ABSTRACT
Taraba State is endowed with natural resources; vast lands, water resources, animal resources and human resources. However, amidst plenty, food insecurity and incessant crisis ravage the government efforts to sustainable agricultural and economic development. This paper discusses the nexus between Climate vagaries and skirmish leading to shift in crop yields. It assesses grain yield variation, problems and prospect across the local governments in Taraba State. Apart from personal observation and focus group discussion, the paper relied mainly on secondary data that were generated through the analysis of relevant data from government and non-governmental agencies. Rainfall and agronomic data were collected from Upper Benue River Basin and Ministry of Taraba Agricultural Development Program (TADP) respectively. These were collated and analyzed using standardized anomaly index and linear regression in SPSS environment. The study fails to reject the null hypotheses that no relationship exists between the average annual rainfall and quantity of sorghum produced annually. It recommends application of biotechnology using (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) for animal feeds and food crop diversification to cushion the ever increasing demand for forage that often vortex crisis in the state. SFF can stand heavy grazing reduce roaming encourage ranching eliminate crisis.
ABSTRACT
Avaliou-se o desempenho de novilhos alimentados em confinamento com silagem de híbridos de sorgo forrageiro e de duplo propósito associado a níveis de concentrado. Foram utilizados 60 novilhos, com idade inicial de 20 meses e peso corporal inicial de 322,45±5,58kg, distribuídos inteiramente ao acaso, nos seguintes tratamentos: três porcentagens de concentrado e dois tipos de silagem de sorgo. Foi verificada interação tipo de silagem versus porcentagem concentrado para consumo de matéria seca e ganho de peso médio diário, os quais aumentaram com o aumento de concentrado na dieta com silagem de sorgo forrageiro, mas não com silagem de sorgo duplo propósito. Os novilhos alimentados com silagem de sorgo forrageiro consumiram menos energia digestível (27,89Mcal/dia-1) que aqueles alimentados com silagem de sorgo duplo propósito (31,42Mcal/dia-1). A conversão alimentar média não foi alterada pelo tipo de silagem utilizada. O aumento da porcentagem de concentrado em dietas com volumoso de menor qualidade aumenta a eficiência biológica de bovinos confinados.
The feedlot performance of steers fed forage sorghum and double purpose hybrids silage associated with concentrate levels was evaluated. A total of 60 steers, initial age 20 months and body weight of 322.45±5.58kg, were randomized in the treatments: three concentrate levels and two types of sorghum silage. The interaction of sorghum silage versus concentrate levels was observed for dry matter intake and average daily weight gain, which increased with the increase concentrate level in diets with forage sorghum silage, but was not altered in diets with double purpose silage. Steers fed forage sorghum silage presented a lower average intake of digestible energy (27.89Mcal/day-1) than those fed double purpose sorghum silage (31.42Mcal/day-1). The average feed conversion was not affected by the type of silage used. The increase of concentrate level in diets with lower forage quality increases the biological efficiency of feedlot beef cattle.
Subject(s)
Animals , Cattle/growth & development , Cattle/metabolism , Weight Gain , Diet/veterinary , Sorghum , Silage/analysisABSTRACT
An oxalate oxidase was purified to apparent homogeneity from the leaves of 10-days old seedlings of forage Sorghum (Sorghum vulgare var. KH-105). The enzyme had a Mr of 124 kDa with two identical subunits, an optimum pH of 4.5, optimum temperature of 37°C and activation energy (Ea) of 2.0338 Kcal/mol. The rate of reaction was linear up to 7 min. Km value for oxalate was 0.22 mM. The enzyme was stimulated by Cu2+ and inhibited by EDTA, NaCN, diethyldithiocarbamate, na2SO4, but unaffected by NaCl at 0.1 mM concentration. Although the enzyme was stimulated by flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), UV and visible spectra of the enzyme did not match with that of a flavoprotein. The positive reaction of the enzyme with orcinol-H2SO4 reagent indicated its glycoprotein nature. The superiority of the purified enzyme over earlier reported oxalate oxidases for determination of urinary oxalate has been demonstrated.