International Journal of Agroforestry and Silviculture

International Journal of Agroforestry and Silviculture ISSN 2375-1096 Vol. 2 (3), pp. 123-126, March, 2015. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

A study of the effects of season, breed and grazing location on lactation yield in a tropical wet-and–dry climate of Nigeria

*Ayodeji Banjo¹, Kayode E.A¹ and Akinyinka S.A²

¹University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

²Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected].

Accepted January 10, 2015

Abstract

The interactive effects of season, breed and grazing location on cattle milk lactation were evaluated in 2013. The study was carried out using milk yield data from the grazing land of the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta rural extension area and Rounda cattle base. The experiment was a 2x2x3 factorial arrangement of two cattle breeds (Yakana and Dage), two locations (Alabata and Rounda) and three seasons (dry, establishment and early humid periods). The general model for selecting the lactation period was 0.1PE

Key words: Climatic parameters, milk production, cattle, Yakana and Dage.

International Journal of Agroforestry and Silviculture ISSN 2375-1096 Vol. 2 (4), pp. 127-134, April, 2015. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

A study of the effect of intercrop row arrangement on maize and haricot bean yield on residual soil

Wolde Gebre Abuna

School of Plant and Horticultural Sciences, Hawassa University College of Agriculture, P. O. Box 5, Hawassa, Ethiopia. E-mail: [email protected].

Accepted 03 January, 2015

Abstract

On farm studies were conducted to determine the effects of intercrop row arrangements on the performances of maize (Zea mays L.) and haricot bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) crops and the residual soil at Hallaba and Taba areas, Southern Ethiopia. The result revealed that there were significant differences among the cropping patterns on growth and yield components of both crops. Grain yield of the maize crop was observed to be the highest insole stand, which was statistically at par with the maize grown in 1:1 ratio with haricot bean. There was 15.5% yield reduction in maize when the number of haricot bean rows introduced between two maize rows increased from one to three, attributable to aggravation of inter-specific competition in the latter case. In the case of haricot bean crop, compared to the sole stand intercropping of one, two and three rows of haricot bean between two rows of maize had resulted in yield reductions of 56, 44.5 and 28.2%, respectively. Evaluation of the land use efficiency of the system in terms of land equivalent ratio (LER) has, however, showed improvement across the cropping pattern, whereby 1:3 maize-haricot bean row ratio gave the highest land use efficiency value, 54% more efficient than growing both crops in sole stand. Total nitrogen content of the residual soil has also showed significant improvement due to the introduction of the leguminous haricot bean into the cropping system. In contrast, sole maze stands had contributed the least in amending the acidity problem of the experimental soils.

Key words: Grain yield, LAI, LER, kernel, row ratio, total soil N.

International Journal of Agroforestry and Silviculture ISSN 2375-1096 Vol. 2 (6), pp. 144-148, September, 2015. © International Scholars Journal

Full Length Research Paper 

Flower and pod abortion and its implication to seed production in Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Walp

BI Nyoka^1*, GW Sileshi¹ and SN Silim¹

¹World Agroforestry Centre, ICRAF-Southern Africa sub-regional programme. Chitedze Research Station, P. O. Box 30798, Lilongwe, Malawi.

Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]

Accepted 11 August, 2015

Abstract

Gliricidia sepium is an important species in tropical agroforestry systems where it is grown as a multipurpose tree species. The species is generally propagated from seed and stem cuttings. Establishment from seed is hampered by seed shortages as seed yields are very low on most sites. Gliricidia flowers profusely but pod and seed set are very low and this is attributed to high levels of flower and pod abortion. The objective of this study was to determine the level of flower and pod abortion in gliricidia, and contrast it with other related forest tree species. Sixty trees were randomly selected in two seedling seed orchards located at two sites: 30 trees each at Makoka and Chitedze Research Stations. Five racemes (with floral buds) per tree were randomly selected and tagged. The floral buds were monitored every two days to record the number of opened flowers and developing pods until all the tagged floral buds had opened and developed into mature pods or aborted. A high proportion (93%) of the trees completely aborted all their reproductive structures at Chitedze compared to only 6% at Makoka, making the former site less favourable for seed production compared to the latter. Overall, less than 3% of the flowers initiated in gliricidia produced pods, the rest were dropped. The observed level of abortion is not unusual as it is largely comparable to other related forest tree species of the Fabaceae family. Seed producers could improve seed yields in gliricidia by establishing seed orchards on appropriate sites and also using some seed sources with inherently high seed yield potential.

Keywords: Agroforestry, flower and fruit abscission, pollination, seed yield. 

International Journal of Agroforestry and Silviculture ISSN 2375-1096 Vol. 2 (1), pp. 114-119,  2015. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

An evaluation of genetic variability in early maturing pigeon pea genotypes and clustering of genotypes into different homogenous groups

*Tsehai Alemayehu Ali, Choramo Abune Paulos and Haymanot Abuna Mahay

Department of Forestry, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Adama Science and Technology University, Adama Ethiopia.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]

Accepted 03 January, 2015

Abstract

In Ethiopia, there has been no detail information on the extent and patterns of variability present in pigeon pea genotypes so far. As a result, hundred pigeon pea genotypes were tested in a 10 × 10 simple lattice design at Areka Research Center, Ethiopia during 2009 cropping season. The objectives of the study were to estimate the genetic variability, heritability and genetic divergence among 100 genotypes and cluster them in to genetically homogenous groups. The analysis of variance revealed highly significant difference (p≤ 0.01) for most traits. High phenotypic (PCV) and genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) was recorded for harvest index and biomass yield per plant. High heritability coupled with high expected genetic advance as percent of mean was recorded for 100-seed weight, seed yield per plot, plant height, biomass yield per plant and harvest index. The genetic divergence was assessed using Mahalanobis D² statistics and the genotypes were grouped into six clusters. Distances between these clusters were significantly different for most of the cluster combinations. Therefore, the present study indicated that there is sufficient genetic diversity in pigeon pea germplasm that could be used as a base for improvement of the yield and other important attributes of this crop through direct selection and hybridization. Future work may also proceed in collecting and characterizing all the pigeon pea germplasms found in Ethiopia and developing short duration and high yielding varieties.

Key words: Variability, heritability, genetic advance and trait.