Sustainable management of fruit flies in any given ecology requires proper understanding of the population dynamics of key species in relation to host availability and the influence of abiotic factors. Studies were conducted to determine the phonological patterns of B. invadens and C. cosyra in the northern savanna ecology of Ghana. Fruit samples from 12 main host plants were collected from multiple sites at regular intervals between October, 2011 and September, 2013. These were maintained for pupal and adult fly emergence, and the results compared with the seasons and whether parameters. The widespread variability and abundance of fruit species in the ecology ensured year-round breeding of B. invadens and C. cosyra with different seasonal population levels. Dynamics of emergence of the flies fluctuated at various levels in response to availability of the host fruits and the influence of weather factors. Regression analysis indicated that precipitation showed the strongest influence on the fly populations. Infestation of B. invadens was positively related with temperature, relative humidity (RH) and precipitation while C. cosyra infestation was negatively related with RH. These studies provide baseline information on the natural anundance and occurrence periods of the main hosts and their influence on tephritid population patterns in Ghana. This can be useful in the development of sustainable control programmes by way of developing forecasting models for IPM decision making, applying sanitary measures, male annihilation techniques and setting up bait stations at the best period before the cropping season.

Low soil fertility has been a major constraint to the increased and sustainable rice production in the Guinea savanna zone of Ghana. Studies were conducted in four locations to evaluate the yield of rice under different fertilization regimes. The fields were laid out in a randomized complete block design with four replications for each fertilizer treatment. Data were collected on grain yield and seed mass, and subjected to analysis of variance, with treatment means separated at a 5% level of significance. Significant improvement in rice grain yield was realized in all study locations due to the fertilizer treatments. Grain yield improvement of up to 4,280 kg/ha was obtained. The best two performing fertilization regimes in improving rice grain yield were UNIK-CLB+AMI and ACT-CLB+AMI. In general, rice grain yield among treatments containing CropLiftBio (CLB) foliar treatments was statistically similar. Application of ACT+URE or UNIK+ACT with no the CropLiftBio foliar supplementation consistently demonstrated lower grain yields in rice compared to the other fertilizer treatments. Rice grain mass was, however, not significantly impacted by the fertilization regimes in all study locations. From the results of this study, Activa fertilizers used as basal treatment was unsuitable for rice production in the ecology as these generally provided lower grain yields. For maximum grain yield in rice, UNIK (NPK 15:15:15) fertilizer was the most recommended. The basal application of UNIK at 125 kg/ha and topdressing with Amidas at 125 kg/ha with CropLiftBio foliar supplementation will provide better yields for farmers than applying any of the formulations with Activa as a topdress.