Browsing by Author "Afe A.I."

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    Evaluation of growth and yield of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.Walp) cultivars and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) with their competitive behavior in cowpea-sorghum intercropping
    (National Cereals Research Institute, 2023-04-30) Yaman U.; Afe A.I.; Nurudeen K.,
    The need to increase cowpea production to solve the menace of malnutrition is a global challenge and land limitations have also made intercropping indispensable. Field trials were carried out at the Teaching and Research Farm, Kwara State University, Malete, and National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM) Idofian to evaluate the growth and yield of cowpea cultivars and sorghum with their competitive behavior in cowpea-sorghum intercropping. Five cultivars of cowpea (IITA-256, IITA-277, VITAL-5, IT98K-491-4, and IITA-288) were intercropped with sorghum. Sole crops were included in the treatments as a check. The treatments were arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design and replicated three times. Among the sole, vital-5 cultivar had the highest number of branches and pods per plant and more seeds per pod compared to other cultivars. The cultivar also recorded the highest grain yield 591.30 kg/ha and 530.00 kg/ha respectively, for Malete and NCAM at the sole. At the intercrop, IITA-288 significantly had the least number of branches per plant and took longer days to attain flowering compared to other cultivars. The lowest grain yield at the intercrop was also obtained with this cultivar. Sorghum intercropped with cowpea cultivar IITA-288 was at par with the sole sorghum in all the parameters. The least grain yield of sorghum at the intercrop was obtained in sorghum intercropping with IITA-256 cowpea cultivar. The maximum Land Equivalent Ratio (LER), and Land Equivalent Coefficient (LEC), was obtained with the Vital-5 cultivar. Regardless of location, the competitive ratio (CR) values for IITA-256, IITA-277, and Vital-5 cowpea cultivars were higher than sorghum. The aggressivisity, (A) for these cultivars were also positive for cowpea and negative for sorghum. Although, all the cowpea cultivars demonstrated intercropping advantages in efficient utilization of natural resources intercropping with the Vital-5 cowpea cultivar was superior and could be adopted by the farmer
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    SOIL SUITABILITY ASSESSMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION OF CUCUMBER (Cucumis sativus L.) IN THE SOUTHERN GUINEA SAVANNA ZONE OF NIGERIA
    (International Journal of Organic agricultural Research & Development Volume 19 (4), 2025-01-30) Alabi K.O; Afe A.I.; Isaac J.A.
    The problem of selecting the correct land for the cultivation of a certain crop is a long-standing and mainly empirical issue and nowadays, sustainability is one of the important issues in land use system. A Typic Plinthustalfs soil developed on Pre-Cambrian basement complex rocks was evaluated for its suitability for cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) in the southern guinea savanna zone of Nigeria. Three mapping units that were established along the topo-sequence and three profile pits that were dug in 2017 were used for the experiment. Linear parametric and square root models were used for assessing the suitability of the soils for sustainable cucumber production. Land qualities considered in the study were climate, topography, wetness, soil fertility and soil physical properties. Except for the fertility status of the land, other qualities were not a constraint to the production of cucumber at study site. None of the pedon is highly suitable for production of cucumber by both linear and square root models with index of current productivity (IPc) that ranged between 18.7 and 70. Linear model indicated pedon 2 as currently not suitable with IPc of 18.7. Potentially, the index of potential productivity (IPp) ranged between 25 and 70 which rated pedon 1 and 3 as moderately suitable and pedon 2 as marginally suitable for cucumber production by both linear and the square root model. The limiting factors were mainly low levels of available macro-nutrients (N, P, K, Mg), low organic carbon (<0.54%), and low cation exchange capacity (<5.61cmol/kg) in all three pedons studied. Field trial also confirms the claim as application of both organic and NPK fertilizers significantly affect the yield of cucumber in all the pedons. In conclusion, it is therefore recommended that organic fertilizer should be applied for sustainable cucumber production on soils of the studied site.
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    SOIL SUITABILITY ASSESSMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION OF CUCUMBER (Cucumis sativus L.) IN THE SOUTHERN GUINEA SAVANNA ZONE OF NIGERIA
    (International Journal of Organic agricultural Research & Development, 2025-01-20) Alabi K.O.,; Afe A.I.; Isaac J.A.
    The problem of selecting the correct land for the cultivation of a certain crop is a long-standing and mainly empirical issue and nowadays, sustainability is one of the important issues in land use system. A Typic Plinthustalfs soil developed on Pre-Cambrian basement complex rocks was evaluated for its suitability for cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) in the southern guinea savanna zone of Nigeria. Three mapping units that were established along the topo-sequence and three profile pits that were dug in 2017 were used for the experiment. Linear parametric and square root models were used for assessing the suitability of the soils for sustainable cucumber production. Land qualities considered in the study were climate, topography, wetness, soil fertility and soil physical properties. Except for the fertility status of the land, other qualities were not a constraint to the production of cucumber at study site. None of the pedon is highly suitable for production of cucumber by both linear and square root models with index of current productivity (IPc) that ranged between 18.7 and 70. Linear model indicated pedon 2 as currently not suitable with IPc of 18.7. Potentially, the index of potential productivity (IPp) ranged between 25 and 70 which rated pedon 1 and 3 as moderately suitable and pedon 2 as marginally suitable for cucumber production by both linear and the square root model. The limiting factors were mainly low levels of available macro-nutrients (N, P, K, Mg), low organic carbon (<0.54%), and low cation exchange capacity (<5.61cmol/kg) in all three pedons studied. Field trial also confirms the claim as application of both organic and NPK fertilizers significantly affect the yield of cucumber in all the pedons. In conclusion, it is therefore recommended that organic fertilizer should be applied for sustainable cucumber production on soils of the studied site.
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    Suitability Evaluation of a Typic Plinthustalf in Southern Guinea Savanna Zone of Nigeria, for the production of Quality Protein Maize (Zea mays L.)
    (Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T) Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria., 2020) Alabi, K. O.; Wahab, A. A.; Lawal, O.O.; Uthman A. C. O.; Afe A.I.; Omodele T.
    The need to optimize and produce maize of quality protein content in a Typic plinthustalfs calls for potential suitability evaluation. Hence, three mapping units were established along the toposequence and three profile pits were dug at each per mapping unit. The pits were described and sampled following FAO guidelines. Soil samples were taken from the pedogenic horizons for morphological, physical and chemical data analyses. Linear parametric and square root models were used for assessing the suitability of the soils for maize production. Land qualities considered in the study were climate, topography, wetness, soil fertility and soil physical properties. Except for the fertility status of the land, other qualities were not a constraint to the production of maize at the study site. All the pedons were classified as currently not suitable by both linear and square root models with index of current productivity (IPc) ranging between 1.08 and 2.05. Potentially, using the linear model, the index of potential productivity (IPp) ranged between 63 and 90 thus rated pedon 1 and 2 as highly suitable and pedon 3 as moderately suitable while the square root model indicated all pedons as highly suitable, for both local and quality protein maize production. The limiting factors were mainly low levels of available macro-nutrients (N, P, K, Mg), low organic carbon (0.82 %), and low cation exchange capacity (< 16 cmol/Kg) in all three pedons studied. In conclusion, all the pedons were classified as Typic plinthustalfs were currently not suitable (N1) for Maize Production both by the linear and square root models. Hence, it is therefore recommended that good soil management practices such as integrated soil fertilizer application, effective tillage practices and cover cropping should be adopted to ensure sustainable land use for maize production at the studied site.