Volume 53 (2020): Issue 4 (December 2020)

Ostrich farming serves as a source for meat, feathers, skin, eggs, and oil. In general, ostriches are hardy birds that can resist a wide range of climatic harshness and some diseases. However, musculoskeletal and digestive complications, including the gastric impaction, remain the major cause of mortality. The gastrointestinal impaction alone is responsible for 30 – 46% of spontaneous deaths in growing ostriches. The literature review of 21 publications on this subject has shown that 90% of these incidents happen during first six months of life. The aetiology of this problem is mostly stress and behaviour-related gorging of feed and picking on non-feeding materials such as stone, sand, wood pieces, plastic, glass, and metallic objects. Conservative therapy or surgical approaches show good results with almost 70 to 100% recovery depending upon the clinical presentation and timely diagnosis. Overall, this literature review describes impaction in farmed ostriches, along with diagnosis, treatment, and control and preventive measures. This information will help stakeholders understand the gastrointestinal impaction in ratites to better manage this issue, reduce economic losses, and improve welfare of the birds.

To understand the genetic basis and mechanism underlying the differences in the level of immunity among and within chicken populations in Nigeria, it is important to start from the Major Histocompability Complex (MHC) region particularly as it serves as a reservoir for genes of the immune system. The B-complex of chicken major histocompatibility complex, located on microchromosome 16, consists of gene classes responsible for immunity through antigen presentation to T cells. A highly polymorphic tandem repeat marker (LEI0258) located within the B-complex has been a marker of choice for genotyping to identify major histocompatibility complex-B haplotypes and to study the genetic diversity of chicken populations. This study was carried out to determine the genetic variations, at the LEI0258 locus, in three Nigerian local chicken populations; Normal feather, Frizzle feather and Naked neck. The allelic and genotypic profiles of each representative from each population were determined through polymerase chain reaction amplification of the repeat region. The genetic diversity parameters, analysis of molecular variance and evolutionary relationship were determined using GenAlex, FSTAT, Arlequin and POPTREEW, respectively. 76 % of the entire population was heterozygous at the LEI0258 locus. Analysis of molecular variance revealed that large proportion of the total variations across populations was due to variation between individuals (79 %), whereas variations among the populations and among individuals within populations only accounted for less than 1 % and 21 %, respectively. Using Anak Titan as an exotic outgroup, the evolutionary relationship among the Nigerian local chicken populations was studied and a Nei-based dendrogram showed two major clades separating the exotic population from the Nigerian local chicken populations. The identified diversity at the locus could be exploited for usage in further breeding programmes especially for disease resistance and fitness in locally adapted chicken populations in Nigerian.

Sex assessment plays an important role in rabbit production, but it can be very difficult to determine, especially in the young ones. In this study, canonical discriminant analysis was used to determine which of the morphological traits are the most effective in sex determination in rabbits. Data were taken on 160 rabbits and used for this study on body weight (BWG), body length (BDL), ear length (EAL), heart girth (HTG), and abdominal circumference (ABC). The results from the univariate analysis show manifestation of sexual dimorphism with higher values observed in females for all the morphometric measurements. The canonical discriminant analysis revealed that ABC was the most significant morphological trait as a discriminating variable between the sexes in rabbits. The discriminant function, D = – 8.673 + 1.865 BWG + 0.013 BDL + 0.291 EAL – 0.318 HTG + 0.463 ABC, obtained correctly classified 72.5% of individuals of rabbits. In conclusion, the abdominal circumference of the rabbits in a population could be an important tool for the conservation and improvement of the rabbits’ population.

Pre-harvest operations affect the quality of food products. This study evaluated the impact of age at harvest (AH), cropping system (CS) and variety on the chemical and functional properties of high quality cassava flour (HQCF). Two white-fleshed (TMS 30572 and TMS 98/0505) and three yellow-fleshed (TMS 97/JW2, TMS 01/1371 and TMS 01/1368) cassava varieties planted either as sole crop or intercropped with maize were harvested at 12, 15 and 18 months after planting, and processed into HQCF. Chemical composition (proximate, mineral), physico-chemical properties (pH, total titratable acidity and colour) and functional properties (bulk density, water absorption index, dispersibility, swelling power, solubility index and pasting properties) of HQCF were determined. Data obtained were analysed using general linear model (GLM). AH had a significant (P < 0.05) effect on proximate and mineral composition, functional and physico-chemical properties, peak and breakdown viscosities, and peak time of HQCF. CS significantly (P < 0.05) affected the crude fibre, fat, bulk density, swelling power, mineral composition, and physico-chemical properties (except L* and b*) of HQCF. Variety significantly (P < 0.05) affected the proximate (except moisture) and mineral composition, functional properties, and breakdown viscosity of HQCF. The interactive effect of AH, CS and variety was significant (P < 0.05) on fat, dispersibility, mineral composition, and physico-chemical properties. In terms of carbohydrate content, it is desirable to harvest cassava at 12 months after planting, with TMS 98/0505 being the choice variety. Recommendation of the desirable AH, CS and variety will vary according to the desired quality of the end-products. Age at harvest is the most important single factor affecting the proximate composition and functional properties of HQCF.

Weed management is one of the most important and expensive steps in okra production. Field experiments were therefore conducted in the early and late wet seasons of 2015 to evaluate the effectiveness and profitability of weed management using hoe weeding, herbicides or their combination in okra production. Propaben or butachlor at 2.0 kg a.i. (active ingredient) ha–¹ followed by (fb) supplementary hoe weeding (shw) at 6 weeks after sowing (WAS) significantly (P < 0.05) reduced weed density and biomass with subsequent increase in okra fruit yield similar to three hoe weedings and better than two hoe weedings or either herbicide applied alone in both early and late wet seasons. Although three hoe weedings provided the highest okra fruit yield (3590 and 4102 kg ha–¹) and total revenue ($991.7 and $1699.7 ha–¹), the gross margin ($186.4 and $931.6 ha–¹) and cost-benefit ratio (0.2 and 1.2) obtained were lower than those obtained with herbicide treatments. Highest gross margin ($470.8 and $1224.9 ha–¹) and cost-benefit ratio (1.2 and 3.0) in the early and late wet seasons, respectively, were achieved with propaben at 2.0 kg a.i ha–¹ fb shw at 6 WAS. The results of this study suggest that integrated weed management with propaben followed by supplementary hoe weeding will improve weed control, productivity and profitability of okra. Multiple hoe weeding, however, did not guarantee highest profit but rather increased the cost of production.

The study investigated the effects of organisational communication on work outcomes (job satisfaction, affective commitment and quit-intentions) of agriculture research personnel from six research institutes in Nigeria. Further, the mediational role of job satisfaction was determined among the constructs. Simple random sampling technique was used to elicit information from 209 researchers of the selected research institutes. Data were collected through a well-structured questionnaire and analysed using hierarchical regression and Sobel tests. Results obtained from hierarchical regression analyses indicated that organisational communication was related to job satisfaction (b = 0.18, P < 0.01), affective commitment (b₁ = 0.20, P < 0.01) and quit-intentions (b₁ = – 0.18, P < 0.01). Sobel test indicated that job satisfaction partially mediated the organisational communication-affective commitment relationship (Z = 5.42, P < 0.05). Similarly, job satisfaction was a partial mediator of the organisational communication – quit-intention relationship (Z = 4.13, P < 0.05). This is an indication that increased organisational communication fosters personnel’s satisfaction with job, improves affective commitment and reduces intents of quitting the organisation. Evidence of partial mediation revealed that job satisfaction may not be the only mediator of the predictor-criterions linkages.

Two animal manure sources (swine and sheep / goat manures) each at 5 Mt·ha⁻¹, were applied in mono- and intercropped maize (Zea mays L.) and groundnut (Arachis hypogea L.). A general control (no manure treatment of the component crops was established) for productivity assessment. The trial, conducted at the Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu (04º 30′ N, 06º 45′ E, 150 m above sea level), in the derived savannah plains, Ishiagu, Nigeria in 2012 and 2013 mid-cropping seasons used a randomised complete block design with three replications. It assessed the agronomic performance, cropping system (CS) and plant nutrient (PN) productivity of maize-groundnut in mono-and intercrop as influenced by two animal manure sources. The two-year combined analysis indicated that animal manure sources significantly (P < 0.05) increased growth and yield components of the crop species in the systems. Swine manure application gave the significantly (P < 0.05) highest maize grain yield in both mono- and intercropped strategies in contrast to sheep / goat manure that had the highest grain yield in both cropping strategies in groundnut. The biological and economic productivity indices of the cropping system (CS) and plant nutrient (PN) indicated that the application of sheep / goat manure in the maize / groundnut mixture exhibited greater intercrop advantage whose total CS and PN land equivalent ratios (LERs) were higher by 4.79% and 13.57%, respectively, relative to swine manure application. Therefore, the application of animal manure demands encouragement in maize-groundnut intercrop, especially sheep / goat manure as it enhances crop yield, food security and protein intake of people living in Sub-Saharan Africa practicing different strokes of farming system technology. The results of this study showed that intercropping system exhibited positive growth, yield, biological and economic advantages over monocropping of the component species. The study further indicated that intercropped maize / groundnut that received sheep / goat manure exhibited the highest cropping system and plant nutrient yield advantage and agronomic efficiency compared to swine manure alone under the same environment.