Tuber dormancy enables yams to survive in the ground during the dry season and post‐harvest storage. Three clones of Dioscorea rotundata were harvested after five intervals and then stored in a cooler (20.6°C) or at ambient temperature (27.8°C). The time from harvest to sprouting was shorter as harvest was delayed. The period from sowing to sprouting for each clone was similar for tubers harvested from 140 days after planting, but tubers harvested earlier took longer to sprout. The cooler temperature ...

Large quantities of yam (Dioscorea rotundata), up to 30% of harvested tubers is usually reserved as planting material for the next crop. This experiment was conducted to assess the use of yam peels of Abi and Pepa yam varieties of 5-, 10-, 15-, and 30- to 40-mm thickness, for seed yam production. Pepa had poorer crop establishment and produced fewer but larger tubers than Abi

Soil organic matter (SOM) has an important effect on the physicochemical status of highly weathered soils in the tropics. This work was conducted to determine the contribution of different SOM fractions to the cation exchange capacity (CEC) of a tropical soil and to study the effect of organic matter inputs of different biochemical composition on the CEC of SOM. Soil samples were collected from a 20-year-old arboretum established on a Ferric Lixisol, under seven multipurpose tree species: Afzelia ...

Nine cassava genotypes were grown at six representative sites in Nigeria for 3 years to study their response to cassava mosaic disease (CMD), investigate the influence of genotype × environment (G× E) interactions on their reactions to the disease, and identify genotypes with stability to the disease, using the Additive Main Effects and Multiplicative Interaction statistical model. Environments, genotypes and G × E interactions were highly significant (P < 0.01) for the disease. The G × E interactions ...

This study relates preharvest and harvest practises to postharvest quality of maize in Benin, West Africa. Fungal infection and aflatoxin levels were evaluated in 300 farmers’ stores in four agro‐ecological zones over 2 years (1993–1995), at the beginning of storage (sample A) and 6 months later (sample B). Aspergillus flavus infected 10–20% of the kernels in sample A (1993–1994). In sample B, 54–79% of the kernels were infected with A. flavus. In 1994–1995, A. flavus infection was higher in sample ...

Root lodging and poor soil fertility are major constraints to maize production in the Guinea savannah of West Africa. Vertical root-pulling resistance is an indicator of the rooting characteristics of maize cultivars and could be used to select cultivars which have higher resistance to root lodging, take up nitrogen efficiently and have high yield. Twenty maize breeding lines were evaluated in the southern Guinea savannah of Nigeria for vertical root-pulling resistance, yield and root lodging in ...