INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND BIOTECHNOLOGY (TIJARBT)
VOL. 15 (1) NOVEMBER, 2023
PUBLISHER:
TIMBOU-AFRICAN ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS,
Centre for African Development Studies, Federal Ministry of Education, Abuja, FCT-Nigeria.
PHYSICO-CHEMICAL AND AMINO ACID PROFILE OF RICE (ORYZA SATIVA) AND SOYBEAN (GLYCINE MAX) FLOUR BLENDS FOR MASA PRODUCTION
NWADIKE, A. N.; & EKE, M. O & YUSUFU, M. I.
Centre for Food Technology and Research, Benue State University, Makurdi, Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Agriculture Makurdi, Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
Masa is a cereal-based spontaneously fermented cake popularly consumed in Nigeria. It is mainly produced from common cereal such as maize, rice or millet. Like most single cereal based products, masa is generally low in protein, micronutrients and amino acid lysine hence the objective this study was to evaluate the physico-chemical and amino acid profile of rice and soybean flour blends for masa production. In this study, broken rice and soybean were both processed into flour and blended into four different ratios,labelled sample A (100% rice), sample B (90:10 rice and soybean blend), sample C (80:20 rice and soybean blend), and sample D (70:30 rice and soybean blend). Functional properties, pasting properties and amino acid profile were evaluated for flour blends according to standard procedures. Results for functional properties showed that oil absorption and water absorption capacity showed decrease with increasing substitution of soybean from 80.62-67.62 % and 83.36-71.36 g/cm3 respectively while that of bulk density and swelling capacity showed increase ranging from 0.58-0.85 g/cm3 and 16.49-20.48 g/cm3 respectively. Pasting properties showed increase with increasing substitution of soybean for peak viscosity, final viscosity, setback, pasting time, pasting temperature and trough viscosity with the value ranging from 159.40-192.30 rvu, 207.80-251.50 rvu, 52.58-70.31 rvu, 6.55-7.67 min, 68.62-95.43 oc and 52.58-70.31 rvu respectively. There was increase in amino acid profile with increasing substitution of soybean for tryptophan, histidine, leucine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, valine, lysine, methionine, threonine, asparagine, arginine, alanine, aspartate, glutamate, glycine and tyrosine with values ranging from 1.06-3.17 g/100g protein, 0.79-1.32 g/100g protein, 1.55-3.66 g/100g protein, 1.65-4.04 g/100g protein. 5.89-8.93 g/100g protein, 2.72-3.87 g/100g protein, 3.85-4.26 g/100g protein,2.66-5.26 g/100g protein, 1.51-3.86 g/100g ofprotein, 3.60-6.32 g/100g protein,2.72-3.45 g/100g protein, 0.55-0.98 g/100g protein, 3.22-6.32 g/100g protein, 1.45-4.15 g/100g protein, 3.65-7.35 g/100g protein, 4.10-4.11 g/100g protein, 3.00-6.05 g/100g protein, 1.70-2.29 g/100g protein and 2.75-6.36 g/100g protein respectively. The study indicates that a functional masa with improved nutritional values and health promoting potentials can be developed from the blends of rice and soybean thus tackling malnutrition problems in Nigeria.
Keywords: Flour Blends, Soybean, Broken Rice, Masa
OPTIMUM LABOR PRODUCTIVITY AND COST ANALYSIS OF POULTRY PRODUCTION IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA
DR UMAR TABARI YERO
Department of General Studies, Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
Poultry production was a source of labor employment as revealed by the study. The optimum productivity of labor employed in poultry production differs between chicken production categories, the optimum productivity of labor in broiler production was 1431 birds per labor per farm/year, pullet was 1080 per labor and 1599 layer per labor. The Average Total Cost (ATC) and Marginal Cost (MC) in chicken production decline as chicken output increases; the study also reveals that economies of scale existed in chicken production in the study area. MC, MR relationship revealed a profit maximizing position of chicken producers in the study area. The study recommends that optimum productivity of labor should be adhered to by the chicken producers in order to minimize cost and maximize profit.
Keywords: Chicken production, Cost, Optimum productivity, Revenue and Profit
DESIGN CONSTRUCTION AND TESTING OF A COMPACT MACHINE FOR SHELLING EGUSI MELON SEEDS
IBRAHIM, T. M1; ABUBAKAR, M.; SHEHU, A. A1; & AZEEZ, A. B1
1Department of Agricultural and Bio-environmental Engineering, Federal Polytechnic, PMB 55 Bida Niger State, Nigeria. 2Department of Agricultural Engineering, National Cereals Research Institute, Badeggi-Bida, Niger State Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
Melon shelling has been and still remains a serious problem to the farmers in Nigeria. The techniques for shelling melon are still traditional based on the use of hands, sack and stick. this method of melon shelling is laborious, time wasting, uneconomical and shell melon with low efficiency. Combining basic engineering design considerations with other requirements, a compact melon shelling machine was designed, constructed and tested from locally available materials. The machine consists mainly of shelling unit (shelling drum and concave), hopper, prime mover engine and the frame and the separating/cleaning champers which include the screen, shaker and blower. The developed machine was powered using an air-cooled gasoline engine of 7.5 hp at a 2400rpm. Aa egusi melon seeds at 12% moisture content were used to test the machine. Results indicated the mean shelling efficiency of 43.92 % and cleaning efficiency 32.70%. The percentage of the unshelled melon is 16.67%. The average percentage shelled but damage/broken is 6.54%, while the percentage weight loss is 9.50%. The mean percentage of chaff removed by the fabricated machine is 10.9% against targeted 33.3% of the hand shelling.
Keywords: Egusi-Melon, Efficiency, Gasoline-Engine, Moisture, Shelling
DETERMINATION OF CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND INSECTICIDAL POTENTIAL OF LEAF ESSENTIAL OIL OF MENTHA PIPERITAL
OLAYEMI, R.F.; BALARABE, H.S; AND MUHAMMAD, A
Department of Applied Chemistry, Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna, Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
Pulverised fresh Mentha piperita leaves was subjected to hydrodistillation for three hours in a Clevenger-type apparatus. The oil obtained was characterised using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and also evaluated for insecticidal activity on Callosobruchus maculatus (bean weevils) and Sitophilus zeamais (maize weevils). The oil afforded a yield of 0.78% (w/w). A total of 39 compounds were identified from their mass spectra representing 98.9% of the oil. The classes of compounds identified revealed predominance of oxygenated monoterpenoids (72.4%), hydrogenated monoterpenoids accounted for 6.0%, hydrogenated sesquiterpenoids and oxygenated sesquiterpenoids constituted 12.2 and 4.0% respectively. Other non-terpenic compounds detected in the oil accounted for 4.3% of the total oil. The most abundant compound was menthol (40.4%), other major compounds identified were menthone (12.3%), menthofuran (9.2%), 1, 8-cineole (5.6%) and limonene (5.5%). The percentage mortality of between 65-94.7% and 60-91.6% were recorded for bean weevils and maize weevils respectively after exposure to 5, 10, 15 and 20µl essential oil vapour in fumigation chambers for 24 hours. The standard insecticide, Dichlorvos recorded a mortality of 5 % at concentrations of 15 and 20µl essential oil. The insecticidal activity of the oil compared favourably with that of the standard insecticide. Optimum concentration of the oil was established to be 15μl.Therefore, the oil can be used to formulate an alternative insecticide for stored grain pests from botanical source.
Keywords: Essential oil, Fumigant toxicity, Insecticide, Mentha piperita, Weevils
INTENSIFYING IMPACTS OF POULTY FARMING LOCATIONS AND PRACTICES IN KATSINA METROPOLIS, NIGERIA
AMINU MUHAMMAD GARBA1; MUHAMMAD ABUBAKAR NASSARAWA2; & BASHAR ABUBAKAR3
Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi, Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
Urban farming has been a quest of improving living standards and on the same vein a response to food insecurity. This study examines the intensifying impacts of poultry farming locations and practices in Katsina metropolis. This was achieved using questionnaires and observation as data collection instrument. Descriptive and cross tabulation were used for data analysis. The major type of poultry farming in the study area is broilers (74%) rearing. About 40% of the farmers were rearing less than 50 birds per single harvest; hence, the scale is largely small in size. Two/fifth (40%) of the practitioners was found to be a civil servants; this means the poultry farming is been practiced by the urban dwellers irrespective of their occupation status. The study revealed that more-than 50% of the farms were located below 5meters from the living homes, also deep liter housing system (57%) was found to be the major housing type utilized by the urban farmers. The result further revealed that reasonable incomes have been realized which depends on the flock sizes; nearly two/fifth (37%) of the farmers were realizing between ₦51,000 to 150, 000 per harvest; farmers realizing ₦50,000 below per harvest account for 21%. Furthermore, analysis shown that about 78% of the farmers’ incomes was derived from the urban poultry. Potentially on the other hand almost all the resident living within 300m radius of the poultry farming location rejected the operation/ practice in their neighborhood. The study therefore recommended about half of a kilometer for the practices of urban poultry farming, contemporary technologies should be adopted for planning and management of farming practices and lastly physical planners to provides physical settings for poultry farming in the metropolis.
Keywords: Poultry farming, Income generation, Employment creation, Environmental pollution, Physical planning
ROLE OF BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN RESOLVING FARMERS– HERDSMEN CONFLICTS IN BAUCHI STATE
*MUAZU SUNUSI MAHMOOD; *HARUNA YUSUF DASS; *IDRIS HUSSAINI; & **SHEKARAU JOSHUA ASABE
*Agricultural Education Department, Vocational and Technical Education, Adamu Tafawa Balewa College Of Education Kangere, Bauchi State. **Department of Estate Management and Valuation, Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria, Kaduna State.
ABSTRACT
Conservation of biodiversity is considered as key component for administration of natural assets. The Biological Diversity covers both biotic and abiotics at all levels: ecosystems, species and genetic resources. In Nigeria, herdsmen are considered people who wander from place to place in search of pasture for their livestock. Farmers, on the other hand, are a group of people who have acquired a piece of land by buying, inheriting or renting it out and usually cultivate over a long time, or even a lifetime. The disappearance of grazing range in many parts of Nigeria, Bauchi state inclusive has generated a lot of controversies between farmers and herdsmen. The main factor directly driving biodiversity loss worldwide is habitat alteration and destruction like: clearing forest for agriculture, harvesting natural resources for industrial production, urbanization, road construction etc all contribute to habitat destruction and fragmentation leading to biodiversity loss. The objective of the study is: To determine how biodiversity loss cause the conflict between farmers and herdsmen, To identify acute effects of conflict to parties, To provide solving approach to the conflict through conservation strategy. The population comprised 671,790 holder farmers across the three senatorial zones. One Local Government was selected from each senatorial zone of the state. The ex-port-facto research design was adopted in this study. The questionnaire was four-point scale of Strongly Agreed (SA), Agreed (A), Disagreed (D) and Strongly Disagreed (SD) respectively. One hundred copies of questionnaires (100) were administered during the survey using stratified random sampling. The finding revealed that: Government to revisit the proposed cattle ranging of 2018, The need to create synergy between major actors involved, through climate – smart agriculture to restore biodiversity lost, Involving participation of local communities to address periodical struggle for short supply ecosystem resources through establishing community volunteer marshals to encourage afforestation, feeds preservation and storage, climate change resilient among other natural resource conservation.
Keywords: Farmers, Herdsmen, Conflict, Biodiversity, Conservation
DEVELOPMENT OF MANAGEMENT SKILL AMONG ARABLE FARMERS-PASTORALIST FOR RESOLUTION OF CONFLICTS IN DELTA STATE
AHMED, M. ADEWOLE; EZE, M. OGOCHUKWU; OKECHUKWU, FRANCES O.; & SALIHU, ABDULLAHI
Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State. Nigeria
ABSTRACT
Conflict among farmers and pastoralist as become rampant in Nigeria. Its occurrence brings about various degree of destruction, maim and loss of life and property. The aim of this study is to develop management skill among arable farmers-pastoralist for resolution of conflicts in Delta state. The specific objectives of the study include to: determine the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents; assess the causes of farmer-pastoralist conflict; assess the socio-economic consequences of farmer-pastoralist conflicts in the study area; ascertain the level of acceptability of pastoralist by host communities; assess the level of involvement of the respondents in the farmer-pastoralist conflicts resolution; and identified and develop sustainable management skill for conflict prevention and resolution. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select five Local Government Areas (LGAs) and three farming communities from each selected LGAs based on the incidents of farmer-pastoralist conflicts. The populations for the study were both the arable farmers and pastoralists who were randomly selected as respondents. A well structured questionnaire was drawn to collect data on the objectives of the study. Data collected were analyzed using statistical mean, percentage and frequency counts. The results revealed that the major causes of conflict among farmers and pastoralists are destruction of crops by cattle, killing of farmers by pastoralists, pollution of water resources among others while burning of rangeland, obstruction of water point by farmers were minor causes of conflicts. It was unanimously agreed that conflicts caused reduction in yield and farmers’ income and loss of life. The respondent all asserted that there is timely reporting of conflicts situation to the appropriate authorities and engaged law enforcement agents, religious and community leaders in the resolution of conflicts. However, the study revealed that the farmers moderately accepted the pastoralists while the pastoralists are of the opinion that their level of acceptance by the farmers is low. It was recommended that communities should donate marginal land where operation of pastoralists can be restricted and the government should provide infrastructure and facilities for the pastoralist in the marginal land for proper restriction.
Keywords: Pastoralists, Arable farmers, Conflicts managements and resolution,
REVIEW OF LAND FRAGMENTATION, CAUSES AND EFFECT ON AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
AISHA, LAWAN; MUHAMMAD, WAKIL; & UMAR, MARYAM IBRAHIM
1Department of Agricultural Technology, Mohamet Lawan College of Agriculture Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
This paper, reviewed and gave a brief highlight on the causes and effect of land fragmentation in respect to agricultural production. The paper pointed out that cultivable land area is one of the major limited resources that farmers depend on for their livelihood, and most often farmers use land for agricultural purposes in parcels distributed in different areas, a practice which is called land fragmentation. Land fragmentation as indicated in this paper, is a prominent phenomenon not only in Nigeria but several other countries, which has existed since 17th century and is found to have stands as a key empirical problem in Africa as it requires huge cost to lessen its effects and result in efficient allocation of labor and capital input. As a positive effect, land fragmentation allows farmers to cultivate many environmental zones and also encourages them to cultivate a variety of crops, and it enables farmers to optimize schedule of cropping activities, giving them variety of soil and growing condition, which reduce total crop failure and facilitate crop rotation and fallowing. The paper further reveals that land fragmentation causes more harm than good to agricultural productivity in a number of ways. It hinders mechanization, it affects the access to irrigation networks as well as efficient use of other modern agricultural technologies which on the long run may cause less efficient production; it increases production cost in terms of transportation for management, supervision and in securing of the scattered plots. Sometimes the small and scattered plots, waste land area and require more efforts in fencing, border constructions, paths and roads. The risk of disputes between neighbors is also said have form part of the problems that can result from land fragmentation. Small fragmented land holdings might also cause difficulties to grow certain crops, and prevent farmers from shifting to high-profit crops such as fruits which require larger plot areas. Hence, if the farmers only possess small and fragmented plots, they may even be forced to grow only less profitable crops thereby affecting crop performance. Furthermore, empirical evidence has proved that there is a significant positive relationship between farm size and yield while the number of plots and yield were inversely related. Therefore, land fragmentation measured in terms of number of farms per household had a negative impact on yield thus land fragmentation hinders agricultural development.
Keywords: Land Fragmentation, Effect, Causes, Agriculture Production, Parcels, Land