Life Sciences

This study analyzed the incidence and severity of poverty among farm households in Plateau state, Nigeria. Secondary data obtained from Harmonized Nigeria Living Standard Survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics in 2009/2010 was used. Descriptive statistics was employed to describe the socioeconomic attributes and problems facing the farm households in the study area. Forster, Greer and Thorbecke poverty indices were used to decompose poverty while multiple regressions were used to estimate the socioeconomic determinants of household welfare in the study area.

Present study was undertaken to investigate the synergistic role of selenium and vitamin E in ameliorating the cigarette smoke induced biochemical alterations in albino rats. A total of thirty six (36) adult albino rats of the Wister strain were used, they were randomly divided into three sets of twelve rats each. Set A served as control (no exposure to cigarette smoke). While rats in set B were exposed to only cigarette smoke and rats in set C were exposed to cigarette smoke with pre-supplementation of selenium and vitamin E.

Citrus is a major fruit product in Vietnam. However, most of citrus cultivars are high number of seeds that curb in developing citrus production and fruit quality. Seedless is an important trait in Citrus. Hence, the objective of current study was to integrate the conventional breeding and biotechnological approaches for developing Citrus seedless cultivars in the country. By integration between conventional and biotechnological breeding approaches, 5 new seedless cultivars have been released and approved.

Fresh water fishes are economically important and an alternative source of significant human dietary constituents. The experimental fishes treated with lethal concentrations (1.00, 1.50, 0.63 and 2.00 ppm) of mercuric chloride showed many histological changes during 1 to 4 days of exposure. The gills showed vacuolization in the gill stem, gill lamellae ruptured, connective tissue cells in the stem damaged, destructed and congestion of haemocytes in the gill lamellae are observed.

The study is focused on the effect of two species of Glomus and Trichoderma in order to control the wilt disease and plant growth of cow pea. In vitro condition, among the bioagents, T. harzianum produced the maximum inhibition zone of 18.20 per cent compared to the minimum of 7.30 per cent by T.viride. Soil application of T. harzianum biomass at 60 g/kg soil in infected soil effectively controlled the Fusarium wilt disease and ultimately improved growth of different characters of plant under glasshouse condition.

The aim of this work was to study the fermentation of lactose substrate in mineral salts medium for the production of L(+) lactic acid and lactase enzyme using Lactobacillus bifermentum. The effect of different process parameters such as various lactose concentration, pH of the medium, temperature and inoculum concentration was monitored to enhance the lactose conversion into lactase and lactic acid. Fermentations were performed in batch mode method with suitable environment.

Our attempts in this study were to identify QTLs which controlling the salinity tolerance of rice by using F2/F3 population which derived from the crossed combination between the Chanhtrui (high salinity tolerance) and Khangdan18 (susceptible) rice cultivars. The results have shown that: salinity tolerance was controlled by multiple genes.

Six protein rich artificial diets were formulated & tested on Apis mellifera colonies during dearth periods. The main components of these diets were Defatted Soy Floor, Parched Gram, Brewer’s Yeast, Skimmed Milk Powder, Protein Hydrolysate Powder, Spirulina, Natural Pollen, Sugar & Glucose Powder. Physico-chemical analysis of diet formulations was carried out to know the exact concentration of various nutrients.

A study was carried out to investigate farmers’ perceptions on the impact of Mushandike dam on livestock dynamics in an initial resettlement scheme, located in a drought prone area. The study focused on farmers resettled in Mushandike resettlement scheme who depend on a dam located upstream in Mushandike Sanctuary, Masvingo. Data were collected through focal group interviews and structured questionnaires that were administered to local farmers and agricultural extension workers. Farmers were selected from the 9 villages in Mushandike resettlement scheme.

Studies were conducted at Regional Research Station, College of Agriculture, Wadura, SKUAST-K, to evaluate the quality of municipal and agricultural waste under aerobic and anaerobic composting. Composting methods with enrichment techniques were adopted with 2 methods (Aerobic & Anaerobic) and 7 treatments in each method. The samples of the aerobic were drawn after 30, 60, 90 and 120 days after composting and in anaerobic compost samples were drawn after 150 days of compost.