With increasing population densities, food production needs to be increased. A common response of farmers is to shorten fallow periods, which can lead to a decline in crop yields, due to incomplete nutrient replenishment. However, whether farmers change their management of soil and nutrients according to the fallow length is not known. A survey was carried out in southern Cameroon in 1995 to establish factors determining farmers’ nutrient management practices (NMPs). Three classes of indigenous ...

Three Pseudomonas syringae pathovar glycinea (Psg) strains known to produce large amounts of ethylene were tested for efficacy in germinating seeds of Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth. in a laboratory, as were 312 rhizosphere isolates of non-pathogenic fluorescent Pseudomonas spp. and 38 Bradyrhizobium japonicum isolates. Strains of Psg were 67% as effective as GR-24, and 31 and 38% more effective than ethylene gas (2.5 mg per Petri dish) and root pieces of the best soybean cultivar (SAMSOY-2), ...

Variation in agronomic and quality characteristics was investigated in 220 Nordic spring barley cultivars across distinct environments (6 locations during 3 years) in the Nordic Region of Europe. The objectives of this research were to determine the importance of the genotype by environment interaction in all characteristics evaluated and to establish the relationship among different stability statistics for grain yield. Combined analysis of variance across locations indicated that both environments ...

Cooking bananas (Musa spp., ABB genome) were intro-duced into Southeastern Nigeria by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in the mid-1980s as an interim measure to reduce the incidence of black sigatoka disease (caused by the fungus Mycosphaerel-la fijiensis Morelet) on plantain. However, the people of this region were not familiar with their utilisation methods. To address this lack of the knowledge and thereby sustain cooking banana cultivation, IITA, in collaboration with ...

The 13C natural labeling technique in combination with modeling could potentially be used to analyze SOM changes in long-term experiments involving complex cropping systems such as agroforestry systems. It requires information on quantity and 13C abundance of all plant materials entering the soil throughout the experiment. The occurrence of significant year-to-year changes of δ13C values of the plant inputs may complicate the technique, as it would require a systematic isotopic analysis of all ...

Mixed Model procedure is used in the modeling and estimation of treatment efforts and variance components. It extends the generalized linear model (ordinary ANOVA) by avoiding the restrictive assumption of the error terms in ANOVA through the incorporation of the variance-covariance structure of all random terms. The mixed model procedure uses generalized least squares rather than the ordinary least squares, and estimates from mixed procedure are always better than those from the generalized linear ...

Field studies were conducted in 1991 and 1992 on a sandy loam soil in the derived savanna zone of south-western Nigeria to assess the effect of the underground organs of Imperata cylindrica (L.) Raeuschel on maize grain yield. Total dry matter of I. cylindrica in abandoned arable land averaged 16 t ha−1 and rhizomes contributed 56% of this. Rhizome removal from soil before planting maize significantly increased maize yield relative to hoe tillage or slashing of I. cylindrica shoots before planting ...

Low use of chemical inputs has been cited as a major factor limiting productivity growth of agriculture in most of sub-Saharan Africa. A wide range of variables influence adoption of such input. It is important to understand the role of these factors to ensure the development and implementation of more effective programs to promote agricultural input use. This study examines the effect of socio-economic factors on the likelihood of using chemical fertilizer and pesticide in peri-urban lowland ...

Simulation models have the potential of greatly enhancing decision-making by farmers and researchers in Nigeria. These models however, need to be adapted before use. This study was conducted to test the phenology module of CERES-Maize model version 3.5 under varying N rates as a step toward adapting the model in the Southern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria. Data on seven late-maturing cultivars of maize (Zea mays L.) grown under 0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 kg N ha−1 in the field for two seasons were used for ...

A survey aimed at collecting information on practices and constraints in the production of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) chips, a transformed cassava product obtained through fermentation and drying of its fresh roots was carried out in 45 villages located in three geographical regions (Yaoundé, Mbalmayo, and Ebolowa) of the humid forest zone of Cameroon. A structured questionnaire to interview farmers was employed. Out of 225 farmers sampled, 212 (94%) relying on chips as food and source of ...