The study was carried out to determine the tannin content of five economic plants indigenous to Nigeria. These plants belongs to the families Poaceae (Maize), Fabaceae (Cowpea, Groundnut), Euphorbiaceae (Cassava) and Malvaceae (Okra). The study showed that the percentage tannin content of these plants decreased from week one to week four after planting from 5.

Machaerium lunatum is a perennial shrub that grows in aquatic environment especially on the banks of fresh, brackish and marine habitats especially in tidal zones. A study of the possibility of the propagation of this plant outside its natural aquatic environment, what part of the stem will grow and what soil type will be most suitable for it was carried out. Mature, medium and very young stem propagules and five soil types were used for this purpose and include (a) riverbed soil, from the natural habitat of the plant, (b) sandy soil, (c) clay soil, (d) Humus soil and (e) a mixture of sandy + Humus soil. The study was carried out for five weeks at the University of Port Harcourt Ecological Centre. The parameters used to measure the performance were plant height, leaf number, leaf area, and the number of sprouted nodes. At the end of the study, it was found that humus soil had the highest figure for plant height (4.6±1.14) closely followed by riverbed soil (4.5±2.4). For number of leaves riverbed soil performed better than the other soil types (19.1± 7.1). Sandy soil performed better than others (1.5±0.3) for leaf area while for sprouted node Humus soil was higher (1.75± 0.8) than the others. This result shows that M. lunatum can be propagated outside its natural environment, and humus soil can support the growth better than the other soil types. This study will also provide a template for further studies on this plant since its importance in the Niger Delta cannot be overemphasized. © JASEM http://dx

The effect of shade on the germination, growth, and development of Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench (Okra) was investigated. This experiment was carried out using two varieties of A. esculentus seeds (Kirikoa F1 and Hire varieties) which were replicated 5 times for both under shade and under direct sunlight as growth conditions. The seeds and soil were tested for liability and physicochemical composition, respectively, before the commencement of the work. The parameters assessed following standard procedures on A. esculentus plant were number of leaves, plant height, leaf petiole length, internode, pigments and nutritional composition. The seeds germinated within 3 – 4 days after planting. Among the treatments at ninth week after planting, Kirikoa F1 variety under shade had the highest number of leaves (7.0±1.00), plant height (27.80±5.718 cm), petiole length (7.60±2.408 cm), leaf length (11.30±2.168 cm) and leaf width (10.20±1.924 cm). Also, internode (3.40±1.517 cm) was high at Kirikoa F1 under direct light. Total chlorophyll content of the varieties under light and under shade were: 1.441 mg/g and 1.254 mg/g, respectively for Kirikoa F1 and 0.549 mg/g and 0.938 mg/g, respectively for Hire. Okra under shade had high moisture content (87.36%) when compared to okra under direct sunlight (83.24%) while the reverse was the case for other nutritional composition (carbohydrate, ash content, crude lipid, crude protein and crude fibre). The study showed that Kirikoa F1 variety performed better than the Hire variety during development, and most indices of growth had higher performance under shade condition than under direct light for the okra varieties, respectively.

The need to tackle the discrepancy between research outputs and the execution of the findings into real practice is a crucial factor in establishing evidence-based practice in a selected government agency. There is a need to increase the number of experts in our education sector who can synthesise, translate, and package the evidence for ready use by decision-makers and to foster entrepreneurship in Africa. To achieve this, the activities of a 28-man Evidence Leaders in Africa (ELA) team were recruited to drive the project through capacity building training and workshop sessions. Thereafter, a non-random purposive sampling technique targeted at policy makers at various government and non-governmental organizations was adopted as the study design. In all, purposive administration of 424 copies of questionnaire to individuals in different governmental and non-governmental organizations was done by the recruited personnel. The retrieved data from the questionnaire were analyzed using standard statistical method. Socio-demographic characteristics of respondents reveal 34% representation of (31-40 years) age bracket, with (57%) of them working in the University spanning over 2 to 5years (47%) work experience. Approximately 64% of the respondents are not aware of EIDM while 71% had no understanding of EIDM. As regards knowledge of EIDM, 36% had no knowledge of EIDM, 29% had moderate knowledge, 34% were beginners while approximately 1% had advanced knowledge of EIDM. Also, approximately 99% of the respondents have neither been trained nor involved in training others in EIDM. It was also observed that 8.5% of the respondents were policy-makers in the organization, yet 90.7% of the respondents agree that EIDM is useful in policy-making while 81.3% of the respondents engage their colleagues in EIDM. From this study, it is safe to infer that institutionalizing EIDM in NNMDA has numerous benefits as shown by the findings of this study. This will only be possible when all parties involved in producing and using research evidence are well informed and knowledgeable in EIDM.

Cucurbita moschata is widely grown in both tropical and temperate region due to its structural adaptability. The study was carried out to assess the performance of C. moschata on soil (humus) and soilless media (NPK 15:15:15 and NPK 20:10:15 growth media). These treatments are designated as TC, TA and TB, respectively. Standard procedures were followed in the assessment of mineral elements, nutritional composition, pigment compositions, and morphological characters (vein length, leaf area and number of leaves) of C. moschata in the three treatments. Among the treatments, C. moschata had the highest vein length, leaf area and number of leaves in TA, while TC recorded the least. Nutritional compositions of C. moschata were: moisture content (80.10%, 87.10% and 69.50%), carbohydrate (5.34%, 3.80% and 15.00%), ash content (3.61%, 1.20% and 4.10%), crude lipid (0.60%, 0.80% and 0.60%), crude protein (8.75%, 6.56% and 8.75%) and crude fiber (1.60%, 0.34% and 2.05%) for the treatments (TA, TB and TC). The mineral composition of C. moschata grown in TA, TB and TC growth media respectively were Mg (138.15 mg/kg, 43.90 mg/kg and 109.15 mg/kg), Mn (73.35 mg/kg, 0.25 mg/kg and 123.30 mg/kg), K (2,892.30 mg/kg, 3,338.80 mg/kg and 1,950.80 mg/kg), Zn (47.60 mg/kg, 10.55 mg/kg, 34.00 mg/kg), Ca (2,731.50 mg/kg, 337.95 mg/kg and 426.30 mg/kg), Na (89.65 mg/kg, 108.15 mg/kg and 66.60 mg/kg) and Fe (211.25 mg/kg, 0.00 mg/kg and 137.55 mg/kg) while copper was not detected. The pigment contents indicated the presence of chlorophyll a (0.32 mg/g, 0.39 mg/g and 0.24 mg/g), chlorophyll b (0.46 mg/g, 0.64 mg/g and 0.40 mg/g), carotenoid (0.33 mg/g, 0.42 mg/g and 0.30 mg/g), and xanthophyll (0.05 mg/g, 0.10 mg/g and 0.00 mg/g) for the three treatments, respectively. The study recommends the use of NPK 15:15:15 solution in a soilless condition and the inclusion of NPK 15:15:15 to the soil to improve the performance of Cucurbita moschata.