There is a continuous search for natural and safe sources of plant nutrients to replace inorganic fertilizers. Moringa oleifera is one of such alternatives that have been investigated to ascertain its effect on the growth and yield of other crops. Other sources need to be explored. This study investigated the effect of Moringa oleifera extracts and a mixture of orange and banana peels on the growth and vegetable yield of Solanum scabrum Mill, an underutilized, highly nutritious and medicinal leafy vegetable. Leaf, shoot and leaf residue Moringa extracts were applied to different sets of four weeks old seedlings. The two fruit peels were mixed thoroughly and applied to the soil around another set of plants. Growth parameters were compared with plants to which NPK or no fertilizers had been added (control). All Moringa extracts significantly improved growth performance of S. Scabrum seedlings when compared with the control. Some growth parameters especially leaf area and shoot height were enhanced by fruit peel extracts but did not translate to higher plant dry weight. NPK fertilized plants outperformed plants treated with Moringa leaf extracts by only approximately 10% increase in growth parameters where applicable. Fruit peels appear to be promising as bioorganic fertilizers.

Hybrids and open pollinated varieties (OPVs) are two commercial maize seed types cultivated in Nigeria. Information on their response to mechanical damage during processing is limited. This study is thus aimed at assessing the response of hybrids and OPVs of maize seeds to mechanical damage which would facilitate fabrication of processing facilities suitable for either of the maize types. Six maize varieties: three hybids (‘New Kaduna’, ‘SDM-1’, and ‘JO-195’) and three OPVs (‘Sammaz 15’, ‘Sammaz 27’ and ‘Suwan-1-stry’) were used for the study. The seed samples were subjected to standard germination, seedling vigour analysis, accelerated ageing, conductivity and fast green tests. The result showed that all the hybrid seed varieties had more damaged seeds than their OPVs counterpart. Shoot length and root length were more affected than other parts of the seedling. There were differences in the magnitude of electrolyte leakage as well as in what time each seed type (hybrid or OPVs) passed through the phases with ‘JO-195’ having the highest rate of electrolyte leakage. Hybrid seeds had lower resistance to mechanical damage and poorer storability when compared with the OPVs. In the overall, for all the traits, ‘Sammaz 15’, the best among OPVs was more promising when compared with ‘SDM-1’ which was the best among hybrid varieties. Processing machine equipment and accessories that are suitable for hybrid seeds might be inappropriate for conditioning OPVs.

This study was conducted to investigate the in vitro callus induction and rapid shoot regeneration potential in Enterolobium cyclocarpum, a plant native to central Mexico but widely introduced into Africa. The leaf, stem and nodal explants of E. cyclocarpum were cultured on full strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with different concentrations of Cytokinins - Benzyladenine (BA) and/or Kinetin and Auxins - Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and/or 2,4-Dichlorophenoxylacetic acid (2,4-D) each alone and in combination.  The leaf explants did not respond to these treatments.  The Nodal explants were best for caulogenesis, while the explant responses were in the order- nodal > stem > cotyledon for callogenesis in MS medium supplemented with BA and/or Kin combined with NAA and/or 2,4-D. The varied combinations induced white compact callus.  The highest callus production was observed on MS medium supplemented with 2.7 µM NAA + 2.2 µM BA and 5.4 µM NAA alone.  Nodal and cotyledon explants developed callus and multiple shoots on MS supplemented with a combination of cytokinin (BA and/or Kin.) and auxin (NAA and/or 2,4-D). The maximum number of 3.98 ± 0.37 and 2.1±0.11 shoots/explants were recorded for nodal and cotyledon explants on MS medium supplemented with a combination of 8.8 µM BA+2.7 µM NAA and 2.2µM BA+2.7 µM NAA respectively.  On the basal medium, 10% of the excised shoots rooted successfully. Thus, this in vitro method can be exploited for conservation and mass propagation of this fast timber yielding tree and also utilized for embryogenesis studies.

Terminalia ivorensis and Mansonnia altissima is an important tropical timber tree plant, but poor germination is an important factor militating its regeneration. Effects of pretreatments on germination of seeds of Terminalia ivorensis and Mansonia altissima were studied. Four hundered and eighty matured seeds of Terminalia ivorensis and three hundred and sixty seeds of Mansonia altissima were obtained from Forest Reserve Institute of Nigeria (FRIN), Ibadan. The seeds were divided into twenty-one equal portions of 10 seeds each. Twelve pretreatments were investigated on Terminalia ivorensis and nine pretreatments on Mansonia altissima. The seeds were sown inside plastic basket containing sterilized river sand under high humidity propagator with four replicates each. Germination counts were taken daily for eighty days. Percentage germination was computed for each treatment and the data were subjected to analysis of variance. Germination was first observed among the scarified Terminalia ivorensis seeds at 14 days after sowing (DAS) and this treatment group had the highest percentage germination of 82.5%, while seeds soaked in hot water recorded the least germination. Germination was first observed in decoated Mansonia altissima and this treatment group had the highest percentage germination of 45%, whereas the least was observed among the treatments with H­2SO4. The effect of pretreatment was highly significant (p≤0.05) on the germination of both species. It is therefore recommended that mechanical scarification of Terminalia ivorensis and decoating seed of Mansonia altissima will enhance the germination of the two species.

Contaminants in the environment occur naturally and/or through anthropogenic activities. These contaminants become a threat to all living organisms because of their increased in the environment and non-biodegradable nature. In order to protect the environment from these contamination, various techniques have been developed, and among them is phytoremediation. Phytoremediation is a technology that employed plant species for reclaiming contaminated soil, air, and water. This technology has been widely accepted in recent times, because of its low cost and environmentally friendly. In addition, augmentation of the contaminated soil, either chemo augmentation or bioaugmentation, have been used for the effective absorption of some of these contaminants. When the plants are grown in the contaminated sites, the contaminant in the soil maybe removed, immobilized, degraded or volatized. These phytoremediation technologies are: phytoextraction, phytovolatilization, rhizofiltration, phyto-stimulation, phyto-stabilization and phytodegradation. Based on the phytoremediation potentials of plants, pollutants are being removed from the environment thereby keeping the environment safe.