The use of plant tissue analysis as a tool for attaining low cyanogenic glucoside levels in cassava roots, has hardly been investigated. Just as the quality of crops is improved through the use of plant tissue analysis, the same can probably be done to consistently attain the lowest possible cyanogenic glucoside levels in cassava roots. High levels of cyanogenic glucosides in consumed fresh cassava roots or in their products have the potential of causing cyanide intoxication, hence the need to ...

The effectiveness of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin isolates Bb11, Bb115, Bb116 and Bb362 against the diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella (L.) population from Cotonou, Benin, was investigated in the laboratory and on station. In the laboratory, six concentrations, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108 and 109 conidia/ml of each isolate were used to assess B. bassiana virulence. Third instar DBM larvae were inoculated with 2 µl of each isolate’s concentrations by topical ...

In an attempt to go beyond the conventional mean impact assessment of agricultural interventions, this paper examines the distributional impacts of adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties (DTMVs) on the productivity and welfare outcomes of rural farming households in Nigeria. The study employed a conditional instrumental variable quantile treatment effects approach to control for selection bias that may arise from both observed and unobserved factors. The empirical findings revealed that ...

Maize landrace accessions constitute an invaluable gene pool of unexplored alleles that can be harnessed to mitigate the challenges of the narrowing genetic base, declined genetic gains, and reduced resilience to abiotic stress in modern varieties developed from repeated recycling of few superior breeding lines. The objective of this study was to identify extra-early maize landraces that express tolerance to drought and/or heat stress and maintain high grain yield (GY) with other desirable ...

For aquaculture to continue along its current growth trajectory and contribute towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, value chains must become more inclusive. Smallholders and other local value chain actors are often constrained by circumstances and market failures in the global aquaculture industry. Integrating these actors into aquaculture value chains through inclusive business models (IBMs) is often touted as a solution to sustainable and ethical trade and business that can ...

Performance and body composition of insect larvae depend on quality and quantity of their diet, and on biotic factors such as larval density. Experiments were undertaken to assess the effects of larval density, substrate moisture content and feedstock ratio on larval life history parameters of black soldier fly (BSF) in the laboratory. Four-day-old larvae were separately reared under six different densities (1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 larvae/cm2) and at five substrate moisture content levels (40, 50, ...

Of the 70 cases of classical biological control for the protection of nature found in our review, there were fewer projects against insect targets (21) than against invasive plants (49), in part, because many insect biological control projects were carried out against agricultural pests, while nearly all projects against plants targeted invasive plants in natural ecosystems. Of 21 insect projects, 81% (17) provided benefits to protection of biodiversity, while 48% (10) protected products harvested ...

Population data concerning the cassava mealybug (CM) Phenacoccus manihoti Matile-Ferrero, the introduced parasitoid Epidinocarsis lopezi (De Santis), and indigenous antagonists were collected, together with ecological and plant growth variables, during a survey of 414 fields covering all ecological zones of Nigeria and Benin, for evaluation in multiple regression analyses. The choice of fields was unbiased, and insect populations were estimated from large random samples. Seven years after the first ...