Experiments were located at Lower Niger River Basin Development Authority, Ejiba and Horticultural Section College of Agriculture, Kabba in 2014 cropping season to investigate the effect of different spacing and urea application rates on fruit nutrient composition, growth and fruit yield of tomato in derived savanna vegetation of Nigeria. Field experiments were arranged in a randomized complete block design in factorial fashion with three replications. The row spacing were 75 × 40 cm (33,333 plant•ha −1 ), 75 × 50 cm (26,666 plant•ha −1 ) and 75 × 60 cm (22,222 plant•ha −1 ) while the urea rates comprised control (0 kg urea•ha −1 ), 54.3 and 108.6 kg urea•ha −1 . Growth and yield parameters taken were as follows: average plant height, stem girth, leaf area (m 2 ) and yield per land area. Data were collected from ten randomly selected plants in each plot. The data were statistically analyzed using GENSTAT. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to find out the significance of variation among the treatments while the significant difference between mean treatments was separated using least significance Difference at 5% level of probability. The result obtained from this study indicated that urea application and spacing affected significantly growth parameters of tomato and yield per land area. It could be concluded that there was a significant increase in plant height, number of leaves, number of fruits per plant and final fruit weight of tomato as a result of urea fertilizer application at the rate of 108.6 kg urea/ha. However, this was not significantly better than plots with urea application at 54.8 kg/ha in both Ejiba and Kabba. Row spacing of 75 × 50 cm showed better performance in number of fruit and fruit yield per plots. Farmers in Ejiba and Kabba should apply urea at the rate of 54.8 kg per hectare and plant the crop at a row spacing of 75 × 50 cm for optimum yield and for a more profitable production of tomato.

Harmful gases are released into the atmosphere through burning of residues which is commonly practiced in Nigeria and can be attributed to climate change issues. Agricultural residues have the potentials to be used as energy and chemical source and meet its deficit in the country. This paper focuses on utilization of lignocellulosic materials obtained from two agricultural residues through renewable technology to produce bio-energy and chemical feedstock. The lignocellulosic materials were extracted from palm fruit (Elaeis guineensis) fibre and physic nut (Jatropha curcas) shell, and pyrolyzed under low temperature and pressure at various particle sizes. The main properties of solid (lignocellulosic) materials were tested and the bio-oil produced was analyzed using GC-MS. Results show proximate analyses (volatile, ash and fixed carbon contents) and ultimate analysis (carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc). The pH value of the bio-oil from both residues increased with increase in temperatures. The density, viscosity and calorific value of the palm and physic residue oil are 831.99 and 947.5 kg/m 3 , 0.695 and 1.58 cPa at room temperature, 22.33 and 14.169 kJ/g, respectively. Aromatics and other compounds are major dominant compounds in the palm fruit fibre oil which is characterized for bio-fuel production. Physic nut shell oil contains aromatic ethers, cyclic ethers, secondary amides and organic halogen compound which are important chemical feedstock. Conversion of these residues to useful products will alleviate the energy supply deficit, improve social and economic development, promote clean and healthy atmosphere of the nation and significantly contribute to global climate change mitigation.