Climate change is considered one of the most serious threats to sustainable development in the world. As a sector, agriculture is very dependent on climatic conditions, which makes it extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and variability. The semi-arid areas of the world are especially more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and variability. The purpose of this study was to determine how farmers adapt to changing climate in Narok East, and determine the factors that influence their choice of response strategies. Data was collected from 223 household heads using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics to determine how farmers adapt to climate change and variability while Principal Component Analysis and a multivariate probit model were used to assess the factors that influence the choice of response strategies. The results showed that early planting, increased use of manure, use of terraces, increased use of inorganic fertilisers, and planting short season crops were the most widely used strategies while the least used were planting agroforestry trees, crop diversification and irrigation. Results of the multivariate probit model showed that the age of the household head, total household size, level of education of the household head, noticing changes in mean annual rainfall and onset of rains, receiving weather information, and the land tenure system were all significant factors that influence the choice of the response strategy. This study, therefore, recommends boosting more education and climate change awareness for the farmers of Narok East Sub-county.

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Cupressus lusitanica is a key plantation species with many uses leading to demand for seed. This species produces seeds within cones, which are collected for seed extraction. There are variations in seed collection and handling which compromise quality. Few studies focus on cone morphometry and seed characterization, thereby causing a gap in quality improvement through packaging and subsequent germination. Fifty cones were collected from each of the thirty identified trees within a clonal seed orchard. Cone characterization, seed extraction and germination were performed in the laboratory. This was a factorial experiment with three factors: cone diameter, seed diameter and seed density and their influences on germination. The present study separated the cones by diameter (20mm sieve) and weight. Seed were sieved (2mm sieve) weighed, floated and germinated. The results showed that seed size and density heavily impacted on germination and thereby showing that sorting through sieving and floatation would provide a low cost technique for seed quality improvement. The technique in the present study improved germination from 25% to 50%, and also reduced the number of seeds per kilogram from 290,000 to 105,000.Contribution/Originality: The paper's primary contribution is finding that C. lusitanica seed size and density heavily impacted on germination and thereby showing that sorting through sieving and floatation would provide a low-cost technique for seed quality improvement. INTRODUCTIONCupressus lusitanica [1,2] also called Mexican cypress, was globally introduced in many tropical plantation areas to increase diversity of plantation species suitable for timber due to the susceptibility of other species to biological attacks [3,4]. In Kenya, C. lusitanica is the most widely planted commercial species comprising about

South-Western (SW) Mau forest reserve has been experiencing anthropogenic and natural disturbances creating canopy openings in the forest. The objective of this study was to determine how these canopy openings influence regeneration, forest structure and species diversity. The study employed nested sampling design in disturbed sites of the forest reserve. Plots of 500 by 500 m were laid once at 100 m inwards from the forest edge in the three blocks of SW Mau; Ndoinet, Maramara and Itare. Gaps were randomly identified in the plots and gap area calculated using Ellipse Method (EM). Gap sizes were categorized based on area (m2). Woody species surrounding the gaps were identified and names inventoried. To determine regeneration, two quadrats of 5 by 5 m and 1 by 1 m were randomly delineated in every gap size four times and eight times for saplings (1-3 m high) and seedlings (<1 m high), respectively. Tree heights surrounding the gaps were measured using suunto clinometer. Diameter at breast height (dbh) was measured using diameter caliper (65 cm for small trees) and diameter tape for large trees (dbh> 65 cm). A total of 41 gaps were identified with small gap sizes dominating (23). Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test indicated non-significant differences in regeneration, forest structure and species diversity in the three gap sizes. This was attributed to Piper capensis which invaded medium and large gap sizes creating a closed canopy. It was, therefore, concluded that canopy cover from the invasive species influenced woody vegetation parameters in the gap sizes. It is, therefore, recommended to clear the dense ground cover to allow better natural regeneration and also enrichment planting in the gaps.

Flooding has become a common occurrence due to climate change leading to prolonged water-logging which suffocates plant rooting, thus reduced growth, yield or total loss. Limited research has been conducted on the same. This study is aimed at investigating the effect of flooding period on the early growth of Grevillea robusta nursery seedlings in Njoro, Kenya. An experiment was set up for 2 months in Egerton University Agroforestry tree nursery using a six months old Grevillea seedlings. Completely randomized block design (RCBD) with 4 treatments replicated 3 times was used. The treatments were: Non-flooding, 2 days flooding, 4 days flooding and 6 days flooding. Data was collected for shoot, foliage and root variables and analyzed using SAS statistical package while means were separated using least significance difference (LSD). Non-flooding recorded the highest performance for all the shoot and foliage variables while the least was 2 days flooding. On the other hand, 6 days flooding was the second in performance for most of the variables especially 3rd internode length (20.2 mm) and fresh shoot biomass (56.4 g) were significantly (P=0.002 and 0.05) higher respectively compared with 2 days flooding (13.5 mm and 46.7 g) respectively. In conclusion, flooding affects the growth of Grevillea seedlings negatively by reducing their growth and this was more pronounced in 2 days flooding. However, for 6 days flooding, the seedlings seem to adjust through development of adaptive strategies in the roots. Further research needs to be conducted on other species and also prolonged flooding period.