Empirical Analysis of Egg Production Functions: A Case Study of Ikot Ekpene and Uyo Metropolis of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

The study carried out an empirical analysis of egg production functions, a case Study of Ikot Ekpene and Uyo Metropolis of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Specifically, this study was carried out to estimate the egg production functions in the study area, determine the resource use efficiency of egg producers in the study area and to make recommendations based on the findings. Data for this study were obtained from primary source collected from thirty – seven (37) purposively selected poultry farmers using personal observations and interview method while the secondary data were obtained from farm records kept by the farmers. Regression analysis was carried out to show the relationship between egg lay and several input explanatory variables namely; feed intake, mortality rate, culling rate, labour and floor space. Resource use efficiency analysis was used to determine the rationality of the firms in their use of resources. The result showed that the effect of feed intake and labour on egg lay was significant at 0.01% level, Floor space was also significant at 0.01. Further analysis showed that sum of elasticities for feed, labour and floor (EP) is1.59 indicating an increasing return to scale scenario, implying that a 1% increase in the variables; feed, labour, and floor space will lead to a 1.59% increase in egg lay. Of all the four egg production function estimated in this study, it became clear that the exponential function was found to be the lead equation since four out of the five variables employed in this study were significant where as other forms had less numbers of significant variables. The analysis with respect to resource use showed that feed, labour and floor space were over utilized during the period of egg lay

Response of Late Season Maize/Soybean Intercropping to Nitrogen in the Humid Environment of South Southern Nigeria

Intensification of maize/legume production during early rains in the High Rainforest region of South Southern Nigeria is limited by heavy rainfall. Production of late season maize/legume by peasant farmers is gaining prominence though yields are low due to low soil fertility and improper crop arrangement. The objective of this research was to investigate the yield performance of late season maize/soybean intercropping in response to nitrogen fertilization and spatial arrangement of the intercrops. The trial was a split-plot design in randomized complete block with three replications. Treatments consisted of five rates of nitrogen (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 kg ha-1) and five crop arrangements (sole maize at 53,333 plants ha-1, sole soybean at 266,666 plants ha-1 and maize: soybean additive mixture arrangements of 1:1, 2:2 and 1:2). Nitrogen fertilization increased yield in both maize and soybean at all the treatment levels, when grown sole or in mixtures. Application of 100 kg N ha-1 to maize increased number of ears per plant, 100-grain weight, cob yield and grain yield by 46, 35, 138 and 153 percents, respectively in 2007, and by 15, 48, 88 and 109 percents, respectively in 2008, over no nitrogen application. Similarly, application of 100 kg N ha-1 to soybean increased number of pods per plant, number of barren pods and 1000-seed weight by 53, 120 and 16 percents, respectively in 2007, and by 55, 99 and 14 percents, respectively in 2008, over no nitrogen application. Optimum seed yield in soybean was obtained at 50 kg N ha-1. The yield values of 1,352.8 and 1,158.2 kg ha-1 were higher than those obtained at 0 kg N ha-1 by 31 and 21 percent in 2007 and 2008. Increasing the nitrogen level further to 100 kg ha-1 depressed seed yield by 8 percent in 2007 over 0 kg ha-1. The nitrogen x crop arrangement interaction effects on grain yield and all other parameters were not significant (p< 0.05). Late season maize and soybean populations may be superimposed on each other and fertilized with 50 kg N ha-1 to take advantage of optimum soybean seed yield and 66-76 percent of the maize grain yield. Key words: maize, soybean, intercropping, additive mixtures, nitrogen fertilize

Effects of experimental Neisseria meningitis W135 infection on serotoninergic parameters in mice

This study investigated the effects of Neisseria menigitidis W135 infection via intraperitoneal route on plasma free tryptophan concentration, brain serotonin and 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid (5-HIAA) levels in albino mice fed normal and tryptophan-enriched diets. The kinetics of appearance of viable bacteria in the blood, brain and liver following infection were also investigated. The serotoninergic parameters were determined by colorimetric and HPLC methods while colony counts were measured by plate count technique. Compared to normal diet, the tryptophan-enriched diet resulted in significantly (

Effects of biofertilizer containing N-fixer, P and K solubilizers and AM fungi on maize growth: A greenhouse trial.

An in vitro study was undertaken to evaluate the compatibility of indigenous plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) with commonly used inorganic and organic sources of fertilizers in tea plantations. The nitrogenous, phosphatic and potash fertilizers used for this study were urea, rock phosphate and muriate of potash, respectively. The organic sources of fertilizers neem cake, composted coir pith and vermicompost were also used. PGPRs such as nitrogen fixer; Azospirillum lipoferum, Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria (PSB); Pseudomonas putida, Potassium Solubilizing Bacteria (KSB); Burkholderia cepacia and Pseudomonas putida were used for compatibility study. Results were indicated that PGPRs preferred the coir pith and they proved their higher colony establishment in the formulation except Azospirillum spp. that preferred vermicompost for their establishment. The optimum dose of neem cake powder

Integrated Nutrient Management for Sweet Maize (Zea mays (L.) saccharata Strut.) Production in Calabar, Nigeria

Abstract: The growth and yield response of sweet maize (Zea mays (L.) saccharata Strut.) to varying rates of poultry manure (PM) and nitrogen (N) fertilizer during the early and late growing seasons of 2005 in Calabar, a humid forest agro ecology in south eastern Nigeria, was studied. Treatments comprised four rates of PM (0, 5, 10 and 15t/ha), factorially combined with four rates of N (0, 40, 80 and 120 kg N/ha) and arranged into a randomized complete block design with three replications. The highest rate of both fertilizers significantly increased plant height, leaf area index, number of grains/cob and also hastened tasselling, whereas number of leaves/plant, number of cobs/plant and cob yield/ha obtained at the 10 or 15t/ha PM and 80 or 120 kg N/ha were statistically similar. Total dry mater (TDM), weight of grains/cob and total grain yield, peaked at 10t/ha PM and 80 kg N/ha fertilizer. At 10t/ha PM and 80 kg N/ha rates, TDM yield increased by 41 and 37% and grain yield by 42 and 39% respectively compared with the control treatments. The combination of PM at 10t/ha with N at 80 kg/ha maximized TDM, cob yield/ha and total grain yield

Sero-epidemiological evaluation of clonal diversity and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns among Neisseria meningitidis isolates from epidemic cases in Jigawa State, Nigeria

A total of 33 Neisseria culture-positive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from apparently ill patients during a meningococcal outbreak in Jigawa State, Nigeria were subjected to serogroup, serotype identifications schemes using agglutination and dot blot techniques. Antibiotic susceptibility patterns of the recovered Neisseria meningitidis isolates were also determined. Seventeen (51.5%), 8 (24.2%), 3 (9.1%) and 5 (15.2%) of the Neisseria isolates belonged to A, B, C and W135 serogroups. Fifteen (N. meningitides A = 8; B = 2; C = 3; W135 = 3) were of serotype 2a, while 4 distinct serosubtypes: P1.5, 2 (57.6%), P1.9 (6.0%), P1.14 (6.0%) and P1.7, 1(15.2%) were found among 28 clones. The proportions of serogroup A – associated cases, serotyppe 2a and serosubtype P.15, 2 were significant (P 0.05). Multilocus enzyme electrophoretic typing further stratified the W135 isolates as members of the ET-37 complex. Five (15.2%), 6 (18.2%) and 7 (21.2%) of the 33 culture–positive isolates displayed resistance to ampicillin and chlorampehnicol and intermediate resistance to penicillin. Resistance pattern characterization further revealed monoresistance to trimethoprim-sulphamethazole (TMP) by 20 isolates and multiresistance with equal predominance (2 each) of patterns: Pen AmpChlTMP, PenAmpTMP, AmpTMP covering all the serogroups. Three of the five W135, 6 of 17 A and 1 of 8 C serogroups were β–lactamase positive, while enzyme expression was not observed among the B isolates. African Journal of Clinical and Experimental Microbiology Vol. 9 (1) 2008: pp. 2-1

Correlation and Path Analysis of Yield and Related Traits of Upland Rice Genotypes across Weeding Regimes

This investigation was carried out at International Institute of Tropical Agriculture IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria to estimate correlation coefficients of yield and associated traits of thirty-six upland rice lines and the effect of these attributes in four weeding regimes. The weeding regimes were: weed free, weeding twice (21 and 42 days after sowing (DAS), weeding once at 42 DAS only, and weeding once at 21 DAS only, laid out in an alpha lattice design replicated two times. Correlation analysis indicated that yield was significantly and positively associated with panicle length, panicle number and 100 seed weight in both years. There was also a highly significant negative correlation between weed dry matter at all the sampling periods and number of tillers, plant height at maturity in 2011 and number of panicles and panicle length in 2012. Weed dry matter was negatively correlated with grain yield (P < 0.01) in both years clearly explaining the adverse effect of weed on the yield of rice. Path analysis revealed that days to 50% flowering, 100 seed weight, number of panicles and panicle length had direct positive effect on yield across the weeding regimes. Hence, selection based on these traits could help bring simultaneous improvement of yield and yield attributes. For further breeding activities, more emphasis should be given to 100 seed weight, days to 50% flowering, number of panicles and panicle length as they showed high correlation in addition to maximum direct positive effects on yield

Heavy metal contamination of green leafy vegetable garden in Itam road construction site in Uyo, Nigeria. Research journal of environmental and earth sciences 4(4

Abstract: Human exposure to heavy metals is a subject of public health concern that have attracted the attention of researchers, health and nutrition experts all over the world. Green Leafy Vegetables (GLVs) are important part of diets in the South-South Region of Nigeria. Consumption of vegetables exposed to heavy metals contamination may lead to serious health complications. In this investigation, we estimated the concentrations of some heavy metals (Pb, Hg, Al, Cd, Fe and Zn) in GLVs harvested from vegetable gardens in the residential areas along Itam road construction site, Uyo, Nigeria. The results showed that Pb, Hg, Al and Cd concentrations were significantly high (p<0.05) in all exposed GLV samples than the control but Teliferia occidentalis had higher values of heavy metals than Talinium triangulare. However, zinc and iron levels in the GLV exposed samples were not significantly (p>0.05) higher than the control. Our findings showed that heavy metal contamination of edible vegetable is high at road construction sites and may impact negatively on the health of human and animals living in such environment. We suggest that health impact assessment be carried out at construction sites in order to suggest necessary measure that can alleviate the effects of such environmental contaminants