No abstract

The impact of palm oil mill effluent (POME) on the populations of Rhizobium and Meloidogyne species was tested at the Teaching and Research Farm of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Nigeria. Three cowpea cultivars ,Dan Kano, Borno local and Sokoto local were used as target crops on plots that received 0 l/ha(control),4000l/ha,6000l/ha and 8000l/ha levels of  POME applications. The  treatments combinations were randomized  within each block and replicated three times. Generally, increasing level of POME application increased number of functional root nodules in all the cultivars, but decreased length of roots and number of non- functional nodules. Nematode populations drastically decreased with increase in POME quantities. Both Rhizobium and Meloidogyne species compete for establishment sites on cowpea roots and high POME rates decreased Nematode population which is why all the three cowpea cultivars had their highest yields at 8000l/ha  POME application  rate. So POME, an organic waste from oil palm processing can be used at up to 8000l/ha to effectively control obnoxious root knot nematode and enrich soil for crop cultivation especially Sokoto local cowpea cultivar. Keywords: POME (palm oil mill effluent), Rhizobium, Meloidogyne liters/hectare, cowpea cultivars

A 2 by 4 experiment laid out in RCBD was conducted at Crop science and Horticulture agricultural farm, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. The experiments were conducted from June to September 2020 to study the effects of different rates (0.0, 0.1,0.2,0.3 t/ha) of wood ash on the growth and yields of carrot varieties in Awka South Eastern Nigeria, the experiment was carried out on pots and beds. It was observed that treatment 0.3 t/ha performed significantly better in most of the assessed parameters both on growth and yields such as: plant height, marketable yield, root diameter, whole plant biomass, root length, total yield and harvest index. While 0t/ha performed lowest in the growth and yield of carrot varieties for the bed experiment. On pot experiment, 0.2t/ha of wood ash gave highest result both on growth and yield parameters (harvest index, leaf fresh weight, marketable yield, root diameter, root fresh weight, root length, whole plant biomass, and total yield in the pot experiment). Then with 0.3t/ha of wood ash and carrotte touchon variety was the best combination for carrot yield on bed experiment. Generally, carrote touchon performed better than tonchon France carrot variety both in the pot and field. Field experiment was also the best experiment than pot experiment.

The effect of planting date on growth and yield of Bambara groundnut (Vigna subteranea (L) verdc) varieties was carried out in Asaba area of Delta State. It was aimed to determine the most appropriate planting date for the growth and yield of Bambara groundnut in the rainforest zone of Delta State. The design for this experiment was split-plot carried out in a Randomized Complete Block Design. Bambara varieties EXMF1, EXMF4, IITA165, and ENZK2 were used with planting date May -September. The main plot was assigned to variety while the sub -plot was the planting date with three replicates. Plants cultivated in May and June performed better in growth (plant height, canopy width, number of leaves and total leaf area) than those planted in July, August and September. In yield, those plants cultivated in July had the highest yield with the value of 4289kg/ha with variety EXMF4 performing best. The study therefore recommended that variety EXMF4 should be planted by farmers and month of July is the appropriate time for planting Bambara groundnut in the rainforest zone for maximum productivity. Contribution/Originality:This study is one of the very few studies which have investigated on planting date of Bambara groundnut. The paper's primary contribution is finding that month of July is most suitable in planting of Bambara groundnut in the area.