Advanced Materials Research Vols. 62-64

Abstract: Fresh cassava roots were processed to chips by peeling, washing,chipping, dehydration, and packaging. The dehydrated chips were thereafter processed to starch and garri by rehydrating the chips to 50-60% moisture. The products were compared with the ones produced from fresh cassava roots by evaluating the organoleptic properties, chemical compositions, and pasting characteristics. The garri from the dehydrated chips was ranked better in terms of particle size and aroma; while garri from fresh roots was ranked better in colour, and mouth feel. Both garri were generally acceptable to the panelists. The cyanide level, titrable acidity, protein, ash, crude fibre and moisture contents of garri from dehydrated cassava chips were 2.36mg/kg, 1.06%,3.35%, 2.14%, 2.02%,and 11.24% respectively. The viscosities of the starches from the dehydrated cassava chips and fresh roots were 3.33 and 129.58 RVU respectively. The yield of starch from the dehydrated chip was higher than that of the fresh roots however, it was easier to process fresh roots to starch than using the dehydrated chips. This study has established the fact that using dehydrated cassava chips( which provide a good form of storage for cassava) could be processed to both garri and starch of good and acceptable qualities.

Abstract: The cutting resistance of sugar cane was determined by use of a new-type manually operated agricultural test machine using two sugar cane varieties Noble (A) and Indigenous canes (B). The moisture content of the sugar cane used in the study was determined by the oven dry method. The cutting force and power required were determined using the test machine. The results showed that the average liquid content for variety A and B were 80% and 75% respectively. The cutting resistant for variety A and B were 3.93 kN/m and 5.5 kN/m respectively. The average applied cutting force of 147.3 N for variety B was higher than 130.7 N for variety A. The average power requirement for cutting variety A and B were 8.28W and 9.89W respectively. An analysis of the results using ANOVA at p ≤ 0.05 showed that there was no significant difference in the measured parameters for the two varieties of sugar cane used in this study. The results obtained will be useful in the design and manufacturing process of cutting tools for sugar cane.

Abstract: Water crisis is assuming a more explosive and dangerous phenomenon due to stiff competition and demand between domestic use and agricultural activities. Farmer friendly and affordable indigenous water harvesting structure was developed and evaluated for the Farming systems research citrus expansion orchard at the National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan. The structure, made of bamboo materials and polyethylene sheets was constructed to harvest rainstorm and stored in plastic reservoirs between September and October 2007. The aim was to apply the water for drip irrigation of young citrus seedlings during the dry months of November until the on-set of rainfall. Six thousand litres of water were harvested. Drip irrigation system was connected to the rainstorm harvester to facilitate application of water to the young citrus seedlings planted at 7m by 5m spacing. Water application at the drip rate of 2.4 l/hr was done in split-plot fitted into randomized complete block design at one, twice and thrice per week with three replications under four fertilizer sources (poultry, horse, cow manures and urea fertilizer). Base line growth data for citrus at the initial watering stage stands at 139 for number of leaves, 83.5 cm for plant height, and 12.3 mm for stem diameter. Watering thrice per week under poultry manure was found to produce the best growth parameters. Generally, the structure was discovered to be cost effective, water saving, adoptable and affordable by farmers with little or no maintenance or educational background.

Abstract: A modified hopper design of the conventional cassava grater and its concomitant productivity improvement is presented. One of the sides of the inverted truncated rectangular pyramidal hopper was hinged at the lower end and swung through angle of 15 to 30 degrees. This flapper swing served as feed for the rotary grater. The flapper allowed the cassava tubers to be fed over a larger grater surface area permitting cassava feed over an angle of 120 degrees instead of the usual 90 degrees. It further allowed the variation of the space between the rotary grater and the hopper thereby enhancing complete maceration of the tubers. The presence of ungrated cassava chips in the macerated mash common feature with conventional graters was reduced to negligible proportions. A process improvement of up to 100 per cent in thru-put was obtained compared with the conventional graters.

Abstract: This research work presents two methods of preserving and improving the quality of locust beans namely: salting and drying. 80g of non-salted sample of locust beans and the same quantity of the sample with 5g of salt and 10g salt were subjected to direct sunlight drying for 5 days. Proximate analysis showed that dried salted sample contains 67.65% of protein while dried non-salted sample has 66.82% of protein. The non-salted sample has a microbial load of 1.02×107cfu/g while the salted sample has 1.42×105cfu/g at the end of the fifth day of drying. The non-salted has the greatest drying rate while the 10g salted sample has the least drying rate.

Abstract: This work studied variations in certain climatic parameters, specifically precipitation, soil moisture and outgoing Long wave radiation (OLR) from the earth from 1997 to 2006 in Makurdi, Nigeria. Results showed that precipitation rate in Makurdi deviated from the normal annual bimodal pattern of precipitation in Nigeria. Precipitation was highest in August/September throughout the study period. The dependent of soil moisture on precipitation is highly significant as shown by the high positive value (81%) of R2. Soil moisture content also varied similarly while OLR varied inversely. The effects of the variations of these parameters on agricultural production are highlighted.

Abstract: Threshing is one of the major problems associated with cowpea production in Nigeria. In spite of the food and nutritional importance of the crop to human diet, its threshing has been and remains a serious problem to the farmers. The techniques for threshing cowpea in most rural areas are still the traditional methods of seed separation which are uneconomical, labourous and time consuming. A manually operated cowpea thresher to stimulate manual threshing has been designed, fabricated and tested. The thresher was fabricated using locally available materials at the engineering workshop of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi. Two varieties of cowpea (B301 and C70) were tested on the thresher for performance evaluation in terms of thresher efficiency and mechanical (visible) damage. The test results revealed that for optimum performance, the thresher should operate at a cylinder speed of between 60-75rpm at a feed rate of 24kg/hr.94%-97% threshing efficiency was achieved for the two varieties of cowpea. The cost of production is N15,686:00

Abstract: This paper reports of study that was conducted to evaluate runoff rates and sediment yield as affected by different plant densities of amaranthus at the experimental farm of Agricultural Engineering Department, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. The experimentally based study is aimed at determining the runoff and sediment yield relationship as affected by different plant densities of amaranthus at the experimental farm. Treatment were based on four plant densities A (97 plant/m2) B (42 plant/m2) C (125 plant/m2) D (69 plant/m2), runoff depths and sediment yields were measured during the months of August to November 2003. A complete randomized block design was used to evaluate treatment methods on the basis of sediment yield and run off depth. A rainfall-Runoff model was established to enable future occurrence to be predicted. The water balance equation was used to compute the evapotransipiration (ET) for each plot. There were significant differences in sediment yields and run off depths among the treatments at 5% level of significance treatment. A (97 plant/m2) and C (125 plant/m2) were found to have the least amount of runoff and sediment yield, while treatment B (42 plant/m2) and D(69 plants/m2) had the highest amount of runoff and sediment yield. The result confirms the proposition that increased plant densities had a significant effect in reducing runoff and sediment for agricultural lands.

Abstract: The effect of linear alkyl benzene sulfonate (LAS) detergent on the activity of cassava fermenting enzymes was investigated for 72 hrs. Enzymatic assay methods were used to determine the activity of cassava fermenting enzymes: cellulase, α-amylase, pectin methyl esterase and phosphorylase. The cassava fermenting media were made up of LAS detergent concentration of between 1g/L to 5g/L. The results show that the LAS detergent of 2g/L and 3g/L gave optimum enzyme activity. The order of enzyme activity was pectin methyl esterase > α-amylase > phosphorylase > cellulase.

Abstract: This study of Field Comparison of Irrigation Scheduling of Tomato (Lycopersicon Esculentum) was conducted to determine the response of Tomato plant to water stress from three irrigation schedules, viz: daily irrigation, irrigation at 3- days interval and irrigation at 5-days interval. The water use of the three irrigation schedules for tomato plant was determined using the water balance method. The maximum evapotranspiration for treatments occurred between the 3rd week after planting to the 5th week after planting. Water use efficiency was also highest in irrigation treatment T1 (Daily irrigation) than other treatments. Analysis of variance showed that there were significant differences in the yield at the 5% level among the three treatments. However, the highest biomass yield and fruit yield were observed in irrigation treatment T1. This may be due to increased vegetative growth in treatment T1. The lower yield in irrigation treatment T2 and T3 could be associated with moisture stress which affected the plant at fruiting stage. The result of this study is useful in designing effective irrigation scheduling for Tomato production.