Issue 01

EFFECT OF COCO PEAT PARTICLE SIZE FOR THE OPTIMUM GROWTH OF NURSERY PLANT OF GREENHOUSE VEGETABLES

2015-06-24T00:00:00Z

EFFECT OF COCO PEAT PARTICLE SIZE FOR THE OPTIMUM GROWTH OF NURSERY PLANT OF GREENHOUSE VEGETABLES Kumarasinghe, H.K.M.S.; Subasinghe, S.; Ransimala, D. Coconut coir peat (CP) is an organic renewable source which is an environmentally sound substitute for peat as a soilless growing media for containerized nurseries in the world. Coco peat consists of short fiber (<2cm) around 2 - 13% of the total and contains cork like particles ranging in sizes from granules (4-5mm) to fine dust (0.1mm). This huge range of particle size makes big variation on physical, chemical and biological properties of coco peat. When coco peat is used as a substrate for raising seedlings in soilless cultivation systems, optimizing of physical, chemical and biological properties are essential to produce vigorous healthy seedlings. Therefore, the aim of this study was to select the most suitable particle size range for coco peat to be used as a nursery substrate to produce greenhouse tomato, bell pepper, cucumber and cabbage seedlings. Six to nine months old coconut coir pith was used and the buffering was done using calcium nitrate (4 kg/m3 of water). Fine (≤ 0.5 mm), medium (3 mm - 0.5 mm) and coarse (4 mm <) particle ranges were separated using set of sieves. Completely randomized design with five replicates was used. Four separate experiments were conducted for tomato, bell pepper, cucumber and cab bage. Germination percentage, no. of leaves per seedling and seedling height were recorded as growth parameters during the nursery period. Highest germination percentage of tomato (95%), bell pepper (88%) and cucumber (84%) were observed in medium size particle range and the fine particle range resulted the highest germination value in cabbage (94%). The highest no. of leaves per seedling of tomato (7.2) and bell pepper (6.1) were recorded in medium size particle range and in cucumber (4.8) and cabbage (6.5) the fine particle range gave the highest value. The highest maximum seedling heights of tomato (17.2cm), bell pepper (20.3cm), cucumber (14.3cm) and cabbage (8.0 cm) were observed in medium size particle range media. Overall results revealed that, medium size (3 mm - 0.5 mm) particle range of coco peat is the best for practicing nurseries of tomato, bell pepper, cucumber and cabbage in greenhouse cultivations.

Analysis of Rural and Urban Rice Markets Integration in Niger State, Nigeria: Error Correction Model Approach

2015-05-20T00:00:00Z

Analysis of Rural and Urban Rice Markets Integration in Niger State, Nigeria: Error Correction Model Approach Ojo, A.O.; Ojo, M.A.; Adebayo, C.A.; Coker, A.A.A. This study examined the integration of rural and urban markets in Niger State using the Error correction Model ing. Secondary data of the retail prices of rice were collected for a period of 60 months (2006-2010) and error cor rection technique was employed in the determination of the degree of market integration between the markets using a four test procedures viz: Augumented Dickey Fuller test to detect for the presence of unit root in the se ries; Johansen co-integration test for the long run equilibrium relationship among the variables; Vector error cor rection model test (VECM) to capture short-run and long-run changes in the price movements; and Granger casualty test to reflect the direction of influence between prices. The results revealed that unit root in the price series was eliminated after the first differencing and that there was a stable long-run equilibrium relationship among the markets. The vector error correction estimates shows that most of the markets were not well integrated in the short –run, and finally, the causality test revealed that no single market dominated the price formation either in the rural or urban markets in the study area. Therefore, to improve the rate of spatial price adjustment in the study area, policy makers should intensify their efforts on improving the functioning of rice markets through increasing marketers’ access to accurate and timely marketing information as well as reduction of the prices of mobile phones to make it more affordable to the marketers so as to improve the degree of integration of the markets in the study area.

ASSESSMENT OF PHOSPHATE SOLUBILIZATION AND INDOLE ACETIC ACID PRO DUCTION IN PLANT GROWTH PROMOTING BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM GREEN HOUSE SOILS OF GONJU-GUN, SOUTH KOREA.

2015-05-13T00:00:00Z

ASSESSMENT OF PHOSPHATE SOLUBILIZATION AND INDOLE ACETIC ACID PRO DUCTION IN PLANT GROWTH PROMOTING BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM GREEN HOUSE SOILS OF GONJU-GUN, SOUTH KOREA. Walpola, Buddhi Charana; Arunakumara, K.K.I.U. Phosphate solubilizing and indole acetic acid (IAA) producing bacteria are considered to be beneficial microor ganisms as they have a profound effect on plant growth. A total of 35 phosphate solubilizing bacterial strains were isolated and screened for the production of IAA. Two best performing Enterobacter species were selected and em ployed in elucidating their phosphate solubilizing potential and IAA production under different conditions. Both strains were found to increase available phosphorus content in the medium profusely (640 µg/ml in E. ludwigii and 621 µg/ml in E. hormaechei). They recorded the maximum IAA production (240 and 332 µg/ml respectively in E. ludwigii and E. hormaechei), in NB medium supplemented with tryptophan (0.8% and 0.6% respectively in E. ludwigii and E. hormaechei) at 30oC. It is evident from results that both strains possess great potential to be devel oped as bio-fertilizers which could enhance soil fertility and plant growth through phosphate solubilization and IAA production.

ADOPTION OF DUNDEE DREEM QUESTIONNAIRE TO ASSESS THE EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT OF AN AGRICULTURE DEGREE PROGRAMME

2015-05-07T00:00:00Z

ADOPTION OF DUNDEE DREEM QUESTIONNAIRE TO ASSESS THE EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT OF AN AGRICULTURE DEGREE PROGRAMME Atapattu, N.S.B.M.; Kumari, K.K.E.I.U.; Pushpakumara, K.K.A.; Mudalige, S.K.K. Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) is widely used in medical education institutions to assess students’ perception on the educational environment. The present study used a modified version of the DREEM questionnaire to assess the education environment of a BSc (Agriculture) degree programme in Sri Lanka. Students’ agreement on each of the 50 statements of five domains; students’ perception of learning (SPL) and teachers (SPT), academic self-perception (SAP). Perceptions of atmosphere (SPA) and social self-perception (SSP) were recorded on a five point Likert scale (0= strongly disagree to +4= strongly agree). Scores were added to calculate domain subscales and the overall scale. Over-emphasize of factual learning (1.69/4) and boredness (1.19/4) considered under the domain SPL and SSP, respectively were the only problematic areas (scale<2). Some personal qualities of teacher such as being get angry in classes and their authoritative nature needed improve ments (scale>2<3.5). Male students’ perception on teaching and their social perception were significantly better than that of female colleagues’. There were no problematic areas under SAP and SPA. Perception on teachers (SPT) (70.1%) was significantly better than SAP (64.9%) and SSP (63.3%). Male (68.4%) students held a signifi cantly better overall perception than female (63.4%) counterparts. Students overall perception decreased until third year and then improved in fourth year upto the level of first year students’. Having a total score of 132/200, educational environment was found to be more positive than negative, though there was a considerable room for further improvements. Particular attention should be paid to address the issues related to female students, second and third year students, with respect to all five domains.