World Journal of Agricultural Research

Six recently released bread wheat varieties, namely Inseno-1, Kekeba, Millenium, Dandandaa’, Sulla and Tay together with check variety Kubssa were tested under participatory varietal evaluation and selection trial at Wente-Sestro kebele, Lanfuro Woreda, of southern nation, nationalities and people region Ethiopia using mother-baby trials methodology in four Mothers and fifteen babies on farmers fields in 2010/2011 cropping season with objectives of evaluating the performance, selecting well performed & farmers accepted varieties, and identifying farmers varietal selection criteria. Data were collected on crop Phonology, growth and yield & yield related traits from the mother trials and farmers perception on the varieties both from mother and baby trials. The analysis of variance revealed that the varieties differed significantly (P<0.001) in days to heading, grain filling period, days to maturity, biomass yield, number of tillers per plant, spike length, number of grains per spike, thousand seed weigh, harvest index and plant height and) in fertile spikes per plant (P<0.01. The variety Inseno-1 was significantly earlier in flowering (50 days) and maturity (86 days) than the variety Kubssa (58 and 91 days) and other varieties. The 1000-seed weight of the varieties Inseno-1 (40.88 g), Kekeba (38.05 g) and Millenium (32.45 g) was significantly larger than the 1000-seed weight of the check (27.87 g) and other varieties. The varieties Inseno-1 (3020.7 kgha-1), Kekeba (2678.6 kgha-1) and Millenium (2374.1 kg ha-1) gave significantly higher grain yield than Kubssa (1622 kgha-1) and other varieties. Grain yield correlated positively and significantly with biomass yield (r = 0.89**), 1000- seed weight (r = 0.87**), harvest index (r = 0.65**), grain filling rate (r = 0.97**) and negatively and significantly associated with days to maturity (r = -0.40*) and number of tillers per plant (r = -0.65**). The correlation coefficient values indicated that the early maturing wheat varieties having less number of tillers per plant, producing high biomass and heavier 1000-seed weight gave higher grain yields at Wente-Sestro. Farmers based on higher grain yield, disease resistant, earliness in maturity, larger and uniform seed size, seed color and marketability of the varieties have selected the varieties Inseno-1, Kekeba and Millenium as first, second and third from other tested varieties, respectively and decided to replace Kubssa by these varieties.

World Journal of Agricultural Research. 2014, 2(6), 315-320. DOI: 10.12691/wjar-2-6-12
Pub. Date: December 31, 2014

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Effects of Silicon, Copper and Zinc Applications on Sheath Blight Disease Severity on Rice

by Ei Ei Khaing, Zainal Abidin Mior Ahmad, Wong MuiYun and Mohamad Razi Ismail

Original Research

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) sheath blight disease is one of the most important diseases globally which makes its management very difficult. Severe soil micronutrients deficiency and high dosage of nitrogen fertilizer leading to the development of sheath blight disease has become a constraint in rice production in Malaysia. The study was conducted to compare between MR219 and MR253 rice varieties to sheath blight inoculations and micronutrient applications and to determine the impact of disease on rice yield. Sheath blight epidemics in pots were initiated by inoculation at maximum tillering growth stage under glasshouse conditions in April 2013. Silica gel, copper sulphate and zinc sulphate were applied to the soil prior to planting at the rates of 360g, 0.30 g, 0.45g per 15 kg soil respectively. Inoculation significantly (P=0.05) increased sheath blight severity and incidence which caused yield losses of 11% in moderately resistant variety MR219 and 50% in moderately susceptible variety MR253. Micronutrients application reduced sheath blight incidence and severity regardless of varieties. Fertilization with Si was significantly more effective than Cu and Zn treatments in minimizing yield loss due to sheath blight in both varieties.

World Journal of Agricultural Research. 2014, 2(6), 309-314. DOI: 10.12691/wjar-2-6-11
Pub. Date: December 31, 2014

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Effect of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on Rumen Fermentation Characteristics, Nutrient Degradation and Cellulase Activity of Steers Fed Diets with Different Concentrate to Forage Ratios

by Gengzhi Ding, Ying Chang, Zhenming Zhou, Liping Ren and Qingxiang Meng

Original Research

The objective of current study was to evaluate effect of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) on rumen fermentation characteristics and fiber degradation in steers fed diets with different concentrate levels. Ten Simental × Local breed steers fitted with rumen fistulas were assigned to control and treatment groups. Steers were fed the same basal diets but the treatment groups received SC supplementation (8×10⁹ cfu/h/d) following a 2-period crossover design. Each period was comprised of four phases. From the 1^st to the 4^th phase, steers were fed in a stepwise fashion with incremental levels of concentrate diets at concentrate to forage ratios (CTFR) of 30:70, 50:50, 70:30 and 90:10, respectively. MIXED procedure was used to analysis effect of SC supplementation on parameters. Linear and quadratic responses for dietary CTFR were assessed using orthogonal polynomial contrast statements. The results showed that with dietary CTFR increasing, rumen pH, acetate and isobutyrate molar proportion, acetate: propionate, degradation rate (c_DM, c_NDF) and effective degradability (ED_DM, ED_NDF) of CRH linearly decreased (L; P < 0.01); TVFA concentration, molar proportion of propionate, butyrate, valerate and isovalerate and enzyme fibrotic activities linearly increased (L; P < 0.01), but concentration of rumen ammonia N, d+l-lactate and rapidly degradable fraction (a_DM, a_NDF) of CRH presented quadratic variation (Q; P < 0.01). Regardless of dietary CTFR, rumen pH, c_DM, c_NDF, ED_DM, ED_NDFof CRH and enzyme fibrotic activities with SC supplementation was higher compared to control groups (P < 0.05). Overall, SC possesses the capacity to stabilize rumen pH and to enhance fiber degradation.

World Journal of Agricultural Research. 2014, 2(6), 303-308. DOI: 10.12691/wjar-2-6-10
Pub. Date: December 31, 2014

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Food Prices Volatility in Rwanda: A VAR Model

by HABYARIMANA Jean Baptiste, MUNYEMANA Emmanuel and IMPETA Fred Bashir

Original Research

Market is the main arbiter of how the available food is distributed both within and between countries. Food price volatility informs consumers and price analysts on the availability of food in the region. Food price surges reduce purchasing power of households that are weekly linked to markets and remain obstacle in the way to feed the poor adequately. Thus, Food price surges lead poor people to limit their food consumption and shift to even less-balanced diets, with harmful effects on health in the short and long run. Applying a Vector Autoregressive Model that combines monthly price information on Sorghum, Maize, Rice, Wheat, Irish Potato, and Beans from January, 2007 to December, 2013, this paper tries to forecast food prices volatility in Rwanda and to find out which food commodities’ price volatility granger cause price volatility in the other food commodities. In the light of the government of Rwanda efforts aimed to ensure food security to its population, food price volatility could capture the attention of the government of Rwanda. Therefore, food price policies should be oriented to the stabilization of price of food commodities which price volatility granger cause price volatility in the other food commodities.

World Journal of Agricultural Research. 2014, 2(6), 296-302. DOI: 10.12691/wjar-2-6-9
Pub. Date: December 30, 2014

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The Diversity and Antagonistic Ability of Trichoderma spp. on the Aspergillus Flavus Pathogen on Peanuts in North Center of Vietnam

by Nguyen Thi Thanh, Ho Thi Nhung, Nguyen Thi Thuy, Thai Thi Ngoc Lam, Phan Thi Giang, Tran Ngoc Lan, Nguyen Van Viet and Vu Trieu Man

Original Research

Among 1000 peanut soil samples were collected from Nghe An province, Thanh Hoa province and Ha Tinh province, 44.90% samples occurred Trichoderma. The appearance ratio of Trichoderma in Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh is 44.30%, 52.00% and 39.50%, respectively. By using in the dual culture method on PDA, The Percent Inhibition of Mycelial Growth (PIRG) was determined to be very high in 28 Trichoderma strains (made up 28.3% in total), 29 others strains was dertermined that to be high PIRG (made up 29,3% in total). The highest PIRG was 100%, occurred on T. harzianum (Tri.019(4).NC; Tri.053(1).TG; Tri.011(1).NL; Tri.002(2).NX strain), T. atroviride (Tri.020(2).NC; Tri.011(1).NC strain), T. reesci (Tri.007(1).NĐ), T. hamatum (Tri.039(1).TG), T. virens (Tri.014(4).NC) and T. pseudokonigii (Tri.014(1).NL).

World Journal of Agricultural Research. 2014, 2(6), 291-295. DOI: 10.12691/wjar-2-6-8
Pub. Date: December 26, 2014

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Control of Oryctes monoceros on Date Palm Field in Sudan-Savannah Vegetative Zone of Nigeria

by Sanusi Mohammed Kabiru, Omokhudu Collins Abiodun and Yahaya Sadiq Abdul Rahman

Original Research

Oryctes monoceros is a serious pest of Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) and accounts for 40% of losses in production every year. Because of the seriousness of the damage caused by this pest much time, energy, labour, money and other resources are employed to control the pest throughout the year. In addition to these losses, when these resources are quantified, it reduces the income that accrued to the farmers thereby making the Date palm industry unattractive. This research was designed to determine the frequency and distribution of O. monoceros infection in a year, so that a better pest management practice can be put in place to arrest the situation and also reduce the resources used to control the pest thereby increasing the farmers’ income. The research was conducted in NIFOR, Date palm Sub-station, Dutse, Jigawa State, Nigeria. The result shows two peaks from April to June and the other from August to November with the crest occurring in October. With this kind of graph, the farmer can concentrate his/her energy and resources at these two peak periods and relaxed at other lower level of the graph that coincided with the period between December to March and the month of July every year. This will help the farmers to plan a better Oryctes monoceros management thereby reducing the damage caused by O. monoceros and at the same time reduce the cost of resources used on the Date palm farm, thereby increasing the yield and income for the farmers.

World Journal of Agricultural Research. 2014, 2(6), 285-290. DOI: 10.12691/wjar-2-6-7
Pub. Date: December 21, 2014

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Feeding Wild Sunflower (Tithonia Diversifolia Hemsl., A. Gray) to West African Dwarf Goats as a Dry Season Forage Supplement

by Odedire J.A and Oloidi F.F

Original Research

A study was conducted to investigate the nutritional response of West African Dwarf (WAD) goats offered a concentrate diet containing Wild sunflower leaf meal, as a dry season feed supplement. Twenty WAD goats with age range of 5 – 7 months, weighing approximately 6.94 ± 0.37 kg were randomly allotted to a concentrate diet containing graded levels of Wild sunflower leaf meal (WSLM) at 0, 10, 20 and 30% levels of inclusion, offered as supplement to a guinea grass basal diet, in a completely randomized design. The experiment, which lasted 16 weeks, measured the nutritional performance indices of the WAD goats such as Feed intake, Weight gain, Digestibility, Nitrogen utilization and Feed conversion ratio. Results obtained indicate no significant difference in the dry matter intake (DMI), weight gain and dry matter digestibility of the goats on the different diets. However, the crude protein digestibility and nitrogen utilization of goats on 0% and 10% WSFLM inclusion were higher than those on 20% and 30% WSLM diet. It was concluded that wild sunflower leaf meal can serve as a forage supplement to the WAD goats up to 30% level of inclusion without any deleterious effect.

World Journal of Agricultural Research. 2014, 2(6), 280-284. DOI: 10.12691/wjar-2-6-6
Pub. Date: December 12, 2014

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Economic Analysis and Production Techniques of Snail Farms in Southern Greece

by Hatziioannou M., Issari A., Neofitou C., Aifadi S. and Matsiori S.

Original Research

In the present study was examined the economic viability and the production techniques of commercial snail farms, grounded in Peloponnese (). The primary data were collected through personal interviews from a sample of nine snail farms, during the years of 2009 and 2010. The farms produce fresh snails Cornu aspersum, raised and reproduced in net covered greenhouses with vegetation and artificial food provision. The impact of the production cost and the selling price on the business profitability was examined. A comparative presentation of profits and expenses was conducted for the economic viability control and the Net Present Value criterion was applied, as an indication of potential profitability of the investment plan. The net cash flows were estimated for a time period of ten years and sensitivity analysis was applied for a variation rate of 20% (with 5% as the discounting interest rate). The initial investment was 19.478 €, 60% of this concerns expenses for the creation of the net covered greenhouse. The annual revenue was estimated to 20.028€ during an average year (3^rd year) within the ten-year evaluation horizon. In the selling price of 5,3 €/kg the investment was deemed marginally economically viable. Problems which concerned mainly the design of the livestock installations but also the productions techniques were detected. Sensitivity analysis, demonstrated that the enterprise was sensitive to variations of the product's selling price (of fresh snails) and less sensitive to variations of feeding cost (of the green vegetables and artificial diet). Heliciculture has the potential to constitute an innovative and viable agricultural activity with economic, social and environmental benefits.

World Journal of Agricultural Research. 2014, 2(6), 276-279. DOI: 10.12691/wjar-2-6-5
Pub. Date: December 01, 2014

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Investigations on Leaf Blight Disease of Clove Incited by Cylindrocladiumquinqueseptatum Boedijn & Reitsma

by Jitendra Khare, P. G. Borkar and Sudhir Navathe

Original Research

Clove (Syzygiumaromaticum) (L) Merr. & Perry is one of the tree spices noted for its flavor and medicinal values. It is an aromatic plant and imparts warming qualities when it is used as culinary spice. A severe leaf blight incidence was observed on the clove trees at the Horticultural Farm, College of Agriculture, Dapoli during the rainy season. The total severity of the disease resulted in rapid blightening and heavy defoliation. The causal organism of the disease was isolated and identified as Cylindrocladiumquinqueseptatum. The in vitro evaluation of different fungicides revealed that Carbendazim and Carbendazim + Mancozeb each at 0.1% concentration completely inhibited growth of the pathogen. While in the field trial on the clove trees, Carbendazim (0.1%) was the most effective in controlling the leaf blight disease.

World Journal of Agricultural Research. 2014, 2(6), 272-275. DOI: 10.12691/wjar-2-6-4
Pub. Date: November 23, 2014

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Performance Evaluation and Path Analysis Studies in Tomato (Solanumlycopersiconl.) Genotpes under Humera, Northern Ethiopia Condition

by Shushay Chernet, Derbew Belew and Fetien Abay

Original Research

In order to evaluate performance of genotypes and study the direct and indirect effects of characters on fruit yield, thirty six tomato genotypes introduced from different countries were grown at Humera Agricultural Research Center during 2010/11 cropping season under irrigation condition. The trial was laid out in 6 x 6 simple lattice design in two replications. The maximum marketable yield was obtained from the genotype CLN-2037-A (49.20 tons ha^-1) and the minimum with H-1350 (3.00 tons ha^-1). Estimates of genotypic direct and indirect effects of various characters on fruit yield showed that number of matured fruits plant-1 (0.798) and average weight of fruits plant^-1 (0.644) had highest positive direct contribution to fruit yield. This indicated direct selection based on these characters will improve fruit yield. On the contrary, fruit set percentage (-0.447) and fruit polar diameter (-0.392) exerted highest negative direct effect on fruit yield ha^-1.

World Journal of Agricultural Research. 2014, 2(6), 267-271. DOI: 10.12691/wjar-2-6-3
Pub. Date: November 19, 2014

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Screening of Local and Introduced Varieties of Pogostemon heyneanus Benth. (Lamiaceae), for Superior Quality Physical, Chemical and Biological Parameters

by R.M. Dharmadasa, R.M.D.H. Rathnayake, D.C. Abeysinghe, S. A. N. Rashani, K. Samarasinghe and A.L.M Attanayake

Original Research

Pogostemon heyneanus Benth. (Lamiaceae) is an aromatic, perfumery important, industrial crop widely cultivated in many Asian countries for its distinguished fragrance and other therapeutic purposes. However, commercial cultivation of P. heyneanus was hampered due to lack of high quality planting materials. Purpose of the present study is to explore superior quality P. heyneanus variety by means of physical (morphological), chemical (physico-chemical, phytochemical, essential oil content and composition) and biological [total antioxidant capacity (TAC)] parameters in order to establish commercial cultivation. Morphological, physico-chemical and phytochemical analysis were performed according to the methods described in WHO guidelines and other classical texts. The TAC was performed using Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) assay. Essential oil was analyzed by gas chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS). Out of 26 morphological characters assessed, 5 characters were i.e. plant height, leaf margin, leaf apex, and leaf base and leaf shape polymorphic. All phytochemicals tested were identical to both varieties. However, presence of a prominent spots at Rf 0.12 (dark brown spot), 0.20 (rose colour spot), 0.45 (dark green spot) were characteristic for local variety. Significantly higher total ash content (12.32 %), oil content (0.52%), higher number of compounds in essential oil, patchouli alcohol content (57.0 %) and antioxidant capacity (108.53 ± 2.5 mg Trolox equivalent per g of extract) were reported in introduced variety. According to the results, introduced variety possesses superior quality physical, chemical and biological properties and therefore, introduced variety could be recommended for establishment of commercial cultivation.

World Journal of Agricultural Research. 2014, 2(6), 261-266. DOI: 10.12691/wjar-2-6-2
Pub. Date: November 16, 2014

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Earthworms: 'Soil and Ecosystem Engineers' – a Review

by Roshan Babu Ojha and Deepa Devkota

Review Article

Earthworms can alter the soil environment by changing soil properties. They have great potentiality to enhance soil physical properties like bulk density, infiltrability, hydraulic conductivity, porosity, aggregate stability. Due to this ability they are only species which plays significant role in pedoturbation. Similarly, their role in nutrient cycling and organic matter breakdown is of unique interest. Earthworm cast fortified with the microbial population. Increasing microbial activity in soil, increases the nutrient mineralization and release. Earthworm activity enhances root distribution so that immobile macro nutrients like phosphorous and other micronutrients, which are absorbed by plant through root interception, are easily available to the plants. Hence, earthworms play important role in bioturbation, they are considered as 'soil engineer.' However, their activity differs with the agroecosystems. Their population density is more in reduced tillage system than conventional tillage system, aerobic condition than anaerobic conditions, grasslands than forest. Low population of earthworm was found in dry land agroecosystems. But earthworm presence in extreme environment is not studied well yet. So, this paper was reviewed to explore the role of earthworm as soil and ecosystem engineer. This was already established fact but main aim of this paper is to collect the related information and conclude the future research prospects to strengthen the earthworm role as soil and ecosystem engineer.

World Journal of Agricultural Research. 2014, 2(6), 257-260. DOI: 10.12691/wjar-2-6-1
Pub. Date: November 11, 2014

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