This study investigates the variability in feed and water consumption in broiler birds during a typical hot weather condition in Akure, Nigeria. Feed and water consumption as well as air temperature and relative humidity were monitored and the relationship between them was analyzed. The results showed that the daily water and feeds consumption of the birds are very closely related and increase over the course of the grow out. Water and feed consumption were also observed to be a linear function of broiler's age; the birds were drinking 0.731 times of their age in kg of water and were eating 0.031 times their age of feed at any point in time. The result showed that under the prevailing environmental conditions, birds were consuming no less than 2.3 times more water than feed. The ratio of feed to water consumption is fairly constant over the life of the flocks. For this particular grow out the ratio of kilogram of water to kilogram of feed was 2.32 kg of water per kg of feed consumed. So whether a bird was a week old or seven weeks old, for every kilogram of feed eaten 2.32 kilogram of water was consumed. Ambient temperature was shown to have strongly influence the pattern of feed and water consumption indicated, high temperatures decreasing feed consumption and increasing water consumption.

Field trials were carried out in the rainforest agroecological zone of Nigeria to assess the usefulness of the CERES-maize model as a decision support tool for optimizing growth and yield production of maize crop through varying application of organic manure as well as recommended Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium (NPK) 20:10:10 fertilizer rate. The experiment was laid in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in three (3) replications. The trial was conducted in the 2016 growing season at the Teaching and Research Farm, Federal University of Technology, Akure to calibrate and evaluate the performance of three maize cultivars (Suwan-1-SR-Y, ART/98/SW1 and ART/98/SW6 respectively) using sunshine organic manure applied at the rate of 0, 60, 90 and 120 kg N ha -1 and NPK 20:10:10 applied at a recommended rate of 70 kg N ha -1 . Model performance across fertilizer management was evaluated using some statistical indicators such as Mean Square error (RMSE), Mean bias error (MBE), and R 2 to measure its efficacy. Results showed that the model predicts accurately maize grain yield and total biomass with NPK 20:10:10 at 70 kg N ha -1 better than different rates of sunshine organic manure application for all the maize cultivars. The result further showed good agreement between the model predicted and observed data with low RMSE of ≤ 1 day for anthesis and ≤ 5 days for physiological maturity while the total leaf number ranged from 1.9 to 2.7. Model accuracy for predicting grain yield and total biomass was also good, for both the calibration and validation with lowest RMSE and NRMSE of the observed mean values.