Effect of Planting Date on Growth, Carotene and Root Yield of three Sweetpotato Varieties [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.] in South-East Nigeria

There is paucity of information on the effect of time of planting on sweetpotato in South-East Nigeria and hence the need for this study; where four planting dates were assessed under field conditions for their comparative effects on growth, carotene, and root yield of orange-fleshed sweetpotato varieties at the National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, Nigeria in 2013 and 2014 cropping seasons. The experiment was a split-plot laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. The main plot treatments were three sweetpotato varieties (Umuspo 1, Umuspo 3, and Ex-Igbariam), while the sub-plot treatments were four planting dates (April, May, June, and July). Results indicated that delayed planting from April to other planting dates significantly reduced orange-fleshed sweetpotato fresh shoot biomass and dry matter. Similarly, planting in April, 2013 produced significantly (p<0.05) higher storage root yield than planting later in May, June, and July by 75%, 92%, and 149%, respectively. In contrast, delayed planting up to June produced a carotene yield of 1267.7µg/g, which was higher than those of April and May by 180% and 82%, respectively. On average, Umuspo 1 produced significantly greater biomass of shoot and root. In 2013, Umuspo 1 also produced higher storage root yield than Umuspo 3 and Ex-Igbariam by 61% and 46%, respectively. However, Umuspo 3 produced significantly highest carotene yield (1918.0µg/g), followed by Umuspo 1 (582.0µg/g), while Ex-Igbariam had the lowest value (296.5µg/g). There were no significant interaction effects on root yield in both years, but there was a significant interaction on carotene yield, which was highest in Umuspo 3 in July, followed by the June planting date. For high fresh shoot and storage root yields, planting Umuspo 1 in April is recommended, while for high carotene yield, planting Umuspo 3 in June or July is recommended

Entrepreneurship with Special Reference to the Status of Small Business Entrepreneurship: A Case Study Of Gondar, Ethiopia

This paper looks at the concept of Small Business Entrepreneurship in Gondar, Ethiopia, reviewed its performance using some basic indicators. The study revealed that entrepreneurship development is essential not only to solve the problem of economic development but also to solve the problem of unemployment, unbalanced area development, concentration of economic power and diversion of profits from traditional sources or avenues. It noted that financial and physical facilities are not the only crucial inputs in the development of small business entrepreneurship, other inputs like government and support service systems. The small business enterprises and entrepreneurs faced the main problems of poor start-up capital and other financial constraints, technological obsolescence, poor managerial skills and knowledge, irregular supply of raw materials. Other problems include, poor marketing techniques and strategies, unorganized nature of operations, sole proprietorship dominated ownership structure, unskilled labour force and family management dominance, other infrastructural deficiencies and poor government support and encouragement, etc. It recommended that to improve the functioning and performance of small business entrepreneurship in Gondar, the following issues should be critically addressed: liberalization of government policies, attitudinal changes and proper training and development of existing and would-be entrepreneurs in the use of latest technology. Other recommendations include, 20 adequate training on modern management practice on human resource, financial, marketing, production, and innovation, effective management information systems, setting up an apex institution to regulate and monitor entrepreneurship education, etc. African Research Review Vol. 1 (2) 2007: pp. 19-4

Effect of Planting Date on Growth, Carotene and Root Yield of three Sweetpotato Varieties [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.] in South-East Nigeria

There is paucity of information on the effect of time of planting on sweetpotato in South-East Nigeria and hence the need for this study; where four planting dates were assessed under field conditions for their comparative effects on growth, carotene, and root yield of orange-fleshed sweetpotato varieties at the National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, Nigeria in 2013 and 2014 cropping seasons. The experiment was a split-plot laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. The main plot treatments were three sweetpotato varieties (Umuspo 1, Umuspo 3, and Ex-Igbariam), while the sub-plot treatments were four planting dates (April, May, June, and July). Results indicated that delayed planting from April to other planting dates significantly reduced orange-fleshed sweetpotato fresh shoot biomass and dry matter. Similarly, planting in April, 2013 produced significantly (p<0.05) higher storage root yield than planting later in May, June, and July by 75%, 92%, and 149%, respectively. In contrast, delayed planting up to June produced a carotene yield of 1267.7µg/g, which was higher than those of April and May by 180% and 82%, respectively. On average, Umuspo 1 produced significantly greater biomass of shoot and root. In 2013, Umuspo 1 also produced higher storage root yield than Umuspo 3 and Ex-Igbariam by 61% and 46%, respectively. However, Umuspo 3 produced significantly highest carotene yield (1918.0µg/g), followed by Umuspo 1 (582.0µg/g), while Ex-Igbariam had the lowest value (296.5µg/g). There were no significant interaction effects on root yield in both years, but there was a significant interaction on carotene yield, which was highest in Umuspo 3 in July, followed by the June planting date. For high fresh shoot and storage root yields, planting Umuspo 1 in April is recommended, while for high carotene yield, planting Umuspo 3 in June or July is recommended

Effect of Stake Length and NPK Fiertilizer on White Yam (Dioscorea rotundata) Minisett in Umudike, South-East, Nigeria

Staking and soil fertility are critical factors that affect yam production in the humid forest zone of South-East, Nigeria; where high rainfalls and cloud cover are prevalent. Field experiments were conducted at Umudike, South-East, Nigeria in the 2016 and 2017 cropping seasons, to study the effects of stake length and NPK fertilizer on the minisett of white yam cultivar Yandu. The experiment was laid out as a 4× 5 factorial in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates. Treatments consist of four levels of stake length (0, 1, 2 and 3m) and five levels of NPK (15:15:15) fertilizer (0, 200, 400, 600 and 800kg/ha). Stake of 2 and 3m lengths had significantly longer vine lengths at 3 and 4 months after planting  (MAP) and leaf area index at 3MAP than no staking. Averaged across the two cropping seasons, staking did not affect tuber yield, but the 2 or 3m stakes in 2016 had significant higher tuber yields than the yields obtained in 2017 regardless of stake length. NPK fertilizer application did not significantly influence vine length, leaf area index, and tuber yield, but the application of fertilizer at 200kg/ha increased the number of tubers per plant in 2017. The non-significant effects of staking and NPK fertilizer on tuber yield were ascribed to high rainfall that caused flooding and leaching of nutrients

Time of introducing component crop influences productivity of intercropping system

Field experiment was conducted at National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT), Mbato Sub-station, Okigwe, Imo State, South-eastern Nigeria in the 2012 and 2013 cropping seasons to establish the most appropriate time to introduce component crops in cocoyam/cowpea mixture. Five different planting schemes (two and four weeks before, two and four weeks after and same day) and two cowpea genotypes (climbing Akidienu and erect IT97K-499-35) were used. The component crops were grown in monocultures to assess the productivity of the systems. The experimental design used was a completely randomized design with three replicates. Growth and yield of cocoyam and the cowpea genotypes increased significantly (P<0.05) when either of the component crops was planted earlier than the other. Intercropping reduced significantly (P<0.05) cocoyam yield by 0.7 − 74% in IT97K-499-35 and 22 − 80% in Akidienu. Sowing the cowpea genotypes the same day or before cocoyam resulted in over-yielding of cowpea, whereas sowing Akidienu and IT97K-499-35 after cocoyam caused pod yield reductions of 64% − 73% and 32% − 59% on average, respectively. Cocoyam planted two weeks before IT97K-499-35 produced more satisfactory yields of the intercrops than the other planting schedules with LER, LEC and ATER of 2.15, 1.03 and 1.57, respectively

EFFECT OF RELATIVE SOWING TIME ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF VEGETABLE COWPEA (VIGNA UNGUICULATA (L.) WALP) AND MAIZE (ZEA MAYS L.) IN VEGETABLE COWPEA/MAIZE INTERCROPPING SYSTEM

Improved varieties of both vegetable cowpea (IT92KD-263-4-1) and maize (OBA 98) were grown in mixture at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike research farm for two cropping seasons (2006 and 2007) in order to determine the suitable relative sowing time of the component crops. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design and with three replicates. The treatments were vegetable cowpea and maize separately planted in their pure stands, vegetable cowpea and maize simultaneously sown on the same day, vegetable cowpea sown 2, 3, 4 weeks before maize and vegetable cowpea introduced 2, 3 and 4 weeks after maize was sown. Widest leaf area, heaviest total aboveground dry matter and nodules per plant of vegetable cowpea were attributed to the vegetable cowpea sown 4 weeks before maize. Similarly, maize leaf area index, aboveground dry matter, number of grains per cob, 100-seed weight and grain yield per hectare were highest when maize was sown 4 weeks before introducing vegetable cowpea. The highest LER of 1.61 and 1.58 in 2006 and 2007, respectively were attributed to the vegetable cowpea sown 4 weeks after maize. It was therefore, recommended that the resource poor rural farmers should introduce the vegetable cowpea 4 weeks after sowing the maize seeds since they usually target the combined yield from the component crops of the farmlandÂ

Evaluation of Liming Materials and Bradyrhizobium Inoculation on the Productivity of Soya Bean in the Humid Tropical Ultisols of Southeastern Nigeria

Field experiments were conducted in 2009 and 2010 to evaluate the response of soya bean to pre-sowing seed inoculation with Rhizobium japonicum strains and liming the soil with different lime materials. The experiments were conducted on sandy loam soils at Calabar in the rainforest and Obubra in the southern guinea savanna zones of Cross River State, Nigeria. Treatments comprised factorial combinations of Rhizobium (with and without inoculation) and liming material (no lime, calcite, gypsum, and dolomite) laid in randomized complete block design replicated thrice. Liming the soil was effective in increasing root nodulation, plant vegetative growth and grain yield in Calabar, but not at Obubra. Pre-sowing seed treatment with Rhizobium japonicum was also more effective in Calabar than at Obubra. Root nodulation, plant height, pod-bearing branches, reproductive node number, dry matter yield, pods/plant and yield of grain were significantly influenced by the combined effect of inoculation and liming, but not the number of seeds and seed weight/pod.  Sowing inoculated seeds in calcite- limed soils gave the best results but the difference between gypsum and dolomitic lime was not significant. The grain yield which averaged 2.34 t/ha in the Obubra grown crop was higher by 21.9 % compared to the Calabar grown crop. Differences in the response to seed inoculation and liming were attributed to weather and edaphic factors

Search for Neutral Higgs Bosons in e+e- Collisions at sqrt(s) ~189GeV

A search for neutral Higgs bosons has been performed with the OPAL detector at LEP, using approximately 170 pb-1 of e+e- collision data collected at sqrt(s)~189GeV. Searches have been performed for the Standard Model (SM) process e+e- to H0Z0 and the MSSM processes e+e- to H0Z0, A0h0. The searches are sensitive to the b b-bar and tau antitau decay modes of the Higgs bosons, and also to the MSSM decay mode h0 to A0A0. OPAL search results at lower centre-of-mass energies have been incorporated in the limits we set, which are valid at the 95% confidence level. For the SM Higgs boson, we obtain a lower mass bound of 91.0 GeV. In the MSSM, our limits are mh>74.8GeV and mA>76.5GeV, assuming tan(beta)>1, that the mixing of the scalar top quarks is either zero or maximal, and that the soft SUSY-breaking masses are 1 TeV. For the case of zero scalar top mixing, we exclude values of tan(beta) between 0.72 and 2.19.Comment: 38 pages, 15 figures, submitted Euro. Phys. J.

Search for Yukawa Production of a Light Neutral Higgs Boson at LEP

Within a Two-Higgs-Doublet Model (2HDM) a search for a light Higgs boson in the mass range of 4-12 GeV has been performed in the Yukawa process e+e- -> b bbar A/h -> b bbar tau+tau-, using the data collected by the OPAL detector at LEP between 1992 and 1995 in e+e- collisions at about 91 GeV centre-of-mass energy. A likelihood selection is applied to separate background and signal. The number of observed events is in good agreement with the expected background. Within a CP-conserving 2HDM type II model the cross-section for Yukawa production depends on xiAd = |tan beta| and xihd = |sin alpha/cos beta| for the production of the CP-odd A and the CP-even h, respectively, where tan beta is the ratio of the vacuum expectation values of the Higgs doublets and alpha is the mixing angle between the neutral CP-even Higgs bosons. From our data 95% C.L. upper limits are derived for xiAd within the range of 8.5 to 13.6 and for xihd between 8.2 to 13.7, depending on the mass of the Higgs boson, assuming a branching fraction into tau+tau- of 100%. An interpretation of the limits within a 2HDM type II model with Standard Model particle content is given. These results impose constraints on several models that have been proposed to explain the recent BNL measurement of the muon anomalous magnetic moment.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, Submitted to Euro. Phys. J.

Measurement of triple gauge boson couplings from WW production at LEP energies up to 189 GeV

A measurement of triple gauge boson couplings is presented, based on W-pair data recorded by the OPAL detector at LEP during 1998 at a centre-of-mass energy of 189 GeV with an integrated luminosity of 183 pb^-1. After combining with our previous measurements at centre-of-mass energies of 161-183 GeV we obtain k_g=0.97 +0.20 -0.16, g_1^z=0.991 +0.060 -0.057 and lambda_g=-0.110 +0.058 -0.055, where the errors include both statistical and systematic uncertainties and each coupling is determined by setting the other two couplings to their SM values. These results are consistent with the Standard Model expectations.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J.