Abstract: Annually Kenya produces about 20 million tons of poultry meat worth KES 3.5 billion and 1.3 billion eggs worth KES 9.7 billion. However Indigenous chicken productivity has stagnated due to limited transfer and adoption of improved technologies such as biosecurity practices by rural households. The productivity of Indigenous chicken has been decreasing in Makueni County despite development agencies, both national and international and county government investing heavily in chicken e...
Abstract: The importance of bananas cannot be underestimated worldwide. The main study objective was to assess the adoption and commercialization of tissue culture bananas in the riverine areas of the semi-arid areas of Lower Eastern region of Kenya. The specific objectives included determining respondents socio-economic, environmental and policy factors affecting adoption of tissue culture bananas in the region. This study was necessary due to the fact that there were many production gaps t...
integrating behavioural and physiological variables to predict avian responses to climate change in the Kalahari Desert Predicting how species will respond to climate change requires an understanding of how temperature affects behaviour, physiological tolerance limits and adaptive capacity. In this thesis, I investigated the temperature-dependency of physiology and behaviour of birds in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa
Abstract: The desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria (Orthoptera: Acrididae) is a destructive pest when gregarious but harmless in solitary form. Reports demonstrate the involvement of aggregation pheromones in mediating behavior of the desert locust in the gregarious phase. Phenylacetonitrile (PAN), the major component of the adult aggregation pheromone, can act as an adult aggregant for both sexes and as a male homosexual avoidance pheromone. However, the origin of PAN and its biosynthesis p...
Abstract: Food security is a global problem despite the many efforts put to produce enough food to feed the ever rising global population. Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) is an important crop for food security and provision of proteins for poor households in sub Saharan Africa. In arid and semi-arid lands, beans are very important for they play a major role in food security and nutrition. However, its production in ASALs is constrained by erratic rainfall, moisture deficit, low nutrients ...
Abstract: Semi-arid peri-urban environment holds great potential for dairy development to meet the high demand for milk and become a livelihood support strategy. In support for dairy production, forage technologies were promoted among dairy farmers in order to improve the performance of the sector and contribute to poverty reduction. However, the level and determinants of adoption of selected forage technologies in relation to dairy production is still unknown. To address this, 150 dairy far...
Abstract: Cereals are important crops grown and consumed globally, regionally and locally. However, world cereal yields have declined due to frequent droughts, erratic and unreliable rainfall especially in sub-saharan Africa. Pearl millet accounts for almost half of the global production of the millet species. Therefore, identifying high yielding pearl millet genotypes with farmer preffered traits and adapted to drought stress is key for food security. The objective of the field study was to...
Abstract: In an attempt to explain why forest monkeys have a one-male group type of social structure in an environment of apparently rich food supply, the food resources, feeding behaviour and ranging behaviour of the samango monkey was studied in forest on the Eastern Transvaal Escarpment. The taxonomy of the samango monkey in southern africa is discussed, as well as it•s relationship to other forest Cercopithecines. The adaptations and limitations of the animal •s intrinsic characteris...
Abstract: Human population growth generally causes carnivore declines. The rapid expansion of urban landscapes creates both biotic and abiotic changes that are known to negatively impact carnivore populations (Šálek, Drahníková & Tkadlec, 2015). Carnivores are considered particularly sensitive to human population growth and urbanisation due to persecution, large home range requirements and slow population growth (Woodroffe, 2000). This can cause local extinctions or active avoidance of h...
Abstract: The study wa s conducted to assess the performance indices of frame hive beekeeping technology. The objectives were to establish the factors influencing the adoption of frame hives within selected beekeeping groups in Kitui County and compare honey production and household incomes among beekeepers using frame and traditional hives . Data were collected through formal inter views by way of a structured questionnaire , in four locations of Kitui County. Systematic random sampling was...
Abstract: Africa is a water scarce country depending primarily on reservoirs and lakes for socio-economic wellbeing. Most of these reservoirs are contaminated with nutrients making them either eutrophic or even hypertrophic. The algae blooms are common amongst these reservoirs. There is however a worrying trend of an increasing number of reservoirs with cyanobacterial blooms. Cyanobacterial blooms produce cyanotoxins which may result in human and animal deaths. Therefore, it is important to ...
Abstract: The leafhopper Mgenia fuscovaria Stål (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) is a vector of aster yellows phytoplasma (AY), 'Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris', in grapevine, Vitis vinifera L. (Vitaceae), in South Africa. In a previous study, M. fuscovaria was preferentially attracted to AY-infected compared to uninfected grapevine branches, although the mode of attraction was not determined. Phytoplasma infection may alter the volatile profiles of plants, rendering them more attractive to the in...
Abstract: Woodlands cover about 80% of the total land area in Kenya, support 60% of the livestock and are important sources of fuelwood especially charcoal for urban areas. The woodlands of Naivasha, Kenya are dominated by a tree/shrub species Tarchonanthus camphoratus L. which is used for charcoal production using traditional earth kilns. A study focussing on woodland characterisation with respect to species composition and stocking and distribution of T camphoratus and its regeneration cha...
Abstract: v ABSTRACT Mango ( Mangifera indica L.) fruit is produced and consumed globally, regionally, and locally. The fruit is a potential sou rce of essential nutrients including potassium, phosphorous, magnesium and is an excellent source of vitamin A and C . Mangoes can also be sold to earn income . However, most smallholder mango farmers in Matinyani Sub - county experience lack of clean planting materials, ina dequate production technolo gies , inadequate mango varieties with long pro...
Abstract: Emerging chemical pollutants (ECPs) are defined as new chemicals which do not have a regulatory status, but which may have an adverse effect on human health and the environment. Sources and environmental pathways of these ECPs have been increasingly associated with waste and wastewaters arising from industrial, agricultural and municipal activities. The ECPs of current concern include a wide range of compounds including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocar...