About 60% of Pakistan's population live in rural areas where multidimensional poverty is much higher than it is in urban centres. The majority of the rural population depends on agriculture for their subsistence. Many farmers operate family smallholdings - comprising less than 5 acres of land where vegetables are often a major, but highly variable, source of household income. This study was conducted to investigate options to improve the livelihood of these communities, particularly women and youth, on a sustainable basis. Four major vegetables (onion, potato, tomato, chillies) were selected to identify potential interventions at all stages of the value chains. A survey was conducted in major production areas in Sindh and Punjab. This included structured interviews with value chain participants; data validation by focus group discussions and a consultative workshop; and data analysis. The findings confirmed the inconsistent quantity and quality of vegetables supplied to the market. If addressed, this represents significant potential for improved financial returns for small-scale vegetable producers and other value chain participants. Challenges include production constraints (such as seed quality, price of inputs, and pests and diseases) and economic constraints (such as mechanism of access to capital, credit, tenancy/land).Overarching socio-cultural factors include the lack of knowledge to address these constraints (including inadequate extension services), restricted agency for women and youth, and barriers to working collaboratively within some communities. Based on these findings, a multidisciplinary 'whole-of-the-value-chain' approach addressing the abovementioned constraints has been developed for improving the livelihood of the target communities, with special attention to women and youth. Partnerships with public and private institutions throughout the testing and application of value chain interventions are considered vital to sustain impacts.
Diamondback moth (DBM, Plutella xylostella L.) is a major pest of crucifers which can cause yield losses of up to 100% if left unmanaged. Classical biological control of DBM was adopted in Machakos and Kitui County through Cotesia plutellae imported from South Africa in 2002 and released in March 2004 in farmers’ fields where kale Brassica Oleracea var. acephala is one of the major leafy vegetables. Preliminary studies in 2004-2006 showed that the parasitoid had not established in the release sites and augmentation releases were done in 2006. Monthly surveys were conducted (May 2012 to April 2013) to assess the spread and contribution of C. plutellae in the management of the DBM. Brassica oleracea var. acephala fields in twenty five randomly selected farms were sampled for number of DBM larvae and pupae, damage, parasitism and parasitoid guild. The data was recorded from 20 plants in each selected farm. The DBM larvae and pupae were placed in plastic containers and taken to the laboratory for DBM or parasitoid emergence. Results revealed that the mean number of DBM/plant in Kitui and Matuu ranged from 0.4 to 2.5 and 0.3 to 3.5, respectively. Mean damage score ranged from 1.2 to 1.6 in both regions, which was positively correlated to the number of DBM on B. oleracea var. acephala . Hymenopteran parasitoids recovered from DBM included Cotesia plutellae , Diadegma semiclausum , D. mollipla, A panteles sp. , Chelonus sp., Oomyzus sokolowskii and Itoplectis sp ., while the hyper parasitoids included Mesochorus sp., Pteromalus sp., Notanisomorphella sp., Eurytoma rosae and Eurytoma sp., Brachymeria sp. and Pediobius sp. Cotesia plutellae was the most abundant parasitoid followed by D. semiclausum . Diversity of parasitoids varied between months and study sites. Cotesia plutellae had established and spread beyond the release sites contributing between 40 and 90% parasitism while the indigenous parasitoids Itoplectis sp., Apanteles sp. , and D. mollipla contributed less than 5% parasitism. The results show the spread and establishment of C. plutellae in the study sites. In conclusion, there is need for continuous training and educating the farmers to conserve the parasitoids that have contributed in the reduction of the DBM and damage on the crop. This has contributed in the reduction on pesticides use, spraying regime and eventual reduction of cost of production and residues on the produce.
Climate change, a consequence of anthropogenic activities, is threatening the life on earth to persist for a longer period of time. Greenhouse gases (Noel P. Gurwick, 2012 #5)emission including CO 2 concentration in the atmosphere are the most adverse situation that are prevailing on the planet. Unexpected events may occur more frequently that will be detrimental for sustainable life. The emission of greenhouse gases especially elevated CO 2 should be ceased to combat the harsh outcomes of climatic variations which will affect billions of people if its plinths are not stopped i.e. elimination of greenhouse gases particularly CO 2 . The inhabitants of the developing countries have suffered and will suffer greatly from the consequences of climatic uncertainity as the rain patterns will observe a huge shift that will encourage the floods and water scarcity. To cope with the challenges of climatic changes and sequestration of C based greenhouse gases, effective and practical techniques are required to be opted for proper storage within the soil. A major intervention is the pyrolysis technique that converts biomass in absence or limited oxygen and controlled conditions of temperature and pressure to a carbon rich compound shortened as biochar from biomass-charcoal. Biochar, has been characterized as a stable, long lasting product of pyrolysis with potential of increasing agricultural production as soil amendment, C-sequestration from sustainably sourced feedstock. This review provides a glimpse of current scientific research in biochar as a climate change mitigation tool. Biochar at the rate of 0.5% being a carbon rich product has potential to improve total organic carbon in soil from 23-30% along with its other agronomic uses for soil improvement in terms of soil CEC, pH, bulk density, water and nutrient holding capacity, microbial activity enhancer, remediation of polluted and degraded soil besides its C-sequestration potential for mitigation of climate change.
Decomposition of agricultural waste liberates organically-bound nutrient to inorganic form for increased soil fertility and crop productivity. The present investigation delineates carbon and phosphorus mineralization from sandy and clay soils of Peninsular Malaysia amended with cow dung or rice husk ash. Laboratory incubation was conducted for 60 days and a replicate sample of the either soils were incorporated with cow dung or rice husk ash at equivalent rate of 10 t ha -1 under dark condition at 23 o C temperature and field capacity moisture content. The samples containing neither cow dung nor rice husk ash from both soils were included as controls. At fixed intervals, the amount of carbon and phosphorus mineralized from both treatments was determined using standard analytical methods. Temporal increase in carbon mineralization was observed in both the control and amended soils. Sandy soil amended with cow dung or rice husk ash had higher carbon evolution than control while the reverse was obtained from the clay soil. The cumulative carbon evolved from the sandy soil was 82.159, 88.175 and 91.750 µg g -1 for control and soil amended with cow dung and rice husk ash respectively while the respective values for these treatments from the clay soil were 112.336, 96.755 and 90.197 µg g -1 . When the means of carbon evolution from the two soils were compared, clay soil had higher evolution (19.952 µg g -1 ) compared to sandy (17.477 µg g -1 ). Incorporating cow dung or rice husk showed higher extractable phosphorus from both soils compared to control. There was three phases in both carbon and phosphorus mineralization pattern; initial flush, followed by a declined then a phase of slow increase. Sandy soil had higher mean values (29.571 µg g -1 ) of extractable phosphorus than clay (8. 601 µg g -1 ) and this was attributed to acidic nature of clay soil resulting into phosphorus precipitation and adsorption by soil clay and oxides of Fe and Al. The present result showed decomposition potential of cow dung and rice husk ash in these soils.
This paper is aimed to study the effect of institutional agricultural credit on agricultural productivity. We focused on data of agricultural credits issued by Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) and their effect of agricultural efficiency by utilizing logit relapse examination. Results obtained are based on information gathered through field overview of Islamabad. It is reasoned that rural credit, fleeting and long haul advances have positive effect on farming yield per section of land. The positive relationship between credit and agricultural efficiency highlighted that credit empowers the farmers to buy basic inputs required for farming e.g., quality seed, fertilizer, composts, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and subsequent yield increase as a results of timely and sufficient application of inputs. The study proposes that suitable measures to expedite process of agricultural credit to the farmers can lead higher agricultural profitability. Gender based variations in agricultural credit and relevant influence on crop production can be future research direction.
Composite flours were formulated by the fortification of the wheat flour with the flours of maize, chickpea and soybean to prepare muffins. For this purpose, maize, chickpea and soybean were supplemented at 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50% levels with wheat flour, to formulate variant compositions. Afterwards, muffins were prepared from them and analyzed for crude protein, fiber, fat, ash, moisture and nitrogen free extract along with sensory attributes determination including crust color, volume, texture, aroma, taste, graininess, symmetry and evenness of bake so as to assess their acceptability by end-users. The crude protein, fiber, fat, ash, moisture and nitrogen free extract exhibiting significant behavior for assorted flour compositions. Selection of best composition comprised of 10% chickpea followed by 100% wheat, 10% corn, 20% chickpea and 10% soybean with no deleterious influence on quality and consumer acceptability. Due to their functional uses in cereal industry, this study will provide sensory scientists and food-service professionals with valuable insights.
The forage yield and quality constituents vary greatly depending upon harvesting time and varieties. A field experiment was conducted for better understanding the effect of different harvesting times and genotypic variation in forage yield and quality indices. Three millet varieties i.e. FB-786, MB-87 and AF-POP-2005 were used in the experiment, and were harvested at three different timings i.e., 60, 70 and 80-days after sowing. In the beginning of reproductive development, all the three varieties produce quality fodder, however significant decline in fodder quality was observed due to delay in harvesting. Among the genotypes tested, FB-786 gave the outstanding performance in connection with forage yield, quality and feeding value. A close association in quality components was also found like varieties rich in protein had simultaneously accumulated low crude fibre. The differences produced by harvesting dates for leaf to stem ratio, fresh and dry matter yield were more pronounced even than varietal differences. The dry matter collected at 70 and 80-days after sowing was 43.5% and 68.1% higher than 60-days after sowing but low in quality. The crude protein at 70 and 80-days was 7.21% and 11.23% and ash was 7.08% and 10.63% less than harvesting at 60-days. Therefore, harvesting at 70-days after sowing is better compromise between forage yield and nutritional value. The compromise between forage yield and quality is intricate and it is upto forage producer which one is preferable. The variety with better performance i.e., FB-786 can be used for future forage improvement for narrowing the gap between achieved and required quality.
This study investigated the characteristics and changes in September-November (SON) rainfall over Uganda. The dominant mode of variability of SON rainfall was identified by performing Empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) analysis, using rainfall data from Climate Research Unit (CRU) for the period 1901 to 2013. Results indicate that the dominant mode of variability of SON rainfall exhibits a unimodal pattern, explaining 50.2% of the total variance. Mann-Kendall analysis was deployed to examine sudden changes in SON rainfall over the country. The findings show that the abrupt change in SON rainfall occurred in 1994. Further analysis reveal that SON rainfall over Uganda has a correlation pattern with the sea surface temperature (SST) over Indian, which depicts the positive phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). Positive correlation is exhibited in the western IOD sub-region, while negative correlation is shown in the southeastern IOD sub-region. Further study of the both wettest and driest years during the study period indicate that during the wettest year, there were positive anomalies in the western sub-region, as opposed to the driest year, having negative anomalies in the same sub-region. This illustrates that the positive phase of IOD enhances SON rainfall over Uganda, as opposed to the negative phase which inhibits SON rainfall. The evolution of the IOD can therefore be monitored for the improvement of SON rainfall forecasts, especially over Uganda so as to avoid the losses associated with weather extremes.
Delay in wheat is perhaps the one of the major fact ors responsible for low crop yield mainly due to the sub-optimal temperature during th e different phenological stages. A field study was carried out to investigate the phenological perform ance of five newly developed wheat cultivars (Lasani-2008, Faisalabad-2008, Shafaq-2006, Sahar-2006 and Inqlab-91) under early (10-November) and the late sown (10-December) conditions during 2011-12 growing season. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design under factorial arrangement of treatments replicated four times. Results indicated that delay in sowing of wheat was detrimental for its growth. Early sown wheat got more number of days to attain different phenological stages, higher heat unit and heat use efficiency as compared to the late sowing. In c ase of late sowing, the cultivars phased a significant level of high temperature stress that a ffected the required days to crown root initiation, tillering, booting, heading, anthesis, grain fillin g and maturity of all cultivars as compared with ea rly sown crop. When wheat was sown late in season, the heat use efficiency was reduced in the range of 21-35% across different cultivars compared with ear ly sown crop. Variations were also apparent among cultivars regarding their response to sowing dates. The cultivar Faisalabad-2008 ontogenically being more plastic, performed well in late sown con ditions, nonetheless, cultivar Iqlab-91 remained superior to rest of cultivars, when planted early i n season. These results are of practical concern fo r wheat growers in Pakistan and may be fruitful in fu ture for crop modelling in wheat.
Twenty Friesian Holstein cows in the transition period were exposed to two dietary treatments, one feed with diludine (5 g day-1cow-1) and second feed without diludine, in order to examine diludine effect on performance, antioxidative status and animal health. Milk, urine, and blood samples were taken. Oxidative stress (SOD, MDA and TAOC), immunoglobulin A and M, acetone, acetoacetate, β-hydroxybutyric acid and insulin were analyzed. Various animal health indicators like ALT and alkaline phosphatase show improvements resulting in increased milk yield and milk fats. Oxidative stress during parturition time is reduced. Two types of ketosis (primary and secondary) do not appear in both groups. Addition of diludine might improve the anti-oxidative status and reduce β-hydroxybutyrate, eventually resulting in improved animal health and milk production. Feed with diludine led to a decrease in the level of SOD and increases the level of MDA, which were found when cows are in parturition time. The level of TAOC increase slightly in the post parturition time compared with the pre-natal period of two groups.
Each plant species rather more specifically each genotype, has an optimum range of temperature for growth and development. When temperature rises beyond this critical limit, it generates temperature stress which affects its performance adversely. Considerable variation exists among genotypes regarding heat stress providing opportunities for breeders to improve crops through genetic means. Keeping in view the importance of global warming as a potential threat to maize production in the province of Punjab, Pakistan; studies have been initiated to develop thermo tolerant inbred lines by providing high temperature at the time of anthesis and subsequent developmental stages of grain formation. The studies were focused on screening of heat tolerant lines for the production of maize hybrids that are adaptable in agro-climatic conditions of Pakistan especially in spring season when temperature fluctuates between 40-45oC and sometime reaches up to 48oC. The inbred lines along with local hybrids were grown in field as well as under tunnel conditions keeping multinational hybrids as standard. The results revealed that anthesis and grain filling stages were more sensitive. A number of lines set seed showing tolerance against high temperature, which were increased and used in hybrid production. The local hybrids YH-1898 and YH-1921 showed reasonable tolerance against high temperature with 40-50% seed setting as compared to commercial hybrids (DK-6525, DK-6142 and NK-8441) with 20 - 25% seed setting. More recently the screening studies have been further substantiated with glasshouse conditions.
The study estimates technical efficiency of wheat farms and its influencing socio-economic factors. The economic factors discussed in this study include farm type (ownership), farm size and farm machinery, and social factors include farmers’ age, qualification, experience, and working style. Data Envelopment Analysis has been used to estimate technical efficiency of wheat. The farm level data was collected from the agriculture farms from two districts of Southern Punjab i.e., Dera Ghazi Khan and Rahim Yar Khan. Kruskal Wallis and Bonferroni comparison tests were performed to see the influences of socio-economic factors on farms’ technical efficiency. It was found that technical efficiency is significantly influenced by farm type, farm size, and farmers’ education and their working experience. The results showed that among the studied farms rented farms were the more efficient whereas the owners’ farms are the least efficient and therefore imply that ownership has negative relation with wheat farms efficiency. Similarly, farm size also has negative and linear relation while education and experience have positive but non-linear relation with the wheat farms’ efficiency. The economic factor; agricultural farm machinery showed a negative effect on the technical efficiency but this effect is insignificant. Similarly, farmers’ age has negative and linear relation with the technical efficiency. Lastly, the part time working farms are more efficient than full time working farmers.
High postharvest losses are the major concern for commercial mango supply chains. The quality of fruit after harvesting cannot be improved but can only be maintained. It can be improved only at production level. Therefore, an understanding of the production level factors and respective management strategies in place are very crucial to ensure premium quality at harvest and along the supply chain. This review paper includes the account of preharvest factors associated with postharvest disease development and quality attributes of mango. Factors such as genetic, geographic location, environmental conditions and preharvest cultural practices including canopy management, nutrition and irrigation management, plant protection, have been reported to influence postharvest disease development and quality of mango fruit. This review summarizes the important work done on the subject to develop an understanding about recent advances in modeling mango postharvest disease development and fruit quality along the supply chain.
Poverty is a major limiting factor in farmers' production which influences their attitude towards risk. There is little empirical evidence on the connection between poverty and risk attitudes of farmers in north-central, Nigeria. So study was carried out t to examine linkage between poverty and farmers' risk attitude in Nasarawa state, Nigeria. Over all 120 respondents were interviewed through well structured research tool, randomly from ten villages (12 respondents per village ) of Keffi Local Government Area of Nasarawa state using two-stage sampling procedure. Out of which 107 were useful for analysis. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Foster Greer Thorbecke poverty measures, safety first model of risk determination and Tobit regression analysis. At the poverty line of N2, 455.40 per capita per month, 43.93% of the respondents in the area were poor. Further, 58.9% of farmers in the area were risk averse. Household size, membership of organization, poverty status of farmers, housing index, primary school education and access to credit were significant determinants of farmers' attitude towards risk. Policy options geared towards ensuring physical, social and human capital development should be formulated to reduce poverty and enhance farmers' risk taking ability.
A field study was conducted to evaluate the productivity of autumn-sown maize hybrids (Monsanto-919 and Pioneer-30Y87) under variable irrigation regimes. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with factorial arrangement with the following treatments; I 1 = control, I 2 = 4 irrigations (6 th 10 th 14 th 18 th leaf stages), I 3 = 6 irrigations (6 th , 10 th ,14 th , 18 th leaf stages, silking and blister stages), I 4 = 8 irrigations (6 th , 10 th ,14 th , 18 th leaf stages, silking, blister, milking and dough stages), I 5 = 10 irrigations (6 th , 10 th ,14 th , 18 th leaf stages, silking, blister, milking, dough, denting and physiological maturity). The hybrids differ significantly for primary root numbers, root length, roots dry weight, water use efficiency for total dry matters (WUE TDM ), while water use efficiency for grain yield (WUE GY ) were found non-significant in both hybrids. Irrigation level I 2 produced significantly higher primary root numbers (20.83 roots per plant) which were statistically at par with irrigation level I 1 (20.66), whereas, Irrigation level I 1 produced significantly more root length (548.67cm) than the irrigation treatments I 2 (476.17) and I 3 (434.33). Similarly, Irrigation level I 1 attained maximum root dry weight plant -1 (0.71mg) than I 2 (0.67mg) and I 3 (0.59mg). Among irrigation treatments, more water use efficiency for total dry matters was obtained in treatments I 3 , I 4 , I 5 . The range of water use efficiency for total dry matters for these treatments was 6.18 to 6.42. Highly-significant values were found in water use efficiency for grain yield. Treatments I 3 , I 4 and I 5 were good at producing more grain yield per unit water transpired.
The main purpose of this project was to use small sized potatoes in the preparation of doughnuts, which are annually wasted in large amounts. In the present study, small sized potatoes were utilized in the preparation of doughnuts. The amounts of flour, egg, oil and baking powder were kept constant by varying the amounts of potatoes and sugar in doughnuts recipe. Control treatment (T0) of potato based doughnuts was prepared without 0% potatoes. Whereas treatments T1 was prepared with 30% potatoes, T2 with 40% potatoes, and T3 with 50% potatoes. Potatoes were subjected to sorting, washing, boiling, peeling and mashing, followed by mixing with doughnut batter. The results showed that doughnuts contained moisture (74.62-79.62%), protein (4.95-7.77%), fat (6.02-13.02%), fiber (0.34-0.56%) and ash (2.12-3.38%). The treatment T3 had low moisture, crude protein and crude fat contents than T1 and T2, but it contained high crude fiber and crude ash contents than T1 and T2. All the treatments were observed to be acceptable, but T3 was liked more among all treatments during sensory evaluation. In this way wastage of small sized potatoes can be prevented to and utilized to nourish food deprived population. This technique will be helpful to alleviate food security issues of local population.
It's hard to imagine life of modern mankind without sugar plants. Sugar beet, sugar cane and other less known plants have been for a long time a source for obtaining sugar for the food industry. Recently ever more attention is being paid to sweet-tasting plants without containing sugar. This is because not all people can use sugar and furthermore non- sugar sweeteners create a sweet taste at much lower concentrations. Therefore hunger for sweetness had led man to find alternative forms of intense sweeteners which can offer sweet taste to the consumers without calories. There are sugar substitutes (natural and artificial) that have virtually no calories. Not accidentally stevia is called honey grass - it is the sweetest plant on the planet. In its natural form stevia is much sweeter than sugar and at present it is considered for the best natural sweetener and sugar substitute. Many countries conduct researches in order to detect natural, low-calorie sweeteners of plant origin which are not harmful for human body. Various climatic conditions impose specific studies about: obtaining propagating material; selection of suitable soil and climatic conditions for growing; irrigation norms; fertilization; establishment favorable terms for gathering, drying and storing of yield obtained of foliage. Aim of this report a part of development of technology for cultivation of Stevia in Central Bulgaria, Plovdiv region is, as a source of natural sweeteners. Considered is assessment of productive and economic qualities of obtained populations under field conditions. Studied material from Stevia are contrasting on studied parameters. Plant parameters including height of the whole plant; height of main stems; height of additional (spurs) stems; number of basic (central) stems; number of additional stems; total weight of stems; weight of whole plant; weight of green (raw) leaves; weight of absolutely dry mass of leaves and weight of root were analyzed. Biometric measurements show that crop formation, leaves productivity and architectonics of plants are the highest in the region of Plovdiv. Around 80 % of required biomass of dry leaves is realized. The reduced height of the plant leads to improved profitability of the stem. In applied method of cultivation Stevia reaches to formation of reproductive organs too - Flowers and Seeds.
Wheat is the major staple food in Pakistan and used for variety of purposes. The crop is also very important for country’s economy as it has a contribution of 10.1 percent in agricultural value added and 2.2 percent in overall GDP of Pakistan. Within this context, the present study examines the wheat productivity level and economic analysis of wheat for each productivity level in district Rajanpur .Total sample of 120 respondents was interviewed. The regression results for the high, medium and low yielding groups were following. The value of R2 was 0.73, 0.75 and 0.68. Benefit cost ratio in the sample area with opportunity cost of land and family labor was 1.32, 1.60 and 1.96 for low, medium and high yield groups. There is dire need to strengthen the coordination between agriculture researchers and extension department to guide the farmers about the efficient utilization of agriculture resources. Pure and healthy seed contributes much to increase the yield of crop.
China is major fertilizer consumer with very low nitrogen use efficiency. Assessment of crop nitrogen requirement when a crop response is expected may improve use efficiency and profitability. Nondestructive determination of crop nitrogen (N) content is important for timely estimation of nutrient requirement at nutrient sensitive growth stages. It is a good way to estimate the rice grain yield based on NDVI at different key growth stages in southeast China. There were six N application rates: (N0) 0 kg ha-1 N fertilizer, (N90) 90 kg ha-1 N fertilizer, (N112) 112.5 kgha-1 N fertilizer, (N135) 135 kg/ha-1 N fertilizer, (N157) 157.5 kg ha-1 N fertilizer, (N180) 180 kg ha-1 N fertilizer. Grain yield and its components were determined, and NDVI at key stages were obtained by using GreenseekerTM. The result showed that the grain yield of rice increased significantly with increasing N rate, its relationship could be fitted by quadratic curve, and the equations of early and late rice showed significant correlation (R2 0.88 and 0.65, respectively). There were large changes among NDVI values from tillering to filling stage of early and late rice, but they reached to 0.25 at heading and filling stage and did not change substantially. The regression equation between N rates and NDVI at heading stage was robust and was proved well by validation experiment. The grain yield of rice could be predicted more accurately by using NDVI at heading stage, and therefore, NDVI values ranging from 0.28-0.31 at heading stage can be considered enough to obtain more than 9 t ha-1 rice grain yield.
The study was conducted to establish optimum plant population of maize and beans in pure stand for conservation farming. Experiment was conducted using permanent planting basins (PPB) at two locations i.e., NARL-Kawanda and NgeZARDI. The experiment was laid in a randomized complete block design with 3 replications. The treatments were maize: 3, 4, and 5 seeds per PPB, i.e., maintaining population of 44400, 59200 and 74000 plants ha-1, respectively; beans: 6, 8, and 10 seeds per PPB. The 3 and 6 plants basin-1 for maize and beans respectively were the control treatments. An open pollinated maize variety Longe-5 and a bean variety NABE-15 were used. Fields were slashed and sprayed with glyphosate (500 mg/l) at a rate of 7.5 l/ha 2 weeks after slashing. Basins were marked out using planting lines and digging planting basins of 35 cm (long) × 15 cm (width) × 15 cm (deep), with spacing of 90 cm between rows and 75 cm within rows from center to center of the PPB, before the onset of rains. Available crop residues were laid between rows to create a mulch cover. In maize and bean trials, manure at a rate of 1 mug per planting basin (approx. 7,400 kg ha-1) and micro-doses of basal fertilizer (DAP) at a rate of 2 level soda bot¬tle cap per pit (92.5 kg ha-1) was applied and covered with top soil before planting the seeds. In the case of maize, nitrogen (150 kg ha-1) was evenly side dressed within the PPB when maize was at knee height. At NARL–Kawanda, there was a significant yield differences (P < 0.05) accruing from different maize plant populations. Basins planted with 3 seeds/ basin (44,444 plant ha-1) offered significantly lower grain yield than basins planted with 4 (59,259 plants ha-1) and 5 seeds/ basin (74,074 plants ha-1). There was no significant yield difference for beans at NARL. At NgeZARDI, for the two seasons there were no significant yield differences accruing from the different plant populations in both maize and beans. It can therefore be tentatively concluded that for maize in Uganda, areas below latitude 3oN a plant population of 4 seeds per PPB (59,200 plants ha-1) is optimum while in areas above latitude 3oN a plant population of 3 seeds per PPB (44,000 plants ha-1) is the optimum. Beans need to be evaluated further with a closer spacing of 60cm between rows of PPB.
