Cross Sectional and Phenotypic Studies on Fasciolosis in Slaughter

Cattle in Maiduguri, Nigeria

^*1BIU, A.A., ²PAUL, B.T., ³KONTO, M. AND ⁴YA’UBA, A.M.

^*1,2,3,&4Department of Veterinary Microbiology & Parasitology

University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Nigeria

E-mail: biuvet@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

A cross-sectional and morphometric study on bovine fasciolosis was conducted in Maiduguri between June and August, 2009. Post mortem examination of the liver by careful visualization, palpation and transverse lobar incision revealed a prevalence of 59 (14.8%) for the 400 slaughtered cattle examined with male (n = 270) having 35 (12.9%) and female (n = 130) having 24 (18.5%). Based on age group, 1-2½ year cattle (n=118) had a prevalence of 13 (11.0%) while 3-4 ½ years (n=242) and 5-6 ½ years (n=40) had 41 (16.9%) and 5 (12.5%) respectively. Breeds examined were Adamawa gudali (n=15), Ambala (n=120), Bunaji (n=38), Kuri (n=13), Rahaji (n=27), Sokoto gudali (n=20), West African dwarf (n=4) and Wadara (n=163) had 2(13.3%), 30(25.0%), 4(10.5%), 0(0.0%), 2(7.4%), 1(5.0%), 0(0.0%) and 20(12.3%) respectively. These prevalence rates based on age, sex and breed indicated no significant deference (P = 0.9539 > 0.05). Fasciola gigantica was the species identified with those measuring a mean length by breadth (range) in mm of 35.8 x 9.0 (21-52 x 4-13) as adults and 21.9 x 6.3 (18-24 x 4-8) as immature forms. The mean ± SD parasitic burden represented intensity/severity of infection and male had a higher mean intensity of 36.7 ± 115.3 compared with female 22.7± 56.5 (p>0.05). The age group of 1-2½ years had a higher mean intensity of 38 (3-145) ± 100.4 than the other age groups, while among breeds, the Bunaji cattle also had a significantly higher mean intensity compared with the other breeds examined. This study has confirmed Fasciola gigantica and its phenotypic characters useful for diagnosis and veterinary education.

Determinants of Socio-Economic Status of Cassava Processing

Entrepreneurs in South-Eastern Nigeria

IKWUAKAM OSCAR TITUS

Department of Agricultural Education

Federal College of Education Katsina, Katsina State, Nigeria.

E-mail: ikwuosca@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

South-Eastern Nigeria is one of the highest cassava producing zones in Nigeria. This expectedly should be a boost to socio-economic status (SES) of cassava processing entrepreneurs (CPE) in the area. However, the determinants of CPEs’ SES seem not certain. The study, therefore, examined the determinants of CPEs’ SES in south-eastern Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used in selecting respondents. Imo and Anambra states were purposively selected due to their prominence in cassava enterprise. Nine LGAs of 27 LGAs in Imo and 6 LGAs of 21 LGAs in Anambra states were randomly selected. Systematic sampling procedure was also used to randomly select 20% of registered CPEs (50, 36) from Imo and Anambra states respectively resulting in 86 entrepreneurs. Data were collected and analyzed using questionnaire and descriptive statistics, Chi square and regression respectively. Most CPE were females (87.5%) and having mean age, experience and annual income of 53.33 ± 6.629, 36.87 ± 10.160 and N275771.7 ± 03.17 respectively. Majority (59.3%) had moderate SES. Source of shop (β = 3.798), benefits derived (β = 7.075), scale of operation (β = 12.006) income (β = 3.120) and experience (β = 1.760) are top predictors of CPEs’ SES. The study has revealed that the SES of CPE is moderate and this is not encouraging to attract and sustain popular participation among entrepreneurs. It is expedient that appropriate intervention mechanism be put in place with the aim of developing improved processing techniques and reduce the constraints to cassava processing enterprise.

Response of Ginger (Zinibar officinale) to Organic and Inorganic

Fertilizer in Rain Forest Zone

NMOR E.I.

Department of Agricultural Technology

Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro, Delta State, Nigeria.

E-mail: nmoredith@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

This research was carried out in school of Agriculture Teaching Farm in Delta State Polytechnic Ozoro in the year 2013. Due to the fact that gingers are not commonly cultivated in southern Nigeria, the need to evaluate the response of ginger to the application of organic and inorganic fertilizer becomes necessary. Fifty-four (54) rhizomes of ginger collected from the local market were planted in Randomized Complete Block Design replicated three times. Eighteen (18) were treated with organic fertilizer, another eighteen (18) were treated with inorganic fertilizer while the remaining eighteen served as control. Parameters measured are number of leaves, plant height and leaf area. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance. The result shows that ginger treated with organic manure had more number of leaves of 5.8, 7.6, 14.7 and 26.1 as against 5.9, 5.4, 12.2, 21.9, 1.3, 1.5, 1.5 and 12.0 for inorganic fertilizer and control respectively. Table 3 also shows that ginger treated with organic manure had better plant height of 11.5, 16.0, 23.8 and 46.4 as against 10.5, 15.0, 21.7 and 44.8 for ginger treated with inorganic fertilizer. For the leaf area, it also followed the same trend of ginger treated with organic manure having better leaf area of 149, 167 and 172 as against 154, 182 and 195 for those ginger treated with inorganic fertilizer. However, there was significant difference between the performance of ginger treated with organic manure and those treated with inorganic manure in terms of number of leaves, plant height and leaf area at (P>0.05). Hence, treating ginger with organic manure is recommended for ginger farmer so as to boost yield.

Cross Sectional and Phenotypic Studies on Fasciolosis in Slaughter

Cross Sectional and Phenotypic Studies on Fasciolosis in Slaughter

Cattle in Maiduguri, Nigeria

^*1BIU, A.A., ²PAUL, B.T., ³KONTO, M. AND ⁴YA’UBA, A.M.

^*1,2,3,&4Department of Veterinary Microbiology & Parasitology

University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Nigeria

E-mail: biuvet@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

A cross-sectional and morphometric study on bovine fasciolosis was conducted in Maiduguri between June and August, 2009. Post mortem examination of the liver by careful visualization, palpation and transverse lobar incision revealed a prevalence of 59 (14.8%) for the 400 slaughtered cattle examined with male (n = 270) having 35 (12.9%) and female (n = 130) having 24 (18.5%). Based on age group, 1-2½ year cattle (n=118) had a prevalence of 13 (11.0%) while 3-4 ½ years (n=242) and 5-6 ½ years (n=40) had 41 (16.9%) and 5 (12.5%) respectively. Breeds examined were Adamawa gudali (n=15), Ambala (n=120), Bunaji (n=38), Kuri (n=13), Rahaji (n=27), Sokoto gudali (n=20), West African dwarf (n=4) and Wadara (n=163) had 2(13.3%), 30(25.0%), 4(10.5%), 0(0.0%), 2(7.4%), 1(5.0%), 0(0.0%) and 20(12.3%) respectively. These prevalence rates based on age, sex and breed indicated no significant deference (P = 0.9539 > 0.05). Fasciola gigantica was the species identified with those measuring a mean length by breadth (range) in mm of 35.8 x 9.0 (21-52 x 4-13) as adults and 21.9 x 6.3 (18-24 x 4-8) as immature forms. The mean ± SD parasitic burden represented intensity/severity of infection and male had a higher mean intensity of 36.7 ± 115.3 compared with female 22.7± 56.5 (p>0.05). The age group of 1-2½ years had a higher mean intensity of 38 (3-145) ± 100.4 than the other age groups, while among breeds, the Bunaji cattle also had a significantly higher mean intensity compared with the other breeds examined. This study has confirmed Fasciola gigantica and its phenotypic characters useful for diagnosis and veterinary education.

Information Communication and Technology in Agriculture for Food Production and Rural Economic Development

ISAAC SAMUEL AND AUGUSTINA NDU

Department of Agricultural Science Education

Federal College of Education [Technical], Bichi, Kano, Nigeria.

E-mail: isaacsamue107@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Evidently, Information Communication and Technology applications, opportunities and benefits are affecting all aspects of life and can enhance sustainable development in all fields of human endeavour, especially agriculture within the framework of national agricultural transformation agenda. The transformation agenda sets 2015 as a targeted date to affect the lives of Nigerians positively and join leagues of nations in economic and social development. This paper focuses on ways through which ICT can be effectively used to achieve the agricultural transformation agenda. The paper also reviews how ICT has influence agricultural development in some developing countries and vis-a-vis make recommendations towards sustaining these opportunities in Nigeria agriculture.

Comparative Evaluation of Some Botanicals and Carbofuran in the Control of Root-Knot Nematode, Meloidogyne spp. on Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata)

YAKUBU, L.B. AND IZUOGU, N.B.

Department of Crop Protection,

University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State Nigeria.

E-mail: busybrain4sure@yahoo.com

Abstract: The nematicidal effect of leaves of three selected plants, Calotropis procera, Crotalaria retusa, and Hyptis suaveolens were compared with a  synthetic nematicide, Carbofuran 3G applied singly to control root knot nematode infecting cowpea. A ploughed, harrowed and ridged plot of land was divided into 3 blocks, each having 8 treatments but replicated 3 times in a randomized complete block design form to give a total of 24 subplots. All subplots received the same level of root knot nematode inoculation. The leaves of each test plant were applied at two rates (3.0 tonnes/ha and 1.5tonnes/ha) while the Carbofuran was applied at 3kgai/ha. All the test plant leaves applied at higher rates performed significantly higher (P=0.05) and were almost as effective as Carbofuran at 3kgai/ha in terms of plant height, leaf number, seed weight, and days to 50% flowering. At harvest, galling was significantly lower in Carbofuran treated plots. The control plants were most galled with poor yield. The lower rate of botanicals (1.5tonnes/ha) performed significantly better than control plants in suppressing the effects of root-knot nematode infecting cowpea. These suggest that the tested botanicals are effective in the management of root-knot nematode population. The application of the tested botanicals at 3tonnes/ha can be used as substitutes for Carbofuran or other nematicidal synthetic chemicals in controlling root-knot nematode population in farmlands.

Pattern of Meat Consumption in Jalingo Local Government Area in Northern Taraba State Nigeria

ABDULRAHMAN A.M., B.J. MUFWA, MUSA B. AND INNOCENT S.B.

Department of Animal Production

College of Agriculture, Jalingo, Taraba State, Nigeria.

E-mail: aamaigari77@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

The study was carried out in Jalingo local government area Taraba State, to determine meat consumption pattern in the area and factors affecting same. A well designed questionnaire of which one hundred and sixty three (163) copies were used in the survey served as a source of data collection which covered a period of two weeks. It is observed that 98.1% of the respondent in the study area were male and had formal education with 96.9% the household size is 10 and above which are the majority with 44.5%, their primary occupation are civil servants with 55.2%. And It was found that most (82.2%) of the people within the locality obtained their meat mainly from the market. Even though (98%) of the respondents kept domestic livestock, they rarely consumed what they kept, but rather used them for income generation, and for entertaining guests. Meat preference was in the order of fish, beef, chevon, poultry, pork and bush meat. It was found that most (63.8%) of the people consumed meat once daily. The consumption of meat was said to be high during festive periods such as Sallah, Christmas and New Year during which meat shortage occurred as a result of excessive demand. Most (83.4%) of the respondents sometimes preserved fresh meat by smoking for future consumption; taboos on consumption of meat (especially pig and dog) and self restriction by some people on the consumption of sheep and goat were also found among the people.  It is also found that majority of the people do not consumed disease/death carcass. Meat consumption pattern in the area was said to be better if the number of animals produced was high coupled with the high level of education among the people on the importance of consuming some of the animals they keep. Meat consumption in this area is influenced by a number of factors such as preference culture, economic and availability.

Quality Evaluation of Plantain Chips Sold in Makurdi Metropolis

IKYA, J.K.^1*, ABAH, J.O.¹ AND HAMID, A.F.² 

¹Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria.

²Adamawa State College of Agriculture Mayo Belwa, Adamawa State, Nigeria.

 E-mail: aveyina2012@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

In this study, plantain chips sold in three selected locations (High Level, Wurukum and North Bank) in Makurdi metropolis were purchased and subjected to proximate composition, microbiological and nutritional quality analyses. Results obtained showed that; the proximate composition (on dry weight bases) ranged as follows: 5.76 – 6.25%, 3.20 – 5.08%, 0.44 – 0.52%, 2.23 – 2.38%, 85.85 – 88.36% and 405.28 – 414.12 Kcal for protein, fat, fibre, ash, carbohydrate and energy respectively. The mean microbial counts (CFU/g) for the samples of plantain chips purchased showed that they were all contaminated but safe for consumption. The values ranged from 1.71 × 10⁴ – 3.60 × 10⁴, 3.80 × 10³ – 1.82 × 10⁴ and 3.20 × 10⁴ – 1.48 × 10⁵ for total aerobic bacterial, coliform and fungal counts respectively. The result of nutritional quality evaluation indicated that casein (control) supported more gain in weight (5.42 g) of rats after 14 days of the feeding trial period than the test diets containing plantain chips (1.10 g, 1.25 g, and 1.15 g for High Level, Wurukum and North Bank respectively). The nutritional values of test diets especially in terms of PER (0.58, 0.65, and 0.51) and TND (98.95, 99.48 and 98.67) compared favourably to that of casein (control), with PER and TND of 0.69 and 99.87 respectively. No marked variation was observed in the overall quality of samples obtained from the different locations. Plantain chips sold in Makurdi metropolis was found to be of good quality and should be consumed as a nutritious and healthy snack.

Cyperus Esculentus L. (Tigernut) Increases Estrogen Levelin

Female Albino Wistar Rats

AGBAI E.O¹. AND NWANEGWO C.O¹.

¹Department of Human Physiology, Madonna University Elele, Rivers State Nigeria.

²Department of Human Physiology, Imo State University, Owerri Nigeria.

 E-mail: madonna3k5@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

The effect of methanolic extract of Cyperus esculentus L. on follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, prolactin and estrogen in twenty four albino wistar rats and in four control rats. After six weeks administration of extract of Cyperus esculentus L., results showed no statistically significant difference in LH levels at P > 0.05 between Group A (5.23 ± 0.92) compared with experimental Group B (5.55 ± 0.29), Group C (5.33 ± 0.74) and Group D (6.10 ± 0.15). FSH levels showed statistically significant difference at P < 0.05 between Group A (12.20 ± 0.94) compared to Group B (11.30 ± 1.93) and Group C (12.18 ± 1.24). There was no statistically significant difference at P > 0.05 between Group A (12.20 ± 0.94) compared with Group D (14.18 ± 2.00). Prolactin levels showed no statistically significant differences at P > 0.05 between Group A (1.83 ± 0.38) compared with Group B (2.03 ± 0.05), Group C (1.88 ± 0.11) and Group D (2.25 ± 0.21). The estrogen levels showed statistically significant differences at P < 0.05 between Group A (16.83 ± 1.48) compared to Group B (19.85 ± 2.17). There was also statistically significant difference in estrogen levels at P < 0.05 between Group A (16.83 ± 1.48) compared to Group C (24.03 ± 4.31). There was a statistically significant difference at P < 0.05 between Group A (16.83 ± 1.48) compared to Group D (31.40 ± 4.19). Our finding revealed that methanolic extract of Cyperus esculentus significantly increased serum estrogen level as the dose concentration of extract increased, but did not statistically increase follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone and prolactin levels.

Smoke- Curing Indices of Some Frozen Fish Species Using Traditional Smoking Kiln in Abeokuta, Ogun State

¹AKINYEMI, A.A., ¹IDOWU, A.A., ¹OLAOYE, O.J., ²TAIWO AYANSANWO, ²A.O. KUDORO AND ²B.B. ADEKOYA

¹Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management, University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State Nigeria.

²Ogun State Agriculture Development Programme, Olabisi Onabanjo Way, Idi – Aba, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

E-mail: adeoluakinyemi@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

The preservative effect of the smoking process results from drying and the deposition in the flesh of natural wood-smoke chemicals. The smoke-curing indices of Hake – (Merluccius sp); Sardine – (Sardinella sp); Mackerel – (Scomberomerus tritor) and Herring – (Sardinella maderensis) were assessed using cut-out drum smoking kiln. The fishes were weighed before smoking and the weighing continued at 30 minutes intervals during smoking until constant weights for each fish species was attained. The temperature in the smoking kiln during smoking curing ranged between 40 – 70⁰C, there was a continual and gradual loss of weight in Hake – (Merluccius sp); Sardine – (Sardinella sp); Mackerel – (Scomberomerus tritor) and Herring – (Sardinella maderensis) examined as the smoking time increases until a constant weight was reached at different times. Sardine – (Sardinella sp) had the highest smoking curing index of 62.5% and Hake – (Merluccius sp) was least with 43.75%. Thus, the shelf life of this fish species become enhanced at these levels of smoking which, enable the processors  time before the sales of their