Twenty strains of cowpea Rhizobium have been screened to date for their ability to form nodules and to fix nitrogen using the Leonard jar assembly. The strains were tested on Ife Brown, TVu 1190, and TVx 222-01B. From among the twenty, four promising strains were selected. The nodulation and nitro-gen fixing ability of these strains plus Nitragin commercial inoculant on the three cowpea varieties were tested in two soils in the greenhouse. Many of the selected strains caused an increase in the ...

New and alternative nutritious breads, can be produced from cassava flour fortified with 20% raw or roasted soy flour using locally available margarine with egg white, together or without xanthan gum. Margarine with egg white, increased control loaf volumes by 29%; the subsequent addition of xanthan increased oven rise and volumes by 35%. Margarine, and more significantly, egg white reduced the extent of starch gelatinization and solubilization in the bread, rendering them less gummy. Loaf volume ...

For quite some time, cassava breeding activities of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Uganda were mainly focused on developing genotypes resistant to cassava mosaic disease (CMD), which was the major biotic production constraint since the early 1990s. Although cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) was reported some time back in 1940s, it had been dormant in Uganda. However, in early 2004, cases of CBSD were reported and re-confirmed both onstation (Namulonge) and in ...

A clonal evaluation trial of llTA plantain hybrids for black Sigatoka (85, resistance was established in October 1990. The trial included the three tetraploid hybrids TMPx 5484. TMP" 548-9and TMP" 5974. and their non-treated and fungicide-treated female plantain parent Obino l'Ewa' (French plantain}. Differences between the BS-susceptible plantain parent and the hybrids were distinct. In the first week 01 April 1991 {6 months after printing' the number of standing leaves in the non-treated plantain ...

Insect pests often develop resistance to insecticides, and such resistance represents a serious management problem. Devising methods that concurrently delay resistance and minimize injury by insects to field crops and stored grain has long been a goal of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). A centerpiece of IPM has been the combined use of biological control agents and prudent application of chemical insecticides. Unfortunately, successful application of IPM has remained a challenge. This chapter ...

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata [L.] Walp.) is the most important grain legume in the dry savannas of West Africa, however grain and fodder yields are low (averaging 25 to 300 kg and 450 to 800 kg grain and fodder/ha, respectively) due to biotic and abiotic constraints. Improved varieties and cropping systems are continuously being developed to tackle the various constraints and some of the results have shown promises in limited on-farm trials in the past. Recently IITA, in collaboration with several ...

On a Ferralic-haplic Acrisol (terre de barre non degradee) in Southern Benin Republic, four years after the establishment of the hedgerows, yields of maize and cassava alley cropped with Leucaena leucocephala and Cajanus cajan were no better than those in control plots without hedgerows. Reduced crop yields were mainly due to competition with the hedgerows for water and nutrients as Indicated by lower soil moisture and nitrogen-nitrogen concentration the soil solution and high root-Iength densities ...

Alley cropping with Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit, caused a shift in weed flora away from fast-growing annual weeds that are characteristic of frequently cultivated fields to shade-tolerant, less-competitive weeds. Alley cropping caused a greater decline in weed density over lime than was observed in arable fields without alley cropping. This beneficial effect was reduced by the upsurge of shade-tolerant weeds and the build up of Leucaena volunteers where the Leucaena hedgerows were allowed ...