A study was carried out to determine the quality of silage produced from guinea grass, cassava peel and cashew apple waste at different ensiling periods. The materials were mixed into nine different proportions and ensiled for 30, 60 and 90 days making twenty-seven (27) treatments with each replicated three times. At the expiration of ensiling duration, the jars were opened, the contents were mixed, oven-dried and the proximate composition and fibre fractions were determined. The results showed that there were significant (p < 0.05) reduction in the Dry Matter (DM), Crude Protein (CP) and Neutral Detergent Fibre (NDF) with increase in ensiling duration while the Non Fibre Carbohydrate (NFC) increased with increased ensiling duration. The highest CP content (14.44%) was obtained in 25% Guinea Grass (GG)+25% cassava peel (CAP)+50% Cashew Apple Waste (CAW) which was not significantly (p > 0.05) different from 100% CAW. The NDF varied (p < 0.05) from 44.21 in 75% CAP+25% CAW silage to 60.31 in 100% GG. The reduction in the CP and NDF of the silage is still within the range required for growth and maintenance in ruminant animals.

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of proportion of grass-legume mixtures and ensiling periods on the physical characteristics and qualities of Panicum maximum and Stylosanthes guainensis silage. The experiment was laid in a 2×3 factorial arrangement which comprised of two (2) forage proportions (100% and 50%:50%) and three (3) ensiling periods (30, 60 and 90 days). Results showed that there was only significant (p<0.05) different on pH as affected by ensiling periods whereby the pH values decline as the ensiling periods increases. The highest (p<0.05) CP (10.75%) and NFC (15.33%) contents was observed in equal proportion of P. maximum and S. guianensis silage. The effect of ensiling period effect on the proximate composition was significant (p<0.05) whereby P. maximum and S. guianensis ensiled for 90 days recorded the highest value for dry matter (DM) (96.88%) and ether extract (EE) (5.50) while P. maximum and S. guianensis ensiled for 30 days had highest CP content of 12.70%. Effect of proportion was significant (p<0.05) on the NDF, ADF and cellulose contents. Sole P. maximum silage had higher NDF (59.67%), ADF (33.83%) and cellulose (29.17%) contents compared to other proportion. There was declined in NDF and ADF contents as the ensiling period extended from 30 to 90 days in which silage ensiled at 90 days had the least content of 54.00 and 32.25% respectively. It is therefore concluded that silage made from equal proportion of P. maximum and S. guainensis silage had the highest crude protein and low structural components.

This study was carried out to investigate the forage yield and nutritive quality of two groundnut (SAMNUT 22 and local) varieties as influenced by fertilizer type in the humid ecological zone of Nigeria. The study was a 3 x 2 factorial experiment in a split-plot design with the fertilizer type (poultry droppings, NPK and the control) as the main plot and variety (SAMNUT 22 and Local) as the sub-plot which amounts to six treatments with three replicates. The inorganic-fertilized SAMNUT 22 had the highest forage dry matter (DM) yield (10.23 t/ha). The inorganic-fertilized local variety had the highest DM (94.60 %) and the least DM value (93.68 %) recorded for inorganic-fertilized SAMNUT 22. The highest and least crude protein (21.71 % vs 18.28%) contents were recorded for inorganic-fertilized local and unfertilized SAMNUT 22 variety, respectively. The neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL) that were recorded for the unfertilized SAMNUT 22 were the highest with values 58.13 %, 25.86 % and 3.35 %, respectively. The highest gas (57.75 ml/200mgDM) production, methane (13.50 ml/200mgDM) and in vitro dry matter digestibility (70.22 %) were recorded for unfertilized local variety, unfertilized SAMNUT 22 and organic-fertilized local variety, respectively. The unfertilized SAMNUT 22 had the highest tannin content of 6.43 mg/100g and saponin content of 9.29 mg/100g whereas the organically fertilized Local variety had the highest oxalate (140.65 mg/100g) content. In conclusion, the two varieties and especially SAMNUT 22 when inorganic fertilizer was applied have proved to be good feed resource with regards to high yield, CP and low anti-nutrient quality and are recommended as forage of high nutritive values for ruminant animal production.

Fungal strains isolated from fermented maize (ogi) (PW) and sorghum-based brewery wastewaters (BW) and two soil isolates were evaluated for oleaginicity. The fungal isolates from the wastewater that had lipid content of at least 20% of their biomass were identified by both culture methods and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) 1-5.8S-ITS2 ribosomal DNA sequencing. The isolates were identified to be Aspergillus fumigatus (PW8), Aspergillus flavus (PW10), Candida tropicalis (PW16) and Aspergillus tubingensis (PW3), Trichosporon luoberi (BW7), Aspergillus sp. (BW4) and Candida tropicalis (BW1; BW3). FAMEs composition was determined for the four strains with the highest lipid content by acid-catalyzed transesterification and analyzed by Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID). Palmitoleic acid was the dominant fatty acid in M. circinelloides and T. reesei, and the best producers of capric and lauric acids were Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus sp. (BW4), respectively. These fatty acids are beneficial in making cosmetics and pharmaceuticals (antimicrobials and dietary supplements). The analysis of the FAMEs profile in the species indicated low amounts or absence of some key long chain fatty acid (LCFA) constituents of biodiesels. Based on the FAMEs profile of M. circinelloides investigated, this strain could hold promise for use as feedstock for biodiesel with genetic engineering and a tailored lipid production favouring enrichment of LCFA. Keywords: Fungal lipids, wastewater, fatty acid methyl ester, GC-FID

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