Abstract Background: Diversifcation of global food systems through exploration of traditional varieties and wild edible plant species is a focal mitigation strategy for food security worldwide. The present study determined the phenomic diversity of locally available, afordable and climate-resilient cultivated and wild Crotalaria species for breeding purposes. Methods: Seed samples were collected from diferent administrative counties in Kenya spanning diferent climatic zones. Other seeds were...
Abstract Resistance to Coffee Berry Disease (CBD) in Coffea arabica cv. Ruiru 11 is known to be controlled by among others, the T (Ck-1) gene from Robusta coffee (Coffea canephora Pierre). The cultivar reportedly presents significant variability in resistance to CBD. Previous work identified a microsattelite marker Sat 235 which was linked to CBD resistance and mapped it onto the introgressed C. canephora fragment which carries the Ck-1 gene. This study was aimed at utilizing the Sat 235 mar...
Abstract Africa supports a population of over 1 billion people with over half of them depending on maize for food and feed either directly or indirectly. Maize in Africa is affected by many stresses, both biotic and abiotic which significantly reduce yields and eventually lead to poor production. Due to the high demand for maize in the region, different improvement strategies have been employed in an effort to improve production. These include conventional breeding, molecular breeding, high ...
Abstract Objective: To determine the phenology, dry matter yield, grain yield and yield components of chickpea under four tillage methods and three sowing times within a semi-arid area of Kenya. Methodology and results: Field experiments were carried out at the National Animal Husbandry Research Centre, Naivasha, Kenya, between 2005 and 2007. Four tillage methods (Conventional, Strip, Furrow tillage, and double digging) and three sowing times (at onset, one week, two weeks after onset of rai...
Abstract The wild boar population has increased rapidly during the last 2 decades in Southern and Central Sweden. This rise in population size has caused severe damages to agricultural fields through their foraging behavior. Given the hierarch ical nature of habitat and resource selection, wildlife management needs to under stand the selection on both levels to better understand the ecology of nuisance species and mitigate the damages they infer. Thus, there is an urgent need for more knowle...
Abstract Drought stress affects many maize growing regions in sub-Saharan Africa. As population increases, the gap between maize supply and demand increases. There is, therefore, need to develop maize lines that are tolerant to drought as well as amiable to Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. This study aimed to assess the competence of tropical maize lines after co-cultivation on Yeats Extract Peptone (YEP) media to Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and determine the relative express...
Maize is an important cereal crop that requires a high dose of fertilizer for optimum growth and productivity. While primary nutrients and sulphur are known to impact on the crop’s growth, data remains relatively scanty on the comparative productivity of these four nutrients. A field experiment was conducted at Bolgatanga municipality and Bongo district of Ghana during the 2020 cropping season to assess the relative agronomic productivity of each primary nutrient (N, P and K) and of sulphur...
An experiment to investigate the effects of nitrogen, phosphorus type and inoculation on grain yield of soybeans in two soil series. Soybean ranks first as an oilseed crop in the world and been a legume, it goes through a biological N-fixation process which is the second most important biological process after photosynthesis. Low soil fertility results in low crop yield which affects the livelihood of farmers and increasing yield of oil seed crops such as soybean has the potential to save Gha...
In Sub-Saharan Africa, rice is a staple food as well as a cash crop for both commercial and smallholder farmers. However, the yield is very low, because of inherent low soil fertility, as well as poor agronomic techniques. Multiple-location studies were conducted at Botanga (irrigated) and Nyankpala (rain-fed) to determine the most effective way to apply Zn and S to rice and to assess the effect of Zn and S, on rice grain yield. The treatments evaluated were foliar spray of NPK [Zn + S], NPK ...
Maize is an important cereal crop that requires a high dose of fertilizer for optimum growth and productivity. While primary nutrients and sulphur are known to impact on the crop’s growth, data remains relatively scanty on the comparative productivity of these four nutrients. A field experiment was conducted at Bolgatanga municipality and Bongo district of Ghana during the 2020 cropping season to assess the relative agronomic productivity of each primary nutrient (N, P and K) and of sulphur...
The yield of soybean in Ghana stands at 1.45 t ha-1 out of an achievable harvest of 3 t ha-1 and among the contributory reasons for the low yields are inherent low soil fertility and lack of adequate indigenous bacteria in the soils used for soybean production. Amendment of the soil is believed to hold the key to improve yields of soybean. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of Bradyrhizobium japonicum inoculant (USDA 110 and USDA 136 stains) in combination with soil amendm...
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a widely cultivated cereal crop in varied environments. It is grown for its high-quality grains that are high in carbohydrates. Rice production has employed more than 20 million African farmers, and it is estimated that rice provides a living for roughly 100 million people. A field experiment was carried out at two locations during the 2020 farming season, to examine the relative responses of rice to soil P and foliar P, and if foliar P application could compensate f...
Abstract Leafspot disease is a major yield limiting factor in groundnut growing areas in Northern Ghana. This study was to monitor the progression of the disease in ten selected groundnut genotypes. Six were derived from a cross between BC3F6 interspecific introgression lines (43-09-03-02 or 60-02-03-02) and Spanish groundnut genotypes (Schubert and TS32-1) while the remaining four are released groundnut varieties in Ghana. Nkatiesari and Chinese served as the resistant and susceptible checks...
Abstract Nitrogen is very essential for every crop production due to its function in plant growth and development. It is an essential component of DNA and proteins which are the building blocks of life. Notwithstanding its vast importance, nitrogen is worldwide considered as one of the most limiting factors of production. The need to meet the huge nitrogen requirement has necessitated the use of synthetic fertilizer which continued application affects soil health, environment and agricultural...
Abstract The cultivation of maize (Zea mays L.) in northern Ghana is synonymous with fertilizer application, but efficient nutrient uptake and utilization are major factors that influence yield parameters and grain yield. The impact of neem cake (NC) and its oil as soil amendments on nutrient uptake and efficiency of Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K), as well as growth, yield components and yield of maize, was investigated. The trial was conducted at two locations, Tamale Techni...