Review on Key Bottlenecks of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) production and productivity (Published)
Agricultural research has repeatedly failed to achieve the required effect for so many low-income farmers especially in Africa. Some of the reasons for the failure are due to knowledge gap of managing their crop production systems. As a result, there is a persistent need to look beyond the conventional farming system approach to increase production and productivity in sustainable ways. Farmers grow different crops for instance sorghum to win their day-to-day lives. Sorghum is an important cereal crop grown and consumed worldwide. In addition, its varieties are increasingly becoming very important and popular among resource-poor farmers due to their low cost. However, the production and productivity of sorghum is limited by key bottlenecks which could be referred as biotic and abiotic factors. Biotic factors, weeds, diseases, and insects are the most limiting factors which can lead to poor sorghum production and productivity. Unfavorable weather conditions can be considered as some of the abiotic factors. The combination of the two factors can result in a complete loss of yield. Therefore, it has become important to describe the key bottlenecks of sorghum production and productivity including management options.
Keywords: Sorghum, biotic and abiotic constraints, management options
Effect of Chemical, Organic and Biological Fertilizers on Protein Concentration and Protein Electrophoretic Profiles of Wheat Plants Irrigated with Seawater (Published)
Wheat plants grown under 0%, 20% and 40% of seawater, 0, 100, 250 and 500 kg/ha of urea as chemical fertilizer; Rhizobium and Azotobacter as biofertilizer; and 0, 5, 10 and 20 kg/ha of humic acid as organic fertilizer. Soluble, insoluble and total proteins as well as RAPD-PCR were evaluated. To obtain reliable molecular markers for response to salinity in such genotype, RAPD banding patterns by using two primers. It was found that low concentration (20%) of seawater caused an observed increase in soluble protein. While, high concentration (40%) of seawater caused a significant decrease in soluble and insoluble proteins as well as total proteins. Biological and organic fertilizer treatments increased total proteins even at 40% seawater treatment as compared with unfertilized plants at the same level of seawater. The results of RAPD analysis showed that the two primers (OPUPC-75 and OPA18 could efficiently align genomic DNA of wheat. Approximately 88 bands (AF) were amplified under different treatments using the two primers. Monomorphic and polymorphic bands ware present in all individuals, and the mean percentage of polymorphic bands for all treatments was 76.2%, with molecular sizes ranging from 350 to 1900 pb. It was observed also that eight bands of the 88 commonly detected in all the samples, so it could be the specific genus bands of Triticum aestivum species. It seems that the extensive polymorphism detected among seawater and fertilizertreatments elevated the degree of change occurring in DNA sequences
Keywords: Salinity, Sorghum, chlorophyll., electrophoretic patterns, soluble proteins
Sorghum Productivity Trends and Growth Rate for Lesotho (Published)
Aims of paper were: to compare area planted and harvested sorghum; determine production trend over the time-period of 53 years; estimate productivity trend and growth rate; and compare National Cereals supply–demand balance. Time series data collected from FAOSTAT and Bureau of Statistics spanning 1960 to 2013 were subjected to GENSTAT for statistical analysis. Results showed persistent decline in area planted and harvested. Area under sorghum cultivation, production and yield fluctuated erratically throughout study period. Production decreased from 84 000 tonnes in 1975 to 22 000 tonnes in 2010, with only 18% of the period recording yield above 1 tonne ha-1. Increase production area did not always translate into higher yield. Despite low yield, sorghum utilization was 16 000 tonnes compared to 11 000 tonnes produced, thus necessitating an import of 5 000 tonnes, thus there was higher sorghum self-sufficiency level. Promotion of sorghum production and its use should be revisited to address food security and export value.
Keywords: Growth Rate, Lesotho, Sorghum, Trend Analysis