There was a 48% inhibition of shoot dry matter of Z.mays relative to control treatments when 100 mg Pb kg-1 was mixed with 100 mgkg-1 antracene. Root and shoot metal concentration in Zea mays increased with increasing concentration of Pb. The average Translocation Factor (TF < 1 (0.69) obtained suggests that Zea mays predominantly retains Pb in the root portion of the plant. There was a 5% increase in shoot Pb concentration when soil was contaminated with Pb and antracene. The extractable antracene decreased significantly (p≤0.05) in soil planted with Z.mays as well as in pots without maize plant. This accounted for 65 and 72% of antracene dissipation in planted soil and 40-46% dissipation in unplanted soil. This result suggested that Zeamays is a promising candidate for uptake Pb and dissipation of antracene in co-contaminated soils

Haematology and Serum Biochemistry Evaluations of Broiler Chickens Inoculated with Salmonella Enteritidis and Treated with Phyllanthus amarus Leaf extract

A 21-day experiment was conducted to study the effects on haematology and serum biochemistry of broiler chickens inoculated with Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) and treated with methanol extract of Phyllanthus amarus leaf (PALM). A total of 60 Abor-Acre unsexed 5 week old broiler chickens were randomly allotted to four treatments including T1 = Ordinary water (control), T2 = SE inoculated (107 CFU, PO), T3 = SE inoculated + PALM (150 mg/kg) and T4 = SE inoculated + Enrofloxacin (10 mg/kg). Each treatment was replicated thrice (n = 5) and the birds allotted to treatments in a completely randomized design. SE was inoculated at 5 weeks of age to T2 – T4. One hour prior to inoculation, T3 and T4 received PALM and enrofloxacin respectively which continued for another 4 days (ie 5 days in all). At the end of 3 weeks, one bird/replicate from T1 – T4 was randomly selected and 4 mL of blood aseptically drawn for haematological and biochemical analyses. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance and means compared with Duncan’s Multiple Range Test. The haematological and biochemical values were not affected (p&lt;0.05) except the monocytes where T1 and T2 were different (p&gt;0.05) from T3 and T4 and ALP that significantly differed (p&gt;0.05) from others. Meanwhile, PALM stabilized the parameters, particularly the liver enzymes in the event of negative effects due to SE inoculation.&nbsp; It can therefore be concluded that PALM can be used to stabilize haematological and biochemical values in the event of negative alteration in quantities mainly due to microbial assault in broiler chickens

MEAN VARIANCE OF FRACTIONAL STOCHASTIC MODEL AND LOGARITHM UTILITY OPTIMIZATION OF A PENSION FUND WITH TAX AND TRANSACTION COST

This work looked at the mean-variance of fractional continuous time stochastic model for the dynamics of a pension fund with tax and transaction cost, where the effect of tax and transaction cost charging makes on the expected logarithmic utility of the pensioner was established. The associated H-J-B equation in the optimization problem is obtained using lto’s lemma. An explicit solution to the pensioners’ problems was derived under stated condition

Earth Observation System-Based Impact Assessment of 2012 Flood in Delta State Nigeria

Flooding is one of the most serious natural hazards in the world. It has become a common natural disaster which has claimed many lives, displaced millions and resulted to the destruction of properties and degradation of contiguous farmland.  Though over the decades the people of Delta state have had to contend with sporadic overflows from the river but not in the scale of 2012 flood event. Flood in 2012, submerged coastal villages, displaced millions of people, submerged several square kilometers of land,  disrupt economic activities and properties worth of millions of naira was lost. This study was provoked based on the fact that since the disaster, no reliable investigation and inventory has been made as a guide for mitigation for future occurrence. Currently Earth observing system (EOS) is gaining popularity in solving many environmental problems due to its accurate and timely delivery of information required for decision making. Therefore the aim of this study was to determine the impact of 2012 flood in delta state.  Pre-flood and flood imageries captured by and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometre (MODIS), Land sat imagery with resolution 30m, SRTM with resolution 30 arc second, questionnaire, interview, Global positioning system (GPS)  and geographic information system (GIS) was used for data collection and analysis. The map generated from the non-flood image captured on 20th October 2010 was used as a reference to determine the extent of flooding from the disaster image. Spatial impact was determined based on the extent of the submerged land territory while physical economic impact was measured based on property damages. This study revealed that a total landed area of 2185Sq.kms was covered by flood excluding the original extent of the river. Further assessment  revealed that 785000 people were affected, crops worth’s 3.1 billion naira were destroyed, 231 communities in 12 local government of the 25 local government areas were adversely affected these include 118 communities market, 743 market stalls, 220 primary schools, 84 secondary schools, 435 fish farms, 526 poultry farms, 58 piggeries and 5099 houses. Keywords: key words, MODIS, SRTM, Flood,  Hazard, Imagery DOI: 10.7176/CER/12-9-08 Publication date:September 30th 202

Climate Change Adaptation Among Cassava Farmers in Okigwe Agricultural Zone of Imo State, Nigeria

Climate change, which exposes farmers to low productivity, crop failure and worsens food insecurity in developing nations has become a core challenge in Nigeria. These extremes have increased the vulnerability of several arable crop farmers due to inadequate mitigation strategies and restricted access to capital. This study analyzed climate change adaptation among cassava farmers in Okigwe agricultural zone of Imo State, Nigeria.  Perception of cassava farmers towards climate change, their adaptation strategies and challenges to climate change adaptation and determinant of farmers’ adaptation to climate change were the main objectives. A multi-stage random sampling procedure was used in selecting one hundred and twenty respondents for the study. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and analyzed with percentages, mean and Chi square. Results showed that the mean age of the respondents was 47 years while 78.30% of them had formal education.  The main adaptation strategies included planting on mounds (20%), diversification to non-farm activities (15%) and planting of improved varieties (14%). Cassava farmers in the study area perceived climate change as increase in heat waves (x̅=2.26), rainfall (x̅=2.76) and drought (x̅=2.35). The major challenges to adaptation were unsatisfactory weather reports (89.5%), lack of funds (82.4%) and inadequate extension contact (81.2%). Extension contacts and access to credit were the most significant determinants of utilization of climate change adaptation strategies. The study concludes that respondents are aware of climate change with diverse adaptation strategies and recommends that government and agricultural development agencies should integrate the determinant of climate change adaptation and mitigation into policies and programs relating to climate change resilience.  It also recommends that the availability of climate change information in real time, mobilization of more extension workers and provision of funds to improve the capacity of cassava farmers for climate change resilience should be prioritize