Category: Agriculture

Bitterleaf (Vernonia amygdalina) with African common names include grawa (Amharic), ewuro (Yoruba), etidot (Efik), onugbu (Igbo), ityuna (Tiv), oriwo (Edo), Awɔnwono (Akan), chusar-doki (Hausa), mululuza (Luganda), labwori (Acholi), olusia (Luo), ndoleh (Cameroon) and olubirizi (Lusoga) is one of the widely use cooking vegetable in Africa and it can grow in any part of the world. Very few people are aware that this vegetable is highly medicinal and can be used to cure diseases as well as help to keep our body in good health condition. The important thing this leaf…

Read More

Fish anatomy is the study of the form or morphology of fishes either for a male fish or female fish. It can be contrasted with fish physiology, which is the study of how the component parts of fish function together in the living fish. In practice, fish anatomy and fish physiology complement each other, the former dealing with the structure of a fish, its organs or component parts and how they are put together, such as might be observed on the dissecting table or under the microscope, and the latter…

Read More

Fish either female fish or male fish posses reproductive organs which include testes and ovaries. In most species, gonads are paired organs of similar size, which can be partially or totally fused. There may also be a range of secondary organs that increase reproductive fitness. The genital papilla is a small, fleshy tube behind the anus in some fishes, from which the sperm or eggs are released; the sex of a fish often can be determined by the shape of its papilla. In many animal species, females are expected to…

Read More

IntroductionJuan Osorno, NDSU Dry Bean Breeder/GeneticistGreg Endres, NDSU Extension Cropping Systems SpecialistHans Kandel, NDSU Extension AgronomistKnown as a “nutritional powerhouse,” dry beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) are a human food high in protein, phosphorus, zinc, iron, vitamin B1 and fiber, among many other nutritional traits. Dry beans are an important staple food in many areas of…

Read More

Quick-draining soil Organic compost Fertilizer Orange tree seedling Pruning shears Orange trees require additional resources to bloom and bear fruit.Sweet oranges, or round oranges, are some of the most popular home orchard fruits in the country. These trees grow from 25 to 50 feet tall to provide dark green foliage, sweet orange blooms and a…

Read More

The much wider gap between performance of tropical livestock species and those of the temperate climate demand a critical review and consideration by learners and practitioners of animal production. A foundation course in animal production, such as this, requires students to be acquainted with the existence of the performance gap which has often been attributed to genetic, environmental, and genetic-environment interaction variables. The essence of familiarization with this challenge may stimulate the desire to finding ways of meeting domestic demands and reducing the performance gap. The identity and measures of…

Read More

The concept of fitness of farm animal body extends from ability to survive now and withstand environmental demands in future, to ability to produce sufficiently to justify cost of domestication. Homesostatis, Physiological, Biological and Genetic adaptations are concepts in understanding the means by which animal cope with their environment. The concept of energy balance forms the central pivot which tilts the environmental stress in different directions for animal to respond. Meanwhile, effective responses of animals to environmental stress often result in depressed productivity even in attempt to apply mechanism a…

Read More

Generally heat stress result in increase in the blood volume and a decline in red blood count. However, longtime heat stress at moderate level leads to haemo-concentration as a result of heat loss. Heat loss also creates an acid surplus due to formation of lactate, metabolic or respiratory acidiosis which may exhaust the bicarbonate buffer system of the blood resulting in a fall of Pᴴ. The increase in blood volume also leads to a drop in total protein concentration.  The decline in tyroxine secretion is accompanied by increase in ACTH…

Read More

With regards to Animal Energy Balance, since mammals and avian that form bulk of farm animals are homeotherms and hence maintain a constant body temperature, they possess means for producing and losing heat during extreme cold or heat muscular activities form the animal heat gain. Hear Production: Animal produce heat when transforming chemical energy of food into work. Under normal circumstances a grazing animal while in the sun may gain heat directly or indirectly from solar radiation. The added solar heat and metabolic heat generated from food and muscular activities…

Read More

Temporary acclimatization has to do with animals adaptation to or tolerance to, a short duration of heat stress rather than to more moderate continuous heat stress. Temporary acclimatization effect of the heat stress. The wide changes in heat stress between the day and night in three dry zone and between seasons of the year readily prepare animal to acclimatize and adapt easily. Permanent acclimatization to climate stress may be due to changes in the behavior of the animal or to changes in physiological relations that may or may not be…

Read More

Let us have a critical look at the measures of improving field crops production using Nigeria as a case study. Therefore below are some of the basic measures of improving field crops production. Development of Infrastructure To achieve accelerated development in food crops production in Nigeria there is need to have a market orientation approach toward production process. Without selling their produce, farmers cannot usually raise enough cash necessary for farm maintenance and improvement , whether in form of a new plough, seed or fertilizer, extra labor or insecticide nor…

Read More

There are many crops widely grown in Africa, that are introduced from other regions of the world into Africa. The most notable among them include the following: Cereals Rice ——— Oryzasativa Wheat ——— Triticumaestivum Grain legumes Groundnuts ——— Arachis HypogaeaCommonbean——- Phaseolus VulgarisFieldPea ——— Pisumspp. Roots and tubers Cassava ——– Manihot esculanta Cocoyam ——— Colocasia esculenta Water yam ——— Dioscorea alata Tannia ——– Xanthosoma sagittifolium Sweet potato ——— Ipomoea batatas Oil-seed Sesame ———- Sesamum Indicum Fiber crops Cotton ——— Gossypium Barbadense Hirsutum Sisil ——— Agave sisalana Sugar crops Sugar cane ———…

Read More

When looking at the trends in crop production both Nationally and Globally, then it is only right to say that Agricultural growth contributes directly to food security. It also supports poverty reduction and acts as an engine of overall economic growth in much of the developing world. The success of the agricultural sector has not been shared uniformly across regions and countries, however, and it is unclear whether this success can be sustained much less extended to those left behind. Trends in Crop Production Nationally and Globally Now let us…

Read More