The allelopathic effect of three tree species (Azardiracta indica, Vitellaria paradoxa, and Parkia biglobosa) on germination and growth of cowpea was investigated in the Southern Guinea Savannah agro ecological zone of Nigeria. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three (3) replicates. Data were collected on germination, plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves, number of branches, root length, the above grand biomass and the below grand biomass and were subjected to statistical analysis using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) while the significant mean was separated using Duncan's Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at 5% possibility level. Results showed that the tree species brought about considerable inhibition in the germination of cowpea seeds and in its growth parameters. The statistical germination value of the cowpea seeds under the tree species had decreased value thus indicating that growth inhibitions were seriously felt. It was apparent that Parkia biglobosa (53.33) and Vitellaria paradoxa (60.00) had more inhibitory effect on cowpea seeds germinability than that of Azardiracta indica. (63.33) while all the treatments are lower than that of control (100). The tree species had similar inhibition capability in the cowpea plant height, stem circumference, number of leaves, above grand biomass and below grand biomass. However, in all treatment, statistic showed that there is no significant difference (p < 0.05) among the means.

The growing demands for forest goods and services are putting serious pressure on the resource base, leading to over-exploitation and subsequent forest degradation. In Nigeria both natural and plantation forests could not meet 100 million m3 of the 180 million m3 wood demand in 2000. At present, one of the most challenging problems facing the country is the production of sufficient food and fiber to meet the needs of the ever-increasing population (Peters, 2005). This study examined the effectiveness of forest management in Onigambari forest reserve, Oluyole Local Government Area Ibadan, Nigeria. The study employed a simple random sampling technique to select 43 forest farmers randomly. Descriptive tools such as frequency distribution, percentage, mean, ranking and Pearson product moment correlation (PPMC) was used as inferential statistical tool to determine the forest management performance in the study area while Student T-test was used to test for the significance difference of the relationship between the forest managers and locals. Result showed that mean age of respondents is 39.65 years. A tittle above Forty Eight percent of the respondents were females while 51.16% of the respondents were males, A tittle above Eighteen percent of the respondents were single while 81.40% of the respondents were married. The result of Student t- test revealed that the mean of age is higher than the mean total effects indicating improved performance of age on the total effects in the study area. The p value (0.0000) is smaller than the chosen alpha value (0.05) which has the t-value of 6.840. The result further revealed that deforestation is now becoming history as a result of land use policy on forest management and it has the highest weighted mean score of  2.86 and ranked as the first, followed by the demand of local industries can partially be met second (WMS= 2.74). The result on Pearson product moment correlation revealed that some of the selected factors such as poor participation of people involved in forestry (r= 1.000**; p <= 0.01), use of inexperience foresters (r= 0.262*; p <0.05) and poor conflicts management between local farmers and foresters (r= 0.387*; p < 0.05) respectively exhibited a significant relationship between forest managers and locals/indigenous people. The study recommended that there should be increase in communication among all stakeholders to ensure the harmonization of all interests towards a better use of forest resources, also effective continuous public enlightenment is essential to secure the interest and participation of farmers with an effective mechanism for good governance, equitable benefit sharing, and lastly, conflict resolution mechanism should be established.

Pawpaw is known as a fruit that contains nutrients and vitamins ranging from green ripe to over-ripe and unripe fruits of various varieties. The poor and delayed germination, rapid loss of viability in seeds due to the presence of sarcotesta, and condition of storage of seeds could be addressed through the storage in various containers. This paper focused on the investigation of the best storage methods that aid germination, seedling emergence and seedling performance of six pawpaw varieties. The experiment was set up in the Crop and Soil Science Laboratory Department and Nursery Site of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso (Oyo-State). It was a 6 x 5 factorial experiment that consisted of 6 varieties of pawpaw; Pink Solo, Green Solo, Ghana Solo, Sunrise Solo, Ajawa Local, and Berry likewise the 5 storage methods are desiccator, refrigerator, plastic container, aluminum foil paper, and earthen pot. Data were collected by counting the number of germinated seeds manually from 4 – 16 days after sowing inside Petri dishes, emergence rate was also counted after seeds have been sown inside polythene bags and nursed for 12 weeks and the number of seeds germinated and seedling emergence was transformed into percentages. Seedling emergence rates were also counted manually and analysed by using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), means were compared using the least significant difference at a 5% probability level. Significant differences were observed among storage methods and pawpaw varieties in germination rate, seedling emergence, and performance. The highest plant height was observed in green solo at 12WAS in the nursery (25.63 cm), the highest stem girth was recorded in Ajawa local 3.86 cm while the highest number of leaves was recorded in sunrise 9.9. The total emergence percentage was recorded in Green Solo at 93.8%. The highest germination percentage was observed in Ghana Solo 59.4%. The highest germination, seedling emergence, plant height, and number of leaves were recorded in the desiccator as 44.96%, 84.4%, 23.32 cm, and 9.38. Ajawa Local and Green Solo are recommended to be kept inside a desiccator or plastic container.

Forests reserve management strategies should provide comprehensive forest working plan for each Forest Reserve, consolidate the existing forest reserves, carry out periodic National Forest Resources inventory, Involve communities in the management of forest reserves with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, promote equitable benefit sharing and designate roles and responsibilities amongst stakeholders, protect the Forest Estate from fire and encroachment, encourage multiple-use concepts in the management of forest reserves. Most of these management strategies are mostly only protected on paper, as the forest continues to be subjected to official and unofficial unsustainable logging, and virtually unrestrained firewood and plant collecting. This study assessed the management strategies for selected forest reserve schemes in Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria. The study analyzed the respondents' socio demographic characteristics, their level of knowledge on the forest reserve management and level of agreement on the identified Government policies for forest reserve maintenance. Forty (40) questionnaire packs were administered on the workers of Onigambari forest reserves (10), Oluyole Local Government Area, Oso forest reserve (5) and Ijaye forest reserve (5), Akinleye Local Government Area, Moniya, the staff and students in the university of Ibadan, department of forest and forest products (4), the neighboring communities around the forests (4) and the staff in the ministry of Agriculture, Natural resources and Rural development, Ibadan (12). Likert scale was used to rank the knowledge level of the respondents, simple descriptive statistics such as frequency mean and percentages was used to describe the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents. To test the hypothesis, Pearson correlation demographic analysis was used to test the significant relationship between the selected demographic variables and the dependent variables. The result of the findings showed that some of the selected demographic variables such as marital status (r = 0.670**; p < = 0.01), occupation (r = 0.544**; p < =0.01) and years of occupational experience (r = 0.382*; p< 0.05) respectively exhibited a significant relationship with the dependent variable that is perception of level of knowledge on the forest resource management). This implies that all the demographic variables have decisive influence on the dependent variable. Furthermore, the status of management of selected forest reserves in Ibadan was discovered to be inadequate and the stakeholders have proper knowledge of the forest resources management and the policies. There is need for incentives so that stakeholders and other practitioners can adequately use their knowledge to improve on forest management in the study area.