Asian Journal of Advances in Agricultural Research

A 90-day study was conducted to determine the response of semi intensively managed West African dwarf sheep to concentrate supplement containing varying levels of neem leaf meal (NLM). Twenty (20) West African Dwarf sheep aged 5 to 6 months with an average weight of 10kg were used in a Completely Randomized Design with animals grouped into four treatments of five replicates each balanced for weight. The animals were allowed to graze on natural pastures predominantly made up of Panicum maximum in the morning with a daily supplementation of 100g concentrate diet containing varying levels of neem leaf meal at 0, 5, 10 and 15%. Blood samples were taken from the animals before the commencement of the experiment and at the end of the experiment. At the start of the experiment, faecal samples were collected from each animal to determine the faecal egg count and this was repeated once in three weeks for the 90 day experimental period. There was significant (P < 0.05) difference in the haematology indices studied with no definate pattern. The inclusion of NLM in the diets of West African Dwarf sheep significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the faecal egg counts across the treatments with a percentage reduction range of 33.38 to 88.00% for sheep on 0% and 5% NLM, respectively. This study, however, concluded that neem leaf inclusion at 5% in West African dwarf sheep’s diet had effects on the overall performance of the animals with a potential improvement in drastic reduction in faecal egg counts.

The work was conducted on sunflower seeds of two cultivars namely ‘Kironi’ and ‘Hysun-46’. Proximate composition of the seeds, chemical characteristics and fatty acid composition of the oils, and its keeping quality at different storage conditions were studied. Moisture content of Kironi seeds was nearly twice than Hysun-46 (8.03 vs 4.46%). Crude fat in Hysun-46 seeds was somewhat higher than Kironi. Kironi had significantly higher crude protein whereas Hysun-46 contained significantly higher percent of starch than Kironi (7.05 vs 3.90%). Physical characteristics of oil such as viscosity, colour and transparency changed with time during storage; specific gravity and smoking temperature, however, remained unchanged. Acid values of the freshly extracted oil from Hysun-46 were unexpectedly high (98.75). Iodine values were found to be higher in Kironi than Hysun-46, so the former had greater proportion of unsaturation. Saponification values of the oils decreased with the time in open vessel, in amber coloured bottle at 4°C and also in boiled oil kept at room temperature. However, these values registered an increase in oils stored in closed vessel and amber coloured bottle at room temperature. Peroxide values increased in oils under all conditions except in amber bottle at 4°C. The ratio of linoleic acid to oleic acid in Kironi (2.3:1) was higher than that in Hysun-46 (1.9:1), indicating that Kironi had more semidrying capacity and suitable for edible purpose. The freshly extracted oil had attractive appearance. Between the two oil samples, Kironi seems somewhat superior to Hysun-46.

An experiment was conducted with one hundred and eighty (180) unsexed day old broiler chicks of Arbor acre strain to investigate the effect of feeding diets supplemented with water soaked sweet orange peel meal (SOP) on the performance and carcass characteristics of broiler chicken. The broiler chickens were randomly distributed into six (6) dietary treatments of 30 birds per treatment which were further distributed into three (3) replicates of 10 birds per replicate from day old, in a completely randomized design. Six dietary treatments were formulated such that, T1 which is control was maize based. In diets 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, sweet orange peels replaced maize at various duration of water soaked, 0, 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours respectively and incorporated at 30% inclusion. Data were collected on feed intake and weekly weight gain. Six (6) birds were randomly selected per treatment starved over night, weighed and sacrificed by cervical dislocation for carcass analysis. Result reveals significant (p<0.05) difference in daily feed intake, there was no significant (p>0.05) difference on final weight and daily weight gain. The result of carcass characteristics showed no significant (p>0.05) difference in carcass cut and internal organs. It can be concluded that supplementing broiler diets with water soaked sweet orange peels had no detrimental effects on the performance and carcass characteristics.

Agricultural produce of vegetable growers is often lost after production due to many marketing challenges which make it difficult for vegetable growers to explore full market potentials and these also reduce incentives of participation in formal (commercial) or high-value markets. The aim of the study was thus to index and analysis factors (constraints) affecting marketing of major vegetables from growers perspective. Data were collected from 113 vegetable growers, Pearson’s correlation co-efficient (r) was used to determine the relationship between the selected socio-economic characteristics of the vegetable growers and their extent of marketing constraints faced.  With regard to constraints, majority (68.1%) of the respondents faced medium constraints, while 16.9% and 15% of them had low and high marketing constraints, respectively. Among eleven characteristics, growers’ training received knowledge on vegetable marketing and availability of marketing information showed significant and negative relationship with their extent of marketing constraints faced. While age, education, family member, vegetable cultivation experience, annual family income, credit availability, extension contact did not show any significant relationship with their extent of marketing constraints.  Results showed that lack of access to storage facilities was ranked the most prominent constraint followed by presence of middle man, lack of market information, inadequate access roads and lack of access to credit availability and high perishability of produce. Therefore development of better infrastructure in the form of storage facilities and availability of marketing information are vital for commercialization of vegetables.

Gray mold caused by Botrytis is the major problem in iceberg lettuce cultivation in poly tunnels in Sri Lanka. Currently management of this disease of lettuce depends mainly on foliar application of fungicides. Continues application of fungicides for control of gray mold could not be recommended as lettuce mainly consume as fresh vegetables. Therefore, studies were conducted to identify the causal agent, varietal resistance to pathogen and effective chitosan formulation and biological control agents on control of gray mold diseases of ice berg lettuce in poly tunnels. Causal agent of this disease was identified as Botrytis cinerea. Commercially grown varieties Eden and Maruli were equally susceptible to the disease. Different isolates of pathogen were shown different virulence levels on iceberg lettuce variety Eden. In vitro test showed that, almost complete inhibition of mycelia growth of all Botrytis isolates at 600 ppm chitopower 2 and liquid formulation of Trichoderma asperellum (4x10⁵ conidia/ml) but 600 ppm chitopower 1 or liquid formulation of fluorescent Pseudomonas (10⁶ bacteria/ml) or fungicide-Dicloran 75WP (3000ppm) were suppressed some isolates only. Studies in poly tunnel showed that lowest disease severity index (3.6% DSI) of gray mold in iceberg lettuce plants treated with Trichoderma asperellum and highest DSI (77.7%) in control treatment. Dicloran 75WP, chitopower 2 and fluorescent Pseudomonas were recorded 16.6%, 18.5% and 46.2% DSI respectively. Results revealed that Trichoderma asperellum bio control agent and chitopower 2 could be used as alternatives to synthetic fungicides in controlling of gray mold disease of iceberg lettuce grown in poly tunnels.