AN ASSESSMENT OF THE STATUS OF SMALL RICE THRESHERS IN NIGERIA

An assessment of existing rice thresher designs and products available within Nigeria and neighbour-         ing countries was carried out. The impetus for the study is the concern that low and poor quality of         local rice in Nigeria may be due, in important measure, to lack of appropriate and affordable small        threshers. On this basis, a reconnaissance work in Five Local Government Areas in Ogun State,    Erin        – Ijesha in Osun State, Igbimo in Ekiti State; Abakaliki in Ebonyi State, Makurdi in Benue State as well        as   Kura  -  Kano   and   Tundun   Wada   areas   of   Kano   State   was   carried   out.   Based   on   the   farmers’        evaluation   and   assessment   of   existing   rice   threshers   available   in   Nigeria,   the   study   recommended        three prototype small threshers that are pedal and petrol engine driven. The pedal operated thresher        was recommended for those with farm hectarage of less than 2. For threshing freshly harvested rice at        very   high   moisture   content,   the  IITA/WARDA   small   plot   spike-tooth   thresher   which   has   a  threshing        capacity of about 100kg/h was found to be appropriate for the small – scale farmers provided some         little modifications in the area of capacity and mobility were carried out while the multi-crop thresher of        the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T) Ibadan with a capacity of about 250kg/h        was recommended for those with farm hectarage of more than 5ha.&nbsp

DEVELOPMENT OF A MANUALLY OPERATED DOUGH DICING MACHINE FOR COLD EXTRUSION

The timely production of diced dough for the final preparation of chin-chin (a confectionery made of fried dough) have not witnessed any substantial development among the women folk that engaged in such activities in Nigeria. A manually operated dough-dicing machine was designed and developed for the timely production of diced dough. The dough dicer offers a better method of dicing dough into various desired shapes and lengths, which may not be possible with the existing processing method. Preliminary test of the manually operated dough dicer showed that a minimal pressure of 4473.122 Pa is sufficient to force out the dough through the die outlet. The low cost dough dicer requires the minimum manual power input of 0.16 Watt for the dicing of the dough with a density of 1126.4 Kg/m3. The overall performance of the manually operated dough dicer showed that the machine would be of great benefit to the small scale producers of the confectionery

MOISTURE DEPENDENCE OF SOME AERODYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF BENISEED

Some aerodynamic properties of two varieties of beniseed (Yandev 55 and E8) were determined at        moisture content levels of 5.3, 10.6, 16.1 22.4, 28.3 per cent (wet basis). The determined properties        were particle diameter, frontal area, terminal velocity and drag coefficients. A - 2 x 5 factorial experi-        ment in Completely Randomized Design with a total of 30 observations was used for each of the pa-        rameters. The particle diameter and frontal area increased from 1.52 to 1.78mm and 1.77 to 2.49 mm2        for Yandev 55; 1.74 to 2.18 mm and 2.38 to 3.73 mm2    for E8 respectively as the moisture content        increased from 5.3 to 28.3%.  The respective terminal velocities decreased from 3.05 to 2.74m/s and        2.80 to 2.48m/s for Yandev 55 and E8 within the studied moisture content levels. Increasing the mois-        ture content from 5.3 to 16.10% increased the drag coefficient from 2.67 to 2.70 and 2.74 to 2.78 for        the two accessions respectively. A further increase to 22.4% decreased the respective values to 2.64        and 2.61. The effect of moisture content on beniseed was highly significant on the terminal velocity.&nbsp

Effect of Biochar on Soil Properties, Soil Loss, and Cocoyam Yield on a Tropical Sandy Loam Alfisol

Among agricultural soil amendment that can enhance crop productivity and soil sustainability is biochar. Hence, two-year field experiments were conducted on a sandy loam Alfisol at Owo, southwest Nigeria, to evaluate the effects of biochar produced from hardwood on soil physical and chemical characteristics, erosion potential, and cocoyam (Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott) yield. (e study was a 2 × 4 factorial experiment with two years (2017 and 2018) and four biochar levels (0 (control), 10, 20, and 30 t ha− 1 ). (e treatments were laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Results indicated that biochar application significantly in both years improved yield of cocoyam and soil physical (bulk density, porosity, moisture content, mean weight diameter (MWD) of soil aggregates, dispersion ratio, and infiltration rate) and chemical (soil organic matter, pH, N, P, K, Ca, Mg, and CEC) properties and erosion resistance. Soil characteristics and cocoyam yield improved with level of biochar from 0–30 t ha− 1 . When 2018 is compared with 2017 in term of soil loss, in the amended plots, 2018 reduced soil loss by 7.4, 20, and 73.5%, respectively, for 10, 20, and 30 t ha− 1 biochar, whereas there was an increase of 2.7% soil loss in the control plot in 2018 compared with 2017. (erefore, application rate of 30 t ha− 1 biochar is considered as suitable for severely degraded soil because this application rate efficiently improves cocoyam yield and soil properties and reduces soil loss

Soil productivity improvement under different fallow types on Alfisol of a derived savanna ecology of Nigeria

Fallowing is considered an important management strategy for the restoration of soil productivity. Therefore, a three-year fallow of pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), mexican sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia) and elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) was established at Landmark University, Nigeria between 2016 – 2019. Leaf nutrient concentrations of maize (Zea mays) planted with soils taken from each fallowed plots after three years were also determined. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design with three replications. Soil samples were collected from each fallow plots for physical and chemical analysis (bulk density, porosity, moisture content, particle size, dispersion ratio, soil erosion loss, soil organic matter (SOM), total N, available P, exchangeables K, Ca, Mg, CEC and pH.) before and at the end of the experiment. Means of data collected were separated using Tukey's HSD test at p ¼ 0.05. Tithonia fallow improved soil properties and leaf nutrient concentration of maize compared with Pennisetum and Cajanus fallows. The order was Tithonia > Pennisetum > Cajanus. This was adduced to the regular return of plant residues to the soil in Tithonia fallow which resulted in high SOM (Tithonia increased SOM by about 23%, 7.5%, and 20%, respectively, compared with the initial soil, Pennisetum and Cajanus fallows) and increases soil N, P, K, Ca, Mg, CEC and pH and also stabilized soil structure by increasing porosity, moisture content and reducing bulk density, dispersion ratio, and soil loss. Therefore, plant species of high nutrient contents and high return of biomass to the soil are necessary for quick restoration of soil productivity in a derived savanna ecology