Agriculture and Biology Journal of North America最新文献

{"title":"Monocrotophos–induced enzymatic changes as toxicity bio-markers in Wistar Rat liver","authors":"Sunmonu, Taofik Olatunde, Oyelola Bukoye","doi":"10.5251/ABJNA.2012.3.7.302.305","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5251/ABJNA.2012.3.7.302.305","url":null,"abstract":"Monocrotophos is an organophosphate pesticide used in agriculture to control a range of insect pests. The aim of this study was to investigate the sub-lethal toxicity of the pesticide at different concentrations on rat liver. Experimental animals were chronically exposed to different concentrations of monocrotophos (0.625, 1.25, 2.5, 5.0 and 10.0 ml/kg body weight/day p.o.) for 14 days. The control rats were placed on borehole water devoid of pesticide. The toxic potential was evaluated using transaminases as bio-markers. Oral administration of the pesticide significantly increased the hepatosomatic index of the animals when compared with the control after 14 days of treatment. A significant reduction was also observed in the activities of aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) in the liver, which were significantly increased in the serum in a concentration dependent manner following ingestion of the pesticide. The findings from the present study showed that exposure to monocrotophos may compromise normal functioning of the liver.","PeriodicalId":7409,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture and Biology Journal of North America","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76223198","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Characterization of Sudan strains of Bacillus thuringiensis pathogenic to the larvae of the house mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus","authors":"N. Gorashi, H. El-Shafie, Hamida Hamid, Dirar H. Dirar","doi":"10.5251/ABJNA.2012.3.7.271.289","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5251/ABJNA.2012.3.7.271.289","url":null,"abstract":"Mosquitoes, as blood sucking insects and vectors for several serious human diseases, continue to be one of the major threats to public health, comfort and economic growth in the Sudan and many other countries. Dengue, yellow fever, and filariasis in addition to malaria are all transmitted by mosquitoes; this pest is controlled using chemical pesticides. The increasing concern about the environment and the hazards resulting from the sole reliance on pesticides and the acquired resistance to one or multiple insecticides forced scientist to seek for safer efficient alternatives or supplements for the chemical pesticides. Bacillus thuringiensis is considered to be one of the important microbial control agents capable of producing insecticidal proteins with specific pathogenicity. In this study, different samples were obtained from soils collected from different locations in Sudan and from stored products dust and dead insects, in addition to mosquito rearing bonds, with the objective of isolating entomopathogenic Bacillus thuringiensis strains. Thirty nine strains were isolated and identified morphologically and biochemically and their toxicity to the house mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus second and third instar larvae was evaluated. The larvae of the house mosquito were introduced to sterile distilled water treated with 500 ppm concentration from each isolate. Significant differences existed between the isolates in their toxicity 42 hours post treatment, where mortality percentages ranged from 25% to 95% compared to 12.5% in the untreated control larvae. About 69% of the 39 Bt isolates were found pathogenic (mortality ≥50%) to the house mosquito larvae. Regression analysis revealed differences in the lethal times between the different isolates. The LT50 values varied from 29.38 hours for isolate Om-5 to 131.9956 hours for isolate GF-18. The practical significance of these findings for management of mosquitoes is discussed. It is therefore concluded that Sudan environment is rich in Bacillus thuringiensis pathogenic to the house mosquito and 5 isolates resulted in cumulative mortality percentages above 80%.","PeriodicalId":7409,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture and Biology Journal of North America","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90897671","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Genetic variances, heritability, and correlation studies on selected phenotypic traits in a backcross breeding program involving normal and opaque-2 maize","authors":"K. Tengan, K. Obeng-antwi","doi":"10.5251/ABJNA.2012.3.7.287.291","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5251/ABJNA.2012.3.7.287.291","url":null,"abstract":"A study was undertaken to study the gene action, broad and narrow sense heritabilities, and interrelationships among five selected traits of maize including, plant height (PHT), ear height (EHT), cob length (COL), cob diameter (COD), and number of rows per cob (ROC). The obtained results indicated that all estimates of additive (VA) and dominance (VD) variances were positive for all characteristics with the exception of additive variance for cob diameter (COD), dominance variance (VD) being highly significant. The magnitude of VD was consistently larger than that of VA for all characteristics. High broad sense heritability estimates were detected for plant height (95%), ear height (81%), Cob length (75%), number of rows per cob (50%), emphasizing that the dominance genetic variance was the major component of genetic variation in the inheritance of these traits and the effectiveness of selection for improving these traits. However, moderate to low narrow sense heritability estimates were obtained for plant height (24%), ear height (34%) and cob length (4%). These results indicated the importance of choosing suitable segregating generations for exhibiting the best expression of genes of the different traits studied. Correlations among traits indicated that plant height was positively and significantly associated with ear height (0.82) in the recurrent parent population, (0.77) in the donor parent, and (0.73%) in the F1 generation. The F2 generation as well as the BC1 and BC2 generations recorded some levels of negative correlations among the traits studied.","PeriodicalId":7409,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture and Biology Journal of North America","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86517165","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of mulching materials on agronomic characteristics, pests of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) and their natural enemies population","authors":"M. B. Mochiah, P. Baidoo","doi":"10.5251/ABJNA.2012.3.6.253.261","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5251/ABJNA.2012.3.6.253.261","url":null,"abstract":"The trial was to study the effect of different mulching materials on agronomic characteristics, pests and their subsequent effect on the natural enemies of the pests of pepper (Capsicum annuum). A field experiment was conducted at the Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), between December, 2010 and March, 2011. The mulching materials used were (1) straw mulch, (2) plastic mulch and (3) live-mulch of cowpea plant. The experimental field contained fifteen plots using a randomised complete block design in three replications. Parameters measured were pests of Capsicum annuum, some natural enemies of the pests, days to 50% flowering, plant height, plant girth, damage caused and yield assessment which included damaged fruits caused by the pests, number of fruits, fruit weight (in grams), and percentage increase in fruit yield. Plant height was seemingly highest under straw mulched soils. Straw mulch also flowered early as compared to the live-mulch of cowpea and plastic mulch but the margin was narrow. None of the mulches exhibited higher pest suppression ability over the other. However, Straw mulch had apparently larger population of natural enemies than the other treatments. Damaged fruits in the three mulching materials did not differ significantly. Control plot soils had significantly (P<0.05) higher temperatures than the mulched soils. The results indicated that straw mulch enhanced plant height and increased fruit number and percentage yield whilst live-mulch of cowpea and plastic mulch reduced plant height, fruit number and percentage yield. Data generated in this study have shown that cowpea mulch may be more effective in suppressing pest populations of pepper but straw mulch may provide a better refuge for the natural enemies and should be recommended as an integral option for pest management in pepper production.\u0000Ad you may be interested in\u0000Full-text","PeriodicalId":7409,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture and Biology Journal of North America","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74500244","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Influence of spacing on the feeding activities of major pests of sunflower and their associated damage","authors":"O. Akinkunmi, H. Akintoye","doi":"10.5251/ABJNA.2012.3.6.233.236","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5251/ABJNA.2012.3.6.233.236","url":null,"abstract":"The experiment was conducted in the Floriculture experimental field of National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT) Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria (3 0 52’E and 7 0 25’N) between August and November 2009 and repeated between July and October 2010. Sunflower seeds were sown directly on prepared field using the following spacing: 65 cm x 75 cm, 75 cm x 75 cm, 85 cm x 75 cm and 100 cm x 75 cm on 3 m by 3 m plot size with 1m distance between and within plot and laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates. The insects observed were: the Sunflower beetle (Zygogramma exclamationis Fabricius (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Spittlebug (Poophilus adustus Walker (Hemiptera: Cercopoidae), Variegated grasshopper (Zonocerus variegatus Linnaeus Orthoptera: Pyrgomorphidae), Sunflower stem weevil (Cylindrocopturus adspersus Leconte (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Pachnoda cordata Drury (Coleoptera: Cetoniidae) and Atelocera raptoria Germar (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae). Spacing 65 cm x 75 cm significantly gave a high insect population than other treatments while lowest insect population and highest seed yield were observed in spacing 100cm x 75cm. The highest damaged leaves (48.60, 51.25), stems (22.25, 25.10), and flower heads (23.50 and 27.20) in 2009 and 2010 respectively were observed in plants with 65 cm x 75 cm spacing.","PeriodicalId":7409,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture and Biology Journal of North America","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79086074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Soil compaction on skid trails after selective logging in moist evergreen forest of Ghana","authors":"A. Alexander","doi":"10.5251/ABJNA.2012.3.6.262.264","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5251/ABJNA.2012.3.6.262.264","url":null,"abstract":"Soil compaction has been considered as a principal form of damage associated with logging, restricting root growth and reducing natural regeneration. There is no information on the changes in compaction and extent of soil recovery over time. This study evaluates the effects of logging on soil compaction in moist evergreen forest of Ghana. The extent of soil compaction on skid trails was measured at six locations: two plots on the edges, two on the center and two on the unlogged area as a control and replicated seven times on a forty year and one year old skid trails. Penetration resistance was measured to determine the extent of soil compaction using the soil penetrometer. In the forty year old skid trail, penetration resistance was significantly higher at the edge and center as compared to the unlogged area. In the one year old skid trail, penetration was only significantly higher at the edge than the unlogged. Comparing the two skid trails, recovery rate of surface soil compaction showed no significant difference over the period, illustrating the persistent effect of heavy machinery compaction on surface soil structure.","PeriodicalId":7409,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture and Biology Journal of North America","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76815358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A prelimenary study on the population estimation of the periwinkles Tympanotonus fuscatus (Linnaeus, 1758) and Pachymelania aurita (Muller) at the Rumuolumeni mangrove swamp creek, Niger Delta, Nigeria","authors":"F. G. Bob-manuel","doi":"10.5251/ABJNA.2012.3.5.265.270","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5251/ABJNA.2012.3.5.265.270","url":null,"abstract":"A study was carried out to estimate the populations of the periwinkles Tympanotonus fuscatus and Pachymelania aurita at the Rumuolumeni mangrove swamp creek in the Nigeria, Niger Delta sub-region. Weekly sampling of the gastropods was done and the capture mark-releaserecapture method was used for the population estimation. The Lincoln index was used for the calculation of the total population. The results indicated that T. fuscatus was more abundant in the area than P. aurita. It was opined that since P. aurita was more susceptible to pollution than T. fuscatus, its reduced population density could be attributed to the activities of oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region and their attendant pollution of the brackish water ecosystem, in addition to reproductive failure resulting from climate change.","PeriodicalId":7409,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture and Biology Journal of North America","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84507886","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparative evaluation of antidiabetic activity of Rosmarinus officinalis L. and Chamomile recutita in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats","authors":"M. Emam","doi":"10.5251/ABJNA.2012.3.6.247.252","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5251/ABJNA.2012.3.6.247.252","url":null,"abstract":"Herbal formulations are getting more importance in the treatment of diabetes, cancer and hepatic disorder because of the hazardous adverse effects of the current therapy. Especially diabetes can be controlled by Allopathic medicine as well as Herbal medicine. A comparison was made between the antidiabetic activities of water extracts of leaves of Rosmarinus Officinalist and Chamomile recutitain Streptozotocin- induced diabetic rats. Serum Fasting blood glucose and other biochemical parameters such as total protein; carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzyme; α – amylase, total antioxidant capacity, liversteoteosis; total cholesterol, Triacylglycerol, were determined at the dose 200 mg/kg body weight for 21 days. There is a significant increase decrease in serum fasting blood glucose (p<0.001) , increase in body weight and improvement in the other biochemical parameters with treatment of herbal formulations which altered in diabetic rats There was a significant decrease in serum glucose level (p<0.001), increase in body weight and changes in normal cells was observed with treatment of the above mentioned extracts which altered in diabetic rats as compared to the control rats standard.","PeriodicalId":7409,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture and Biology Journal of North America","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89050260","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Antihyperglycaemic and antihyperlipidaemic effects of aqueous ethanol extract of Tapinanthus globiferus leaves and Treculia africana root bark and their mixture on alloxan diabetic rats","authors":"S. Ogbonnia, E. Anyika","doi":"10.5251/abjna.2012.3.6.237.246","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5251/abjna.2012.3.6.237.246","url":null,"abstract":"The plants Treculia africana and Tapinanthus globiferus are ethnobotanically used in the treatment of various diseases including diabetes and heart diseases. Diabetes mellitus is a disease characterized by hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia which leads to an increased risk of atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases. The effects of aqueous ethanol (96%) extracts of T. africana leaves and Tapinanthus globiferus plants and their mixture, in an equal proportion, were evaluated on postprandial glycemic status. Four groups of normal rats were treated with the extracts at a dose 250mg/kg each, their mixture (1:1), at a dose of 500 mg/kg body weight, 0.5ml of acacia (2%w/v) and then charged with glucose (40%) at a dose of 1 ml/100 g body weight. Plasma sugar contents were analyzed from the blood collected from the tail vein at 30, 60, 90 and 120 min intervals. Also glycemic status and serum lipid profiles of normal and Alloxan-induced diabetic rats were evaluated. Five groups of alloxan-induced diabetic (150 mg/kg ip) rats were treated with the extracts and the (1:1) mixture at a dose of 500 mg/kg, respectively for 21 days. Significant reduction (p≤0.05) in both postprandial blood glucose but not in alloxan-induced diabetes blood glucose levels, triglyceride levels, low density lipoprotein (LDL) level, and increase in high density lipoprotein (HDL) level were observed in the mixture. This scientific finding does not support the basis for the herbal use of mixture of T. africana and Tapinanthus globiferus in the management of diabetes and heart diseases.","PeriodicalId":7409,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture and Biology Journal of North America","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82983775","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Release of three improved varieties for the expanded potato market in Kenya","authors":"J. Landeo, J. Onditi, E. Sikinyi, S. Nderitu, J. Kabira, G. Abong’","doi":"10.5251/ABJNA.2012.3.5.192.197","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5251/ABJNA.2012.3.5.192.197","url":null,"abstract":"Current potato varieties have not fully met the market demands of the rapidly expanding Kenyan potato industry. Newer varieties with tolerance to the major diseases, higher yields, better storability and processing qualities are therefore required. Through a collaborative research, six promising late blight tolerant clones initially from the International Potato Centre (CIP) were evaluated in National Performance Trials (NPT) in six potato growing regions. Three clones, namely: 393385.39, 393371.58 and 391691.96 were released by the National Variety Release Committee (NVRC) under the respective names of Sherekea, Kenya Mpya and Purple Gold. Sherekea had high yields (40-50T/ha), high tolerance to late blight and to major viruses, attractive red skin color, good storability, good cooking and processing qualities. Kenya Mpya had high yields (35-45 T/ha), high resistance to late blight, good chipping and mashing quality, short dormancy (75-90 days), early tuber bulking and early physiological maturity (90-105 days). Purple Gold had moderate to high yields, excellent crisping and good chipping, Table, cooking and mashing qualities, long dormancy and very good storability. The new varieties are expected to respond to various demands of the potato industry while increasing the varietal options available to the farmers.","PeriodicalId":7409,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture and Biology Journal of North America","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87233700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}