Attitude of Youth to Agricultural Development Programmes In Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria

The problems associated with youth behaviours in the Niger Delta region necessitated the study. The specific objectives were to collate the current agricultural development intervention programmes; compare the attitude of youth leaders and non-leaders to agricultural development intervention programmes, and examine the factors militating against youth involvement in agriculture. Questionnaires were used to elicit information from respondents. Simple random sampling was used to select respondents. The sample was made up of 71 youths comprising 18 leaders and 53 non-leaders. Data were analysed by the use of mean and t-test. It was found that 5 agricultural development programmes currently existed in the study area. The non-youth leaders disagreed with the 5 positive attitude statements and agreed with 4 out of the 5 negative statements. The youth leaders disagreed with 5 positive attitude statements and agreed with the 5 negative attitude statements. There was no significant difference in the mean attitude scores between youth leaders and non-leaders (t=0.05; p>0.05). The factors militating against youth involvement in agriculture were lack of basic infrastructure ( x=2.62), lack of modern agricultural equipment ( land/land tenure system ( incentives/ incomes( x=3.34), lack of credit facilities ( x=3.46), lack of x=2.99), and poor x=3.00). Youths should be motivated to take up agriculture through extension campaigns, and provision of inputs and land for large scale farmin

Attitude of Youth to Agricultural Development Programmes In Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria

The problems associated with youth behaviours in the Niger Delta region necessitated the study. The specific objectives were to collate the current agricultural development intervention programmes; compare the attitude of youth leaders and non-leaders to agricultural development intervention programmes, and examine the factors militating against youth involvement in agriculture. Questionnaires were used to elicit information from respondents. Simple random sampling was used to select respondents. The sample was made up of 71 youths comprising 18 leaders and 53 non-leaders. Data were analysed by the use of mean and t-test. It was found that 5 agricultural development programmes currently existed in the study area. The non-youth leaders disagreed with the 5 positive attitude statements and agreed with 4 out of the 5 negative statements. The youth leaders disagreed with 5 positive attitude statements and agreed with the 5 negative attitude statements. There was no significant difference in the mean attitude scores between youth leaders and non-leaders (t=0.05; p>0.05). The factors militating against youth involvement in agriculture were lack of basic infrastructure ( x=2.62), lack of modern agricultural equipment ( land/land tenure system ( incentives/ incomes( x=3.34), lack of credit facilities ( x=3.46), lack of x=2.99), and poor x=3.00). Youths should be motivated to take up agriculture through extension campaigns, and provision of inputs and land for large scale farmin

Genetic diversity of provitamin-A cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) in Sierra Leone

Open Access Article; Published online: 04 Mar 2020Understanding the genetic diversity among accessions and germplasm is an important requirement for crop development as it allows for the selection of diverse parental combinations for enhancing genetic gain in varietal selection, advancement and release. The study aimed to characterize 183 provitamin A cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) accessions and five Sierra Leonean varieties using morphological traits, total carotenoid content and SNP markers to develop a collection for conservation and further use in the cassava breeding program. Both morphological parameters and 5634 SNP markers were used to assess the diversity among the provitamin-A cassava accessions and varieties. Significant differences were observed among the accessions for most of the traits measured. The first five PCs together accounted for 70.44% of the total phenotypic variation based on yield and yield components among the 183 provitamin-A cassava accessions and five Sierra Leonean varieties. The present study showed that provitamin-A cassava accessions in Sierra Leone have moderate to high diversity based on morphological and molecular assessment studies. The similarity index among the 187 and 185 cassava accessions grouped them into 6 and 9 distinct clusters based on morphological and molecular analyses, respectively. A significant positive, but low correlation (r = 0.104; p\0.034), was observed between the two dendrograms. The results obtained will serve as a guide and basis of germplasm management and improvement for total carotenoid content, yield and African cassava mosaic disease resistance in Sierra Leone

Genetic diversity and population structure of maize inbred lines with varying levels of resistance to striga hermonthica using agronomic trait-based and SNP markers

Open Access Journal; Published online: 17 Sept 2020Striga hermonthica is a serious biotic stress limiting maize production in sub-Saharan Africa. The limited information on the patterns of genetic diversity among maize inbred lines derived from source germplasm with mixed genetic backgrounds limits the development of inbred lines, hybrids, and synthetics with durable resistance to S. hermonthica. This study was conducted to assess the level of genetic diversity in a panel of 150 diverse maize inbred lines using agronomic and molecular data and also to infer the population structure among the inbred lines. Ten Striga-resistance-related traits were used for the phenotypic characterization, and 16,735 high-quality single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), identified by genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS), were used for molecular diversity. The phenotypic and molecular hierarchical cluster analyses grouped the inbred lines into five clusters, respectively. However, the grouping patterns between the phenotypic and molecular hierarchical cluster analyses were inconsistent due to non-overlapping information between the phenotypic and molecular data. The correlation between the phenotypic and molecular diversity matrices was very low (0.001), which is in agreement with the inconsistencies observed between the clusters formed by the phenotypic and molecular diversity analyses. The joint phenotypic and genotypic diversity matrices grouped the inbred lines into three groups based on their reaction patterns to S. hermonthica, and this was able to exploit a broad estimate of the actual diversity among the inbred lines. The joint analysis shows an invaluable insight for measuring genetic diversity in the evaluated materials. The result indicates that wide genetic variability exists among the inbred lines and that the joint diversity analysis can be utilized to reliably assign the inbred lines into heterotic groups and also to enhance the level of resistance to Striga in new maize varieties

Customer Orientation of Frontline Employees and Organizational Commitment

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Service Industries Journal on 20th Mar 2014, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/0.1080/02642069.2014.886197.”This study investigates the effect of alignment between employee and firm customer orientation on the organizational commitment of frontline service employees. Furthermore, the study examines how the size and nature of the discrepancy between employee customer orientation and firm customer orientation affects organizational commitment. The results suggest that organizational commitment is stronger when employee and firm customer orientation are matched than when they are not. Furthermore, organizational commitment is slightly stronger when employee customer orientation exceeds firm customer orientation than when the reverse is the case. The results suggest that efforts expended by firms in hiring and retaining customer-oriented service workers will be unlikely to yield optimal commitment benefits without simultaneous investments to improve firm-level customer orientation

Association analysis for resistance to Striga hermonthica in diverse tropical maize inbred lines

Open Access Journal; Published online: 17 Dec 2021Striga hermonthica is a widespread, destructive parasitic plant that causes substantial yield loss to maize productivity in sub-Saharan Africa. Under severe Striga infestation, yield losses can range from 60 to 100% resulting in abandonment of farmers’ lands. Diverse methods have been proposed for Striga management; however, host plant resistance is considered the most effective and affordable to small-scale famers. Thus, conducting a genome-wide association study to identify quantitative trait nucleotides controlling S. hermonthica resistance and mining of relevant candidate genes will expedite the improvement of Striga resistance breeding through marker-assisted breeding. For this study, 150 diverse maize inbred lines were evaluated under Striga infested and non-infested conditions for two years and genotyped using the genotyping-by-sequencing platform. Heritability estimates of Striga damage ratings, emerged Striga plants and grain yield, hereafter referred to as Striga resistance-related traits, were high under Striga infested condition. The mixed linear model (MLM) identifed thirty SNPs associated with the three Striga resistance-related traits based on the multi-locus approaches (mrMLM, FASTmrMLM, FASTmrEMMA and pLARmEB). These SNPs explained up to 14% of the total phenotypic variation. Under non-infested condition, four SNPs were associated with grain yield, and these SNPs explained up to 17% of the total phenotypic variation. Gene annotation of significant SNPs identified candidate genes (Leucine-rich repeats, putative disease resistance protein and VQ proteins) with functions related to plant growth, development, and defense mechanisms. The marker-effect prediction was able to identify alleles responsible for predicting high yield and low Striga damage rating in the breeding panel. This study provides valuable insight for marker validation and deployment for Striga resistance breeding in maize