Asian Research Journal of Agriculture

An experiment was conducted in two insect-prone areas viz., Bangladesh Sugarcrop Research Institute (BSRI), Pabna and Regional Sugarcrop Research Station (RSRS), Thakurgaon to study the influence of weather on sugarcane mealybugs and their natural enemies during the 2013-14 cropping season. A positive linear relationship was observed between mealybugs infestation with and relative humidity 51% (R²=0.514) but a negative correlation was found with temperature and rainfall.  The infestation was higher at Thakurgaon than at Pabna during almost entire cropping season but a little higher at Pabna in November. At Pabna, the lowest infestation (6.30%) was recorded in May and the highest (34.71%) in November. At Thakurgaon, the lowest infestation (7.48%) was found in May and the highest (29.30%) in September. Results revealed that per cent loss in weight of sugarcane was 4.76 to 36.50 at 10% and 100% infestation level in Pabna. On the other hand, 6.57 to 33.55% loss of cane weight was caused at 10% and 100% infestation level in Thakurgaon. The results proved that, as expected, weight loss generally increases with a stronger level of infestation. Different natural enemies viz., parasitic wasps, ladybird beetles, hover flies, brown lacewings, spider, Cryptochaetum sp. were found to be abundant in the study plot during the month of June to August.

Aims: To evaluate the effect of different types of organic fertilizers on the nutrients and anti nutrients composition of Amaranthus caudatus (Samaru local variety) and Amaranthus cruentus (NH84/452).

Study Design: A randomized complete block design (RCBD) was used for the experiment.

Place and Duration of Study: The experiment was carried out in the nursery of a homestead garden at No 20, Isaiah Balat Street, Sabo GRA, Kaduna State, Nigeria.

Methodology: The study consists of seven treatments which includes control (no fertilizer), 5 t ha^-1 and 10 t ha^-1 poultry manure, 5 t ha^-1 and 10 t ha^-1 sewage sludge, 35 kg ha^-1 and 70 kg ha^-1 NPK compound fertilizer and also with two varieties; Amaranthus caudatus (Samaru local variety) and Amaranthus cruentus (NH84/452) with factorial arrangement in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) and replicated three times. At maturity, the leaves were harvested and prepared for laboratory analysis for both nutrients and anti-nutrient composition. Proximate composition was determined according to A.O.A.C protocol. Water soluble vitamins were analyzed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) while the metals were analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS).

Results: The ash, moisture, fat, protein, fibre, carbohydrate and energy of the two varieties were found in the range of 2.58 - 3.06%, 78.78 - 80.69%, 1.04 - 1.49%, 7.49 - 9.67%, 2.41 - 3.29%, 3.02 - 6.46% and 54.72 - 61.52 Kcal/100 g respectively. The micronutrients including β-carotene, vitamin C, niacin, riboflavin, iron and zinc were found in the range of 4.79 - 6.68, 14.37 - 40.36, 5.97 - 22.15, 8.37 - 27.99, 10.03 - 13.40 and 5.11 – 941 mg/100 g respectively. The anti-nutrients; tannins, phytate, saponins and oxalate were in the range of 0.33 - 0.69, 0.40 - 0.94, 1.29 - 2.30 and 0.53 - 1.01% respectively

Conclusion: Poultry manure provided higher nutrients on the two varieties of Amaranth when compared with sewage sludge and NPK compound fertilizer. While sewage sludge resulted in the plants having higher anti-nutrients. The application of poultry manures at 10 tons/ha is therefore recommended for farmers to use to obtain more nutritious amaranth.

Arenga palm is a liquid obtained from palm plant stem [Arenga pinnata (Wurmb). Merr)] this liquid is used as an ingredient for brown sugar or alcoholic beverages, this liquid is then mixed with some organic ingredients through fermentation method. The result of laboratory analysis shows that the fermentation contained N, P, K, and IAA and GA3 hormones that were used as experimental fertilizer (Liquid Organic fertilizer arenga palm). This research aims to determine the effectiveness of the dosage of liquid organic fertilizer to the growth and yield of rice field plants. This research used a randomized block design consisting of 3 (three) replications and 10 doses so that there were 30 experimental treatments. The study was carried out at the Agricultural Research Institute of Sidondo Palu in Central Sulawesi in March to June 2017. The analysis used was the analysis of single factor variance with the Honest Significant Difference test (BNJ). The results of the analysis shows that the dose of arenga palm 25.75 L.ha^-1 for plant growth aged 15 days after planting (HST), 28 HST and 43 HST affects significantly (P <0.001) to an average plant height of 49.3 cm, 6.51 cm and 86 cm, and the number of productive tillers is 15.23 stems. Cluster^-1. Likewise, the results of crop production shows that the use of a dose of 25.75 L. ha^-1 is significantly different (P <0.001 harvested dry rice yield (GKP) 7.99 tons. ha^-1.

The mango fruit fly (Ceratitis cosyra Walker) is the major pest of economic importance and which restricts mango exports from infested production areas in the SADC region. The effect of three pruning techniques, box/rectangle, spherical/round and the central leader, on assessing spatial distribution of fruit fly populations in high density mango production were investigated at Chiredzi Research station (21°01’S, 31°33’E) from 2010 to 2013. Results showed a significant rise in the number of adult fly catches among pruning techniques as from July to December (p< 0.05). Traps baited with Malathion 25% WP with molasses as an attractant were used to trap the flies. Results from all treatments indicated a significant rise in mean adult fruit fly catches from the months of July to December. It can be concluded that spatial distribution of the mango fruit fly is influenced by the fruiting and ripening patterns of mango.

Development of agribusiness sector entrepreneurship is one of the critical pathways to obtain high economic growth, poverty reduction and environmental protection in developing countries. Gaps remain towards understanding the entrepreneurial behaviour in agribusiness in developing countries. This is driven for research opportunity to underlies the formation of farmers’ entrepreneurial behaviour, with a particular focus on the development of farm entrepreneurship in developing context. Drawing upon the capability approach, the study examines what capabilities influence to explore opportunities and implement them into action and how those identified capabilities influence entrepreneurship growth in agribusiness sector in Sri Lanka. The study adopted an inductive qualitative case study approach to gathering data from the farmers. The analysis produced 17 actions denoted by the selected farmers. These 17 actions were then related to 04 pillars of capabilities conceptualized by literature; organizational learning, communication, sharing and exchanging knowledge and technological capabilities. Drawing upon the capability approach to explore capabilities that require to pursue and develop entrepreneurial opportunities, this study is offered a new perspective on entrepreneurship theory. The study was the cross-sectional and it was only about three cases, signifying a need to include other agribusiness sectors for further contextualizing the results.