Field experiments were conducted in 1996 and 1997 on a Striga‐infested field to determine the effect of Striga on the growth characteristics of sorghum intercropped with groundnut varieties (RMP‐12, Yarkasa and Ex‐Dakar). The performance of the intercropped sorghum was significantly better than that of the monoculture in terms of plant height, dry matter, leaf number and leaf area index. Intercropping of sorghum with RMP‐12 resulted in a significant suppression of Striga compared to other groundnut varieties. The dry matter yield of sorghum intercropped with groundnut was significantly higher than that of the sorghum monocrop. The dry matter yield resulting from intercropping of sorghum with the RMP‐12 groundnut variety was significantly higher than that of sorghum intercropped with all other varieties of groundnut.

It will be wise for educational institutions, from primary to tertiary level, globally, to reflect on their position and profile with respect to the new concepts of Open Educational Resources (OER) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Responses will be diverse of course but the potential is so manifest that many institutions probably will consider the benefits to outweigh the barriers. The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) has decided to combine its 'classical' openness with the new digital openness by fully embracing the OER approach and converting its complete course base into OER.Step-by-step, NOUN is currently implementing its strategy towards becoming an OER-based Open University with a special niche for MOOCs. During a launch event in December 2015, the first 40 OER-based courses were presented as well as the first 3 OERbased MOOCs. This paper therefore presents NOUN's OER strategy with insight on lessons learned. To the authors' knowledge NOUN is the first Open University in the world with such a full-fledged OER (& MOOCs) implementation route.

Field experiments were conducted during the wet seasons of 1991,1992 and 1993 at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Farm, Bauchi (10 ° 22‘N, 09 ° 47‘E) to study the response of sunflower (Helianthus annaus L.) to N rates and plant population under rainfed conditions. Four N rates (0, 50, 100 and 150 kg N ha ‐1) and four plant populations (40000,80000,120000 and 160000 plants ha‐1) were factorially combined in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Leaf area index, shoot dry weight and seed yield (kg ha‐1) increased significantly with increasing N rates from 0 to 100 kg N ha‐1. The growth and yield parameters per plant decreased significantly with increasing plant populations from 40000 to 160000 plants ha‐1, but the seed yield (kg ha‐1) obtained at 80000 plants ha‐1 was significantly higher than all the other plant populations. The interactions of N x plant population confounded the main effect of each factor on the growth and yield of sunflower. The seed yield (3425 kg ha‐1) obtained from the use of 100 kg N ha‐1 at 80000 plants ha‐1 was significantly higher than those obtained from all other combinations of N x population and out‐yielded the main effects of 100 kg N ha‐1 and 80000 plants ha‐1 by 18 % and 25 %, respectively. The use of 100 kg N ha‐1 at 80000 plants ha‐1 is therefore recommended for maximum yield of sunflower in Bauchi.

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