This study examined crop residue usage and determined factors influencing the decision to allocate as well as the intensity of crop residue in Kano state, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select 160 farming households in three local government areas of the state. Data collected were analyzed with descriptive statistics and double hurdle Tobit model. The results of the study showed that on a general note, crop residues allocated for own animal feeding had the major share. Farmers preferred using crop residue for feeding than mulching. The allocation of the legume residues for feed purposes was about 64 percent; the share for cereal residues of animal feed was 26 percent. Other important competing uses of crop residue of legumes and cereals were also different. These included stall feeding, burning, house construction and fuel. About 17 percent of legumes residues are sold either on field or offsite. Legume residues were major sources for redistributing nutrient within the farm and between farm units (within the systems). More of legume crop residue (CR) was used within the farm/community (88.9 percent) while only 11 percent was exported. The decision to adopt cereal crop residue as livestock feeds was positively and significantly influenced by age, education, access to credit facilities and quantity of cereal crop residue available to the farmers. On the other hand, decision to use legume crop residue was positively and statistically influenced by farm size and access to extension facilities. However, the intensity of use of both categories of residues was mostly determined by age, education and access to credit. Furthermore, results indicated that where both residues were available, farmers complemented the use of one with another. Concerted efforts should therefore be made at increasing awareness and education on the use of crop residues in the crop-livestock system. Similarly, facilitation of extension services in crop residue training and increased access to credit will reduce the degree of residue export from the system.

The study was conducted to determine the effects of different tillage practices on some physical and hydraulic properties of soils in Hadejia Local Government Area of Jigawa state during the 2017 cropping season. The field experiment was laid in a Randomized Complete Block (RCB) Design in factorial arrangements with 4 treatments for tillage practices-TP (Zero tillage-ZT, Minimum tillage-MT, Conventional tillage-CT and Deep tillage-DT) and sampling depth-SD (5 cm, 15 cm, 25 cm and 35 cm) all were in four replicates. Data collected were analyzed using the generalized linear model of Statistical Analyses System (SAS 9.4) for the ANOVA. The results showed that there were significant differences (p<0.05) in the main effect of TP and SD as well as in the interaction effect between TP and SD on soil bulk density (Bd), saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat), volumetric moisture content (VWC) at different soil water potentials and plant available water (PAW). Greater Bd and Ksat were observed in DT which differed significantly (p<0.05) from other TP while the lowest was found in ZT with 6.5% reduction than DT. The result further showed no significant difference in terms of PAW (p>0.05) between the TP at the average depth of 15 and 25 cm, but they (TP) differed significantly at the average depth of 5 and 35 cm with the highest in ZT. Higher soil moisture content retained at all soil water pressure was found in ZT which differed significantly (p<0.01) form other TP. The research concluded that the best TP to be adopted in Hadejia in terms of improvement in physical and hydraulic properties is ZT practice.

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Dual (cushion and spring) compartment ginger slicing machine was developed to address the dificulties associaed with manual slicing of ginger. However, there is no establisbed  operational perfomance on record for this particular machine; thus, the need for this study. To achieve this, the machine perfomance was evaluated at the Department of Agricultural and Bio-Environmental Engineering, Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi in April, 2019 interms of Slicing Efficiency and Percent Broken and Bruises at a ginger moisture content of 80.2 and 78.5%, using completely randomized Design (CRD) with 5 x 2 x 2 factorial experiment. The experiment was conducted with one horse power petrol engine. The data collected were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for significance level of the experimental factors and their interactions and those found significant were further analyzed using Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) for mean separations at (P0.05), respectively. The results showed that, the highest mean Slicing Efficiencies for cushion and spring compartments were: 61.2 and 45.1%, respectively. The lowest mean Percent Broken and Bruises was with cushion compartment as 38.8% and 54.9% spring compartment, respectively.