Journal of Bio-agriculture

Response of Growth and Productivity of Cowpea Plants to Nano Mixture of Micronutrients Under Different Potassium Sulphate Fertilizer Rates

Zyada H. G. — 2020-08-10

The response of cowpea cv. Cream 7 growth and productivity to potassium fertilization mixed with or without Nano mixture of micronutrients were studied during the summer of 2017 and 2018 seasons at Experimental Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Egypt. The experiment aimed to assessed the effect of potassium fertilization levels (0.0, 24, 48 and 72 kg K₂O/Fed), Nano mixture of micronutrients rate (0.0, 0.50, 1.0 and 2.0 g/l) and their interactions on growth, seed yield, macronutrients concentration in shoot and seeds and seed quality of cowpea plants. Source of potassium levels was potassium sulphate (48-52% K₂O). The used Nano mixture of micronutrients called "Magrow NanoMix" and it contained Fe (6%), Zn (6%), B (2%), Mn (5%), Cu (1%) and Mo (0.1%). These treatments arranged in a split-plot design with three replicates. The results referred to that fertilizing cowpea plants with potassium at 72 kgK₂O/Fed. significantly increased cowpea growth (plant height, branch and leaf numbers per plant as well as branch, leaf and total dry weights/plant), yield components(pod diameter and length, hundred seeds weight, pod number/plant and seed yield/ plant and /Fed.) as well as chemical constituents (N, P and K percentages in each leaves and seeds as well as total carbohydrates and protein percentages in seeds, also, total chlorophyll content (SPAD) in cowpea leaves compared with control and the lowest levels under study. The same trend was achieved by using the highest rate of Nano mixture of micronutrients (2g/l) regarding the increase in most of abovementioned parameters of growth, yield and chemical constituents of cowpea compared with unsprayed plants (control). In general, application of potassium fertilization at 72kg K₂O/ Fed. as soil application with Nano- mixture of micronutrients at 2g/l rate as foliar spray was recorded the best treatments for increasing all cowpea growth and seed yield components as well as N, P, K and carbohydrates percentage in seeds such as compared with control treatment (without using mineral potassium or Nano mixture of micronutrients) in growing season.

Impact of Nano-Chitosan Rate and Glutamine Acid Concentration on Growth, Yield and Volatile Oil Production of Coriander Plants

Nahed S. A. El Shayeb — 2020-08-10

Coriander (Coriandrum sativum, L.) is an important aromatic plant in Egypt. A current work was aimed to study the impact of nano-chitosan rates (0.0, 2 and 4 ml/l), glutamine acid concentrations (0.0, 25, 50 and 100 ppm) and their interaction treatments on growth, yield components as well as volatile oil and some chemical constituents of coriander plant. Two field experiments were conducted at Kafr El-Hamam Experimental Station of Agric. Res. Cen., ElSharkia Governorate, Egypt during 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 seasons. These experiments were based as a split-plot in randomized block design with three replications. The nano- chitosan rates were randomly arranged in the main plots, while, glutamine acid (Gln) concentrations were distributed randomly in the sub plots. Based on two years study it was found that most of nano-chitosan rates and glutamine acid concentrations proved to be superior and recorded higher values of coriander yield components over control. Application of nano-chitosan at 4 ml/l resulted higher values of coriander growth (plant height, branch number per plant and total dry weight), yield components (number of inflorescences per coriander plant, fruit yield per plant and per feddan), volatile oil production (volatile oil percentage, volatile oil yield per plant and per feddan) as well as chemical constituents (N, P, K and total carbohydrates percentages in fruits and total chlorophyll content in coriander leaves) over the lowest rate and control. The same trend in these characters of coriander was obtained when Gln acid was used as foliar spray at 100 ppm concentration compared to the other ones under study. In general, nano-chitosan at 4 ml/l interacted with Gln acid at 50 ppm recorded the highest values of yield components of coriander plants compared to the other interaction treatments under study. Finally, this treatment gave the highest values in major constituents of volatile oil such as linalool, camphor, gamma- terpinene, geranyl acetate and alpha-pinene.

Effects of Garlic Rotation and Organic Fertilizer Application on Bacterial Community Structure in Rhizosphere Soil of Continuous Cropping Tomato

Yanyan Zhao — 2020-10-14

16S/18S/ITS's amplicon and metagenome sequencing had been used extensively to investigate the root mi- crobial community structure of crops and model plants. In this study, the rhizosphere soils of the continuous cropping (Control), garlic rotation and organic fertilizer application tomato plants were taken as the test samples, respectively, to measure the microbial community structure and soil enzyme activities. The results showed that both planting modes had significant effects on the microecology of continuous cropping tomato rhizosphere soil. After garlic rotation, the diversity (Shannon index and Simpson index) and relative abundance (Ace index and Chao1 index) of soil bacterial community decreased significantly in the early stage, but increased significantly in the later stage. These changes could be significantly alleviated by the application of organic fertilizer. During the whole growth period of tomato plants, the activities the six soil enzymes (sucrase, catalase, urease, protease, amylase and alkaline phosphatase) were all the highest in the organic fertilizer application plot, followed by the rotation plot and the continuous cropping plot. With the extension of planting time, the activities of soil protease, urease and alkaline phosphatase increased gradually, while that of sucrase decreased gradually. Catalase activity initially increased and then decreased, while amylase activity did not change significantly with time. After garlic rotation, mortality rate of tomato plants decreased significantly, and all growth indexes were significantly better than those of the control treatment. To sum up, garlic/tomato rotation can effectively improve the soil environment and alleviate the continuous cropping obstacle of tomatoes in greenhouse. Moreover, rotation combining with organic fertilizer application can acquire the most obvious mitigation effect.

Effects of Phosphorus Fertilization and Plant Spacing on Herbage Yield of Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) in Bauchi State, Nigeria

Yunusa Muhammad Shuaibu — 2020-11-02

A field trial was conducted at Bauchi State university teaching and research farm Gadau during 2018 and 2019 rainy seasons, to study the effects of phosphorus fertilization and plant spacing on herbage yield of groundnut. The treatments consisted of four levels of phosphorus fertilizer (0, 30, 60 and 90 kg P₂O₅/ha) and three spacing (20 × 60 cm, 25 × 60 cm and 30 × 60 cm), factorially combined to give 12 treatments and laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) replicated three times. The results of the experiment showed a significant (P < 0.01) difference among the treatments used throughout the study period. The result also revealed that, application of 60 and 90 kg P₂O₅/ha were observed to be statistically similar but significantly (P ≤ 0.05) recorded the highest number of branches, canopy spread, biomass, stover and pod yield than the other treatments used. However, all treatments were better than the control. In terms of spacing however, widest spacing (30 × 60 cm) significantly (P ≤ 0.05) gave the highest number of branches and canopy spread than the other spacing used. The result further indicated that, closest spacing (20 × 60 cm) recorded the highest biomass and stover yields throughout the study period. Years of study on the other hand, 2019 was proved to be significantly better than 2018 in all the characters observed. Based on the result of this findings, it can be concluded that, application of 60 to 90 kg/ha P₂O₅ and closest spacing (20 × 60 cm) gave the highest biomass and stover yields and is recommended to farmers for groundnut herbage production in the study area.

Seasonal Rainfall Variability and Arable Farming within the Dry Equatorial: Evidence from the Effutu Municipality

Ishmael Yaw Dadson — 2020-12-28

Over the past three decades, one of the major problems that confront developing economies in Africa is the impact of climate variability on agricultural development. In the face of seasonal rainfall variation and the rain-fed nature of farming, agriculture, which is the main source of livelihood for most communities in Ghana, is threatened. The study sought to ascertain the impact of seasonal rainfall variation on arable farming within the Dry Equatorial climate of Ghana, focusing on evidence from the Effutu Municipality. Using coefficient of variation (CV) and the Precipitation Concentration Index (PCI) models, rainfall data spanning for twenty-three years obtained from the Ghana Meteorological Authority were analysed for interseasonal and interannual patterns and variability. The Pearson moment correlation coefficient was used to induce a statistical index to establish the relationship between rainfall distribution and crop yield, particularly for rice production. The findings of the study revealed a high coefficient of variation for both the major and minor rainfall seasons for the past two decades with a corresponding relatively high PCI for the period. This suggests high variability in rainfall patterns in the two seasons over the past twenty years with detection of a general decline in rainfall amounts. A moderate positive P-value for rainfall and crop yield indicates that rice production output is dependent on rainfall patterns within the Effutu Municipality. High rainfall amounts were associated with more rice outputs and vice versa. The study recommends on-farm adaptive practices such as mulching, use of drought-resistant varieties, and government-supported irrigated farming.