Review on Removal of aflatoxin from maize by using plant extract

This review summarizes the historical development of aflatoxin problems in maize and the attendant responses in the agricultural research community. Originally, studies were focused on the stored commodity, since the two toxin-producing species, Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus, were considered storage fungi. Laboratory investigations identified major factors influencing development of the toxin-producing species in storage, such as moisture, temperature, aeration and substrate. Various modifications of key components of the storage environment were developed to control the fungi. The discovery of preharvest infection of developing maize kernels by A. flavus or A. parasiticus and subsequent production of aflatoxin introduced a new facet of mycotoxicology. The same environmental factors that influence fungi in storage appear to affect the processes of field infection contamination to varying degrees. However, in the developing maize ecosystems, agricultural activities dramatically influence interacting species, including host plants, attendant microbes, arthropods and other pests.  The prevention of fungal growth is still the best practice to prevent contamination by aflatoxins in foods and feeds, other measures are also necessary. Keywords: aflatoxigenic, Aspergillus flavus, maize, fungal and Aspergillus parasiticu

Review Synthesis and Characterization of N-benzylidene-2-hydroxybenzohydrazine

The Schiff base ligand was synthesized from 2- hyhdroxybenzohydrazide and benzaldehyde. The imines, very well known and popular as Schiff Bases. Recent developments on their “metallo-imines” variants have been described. The applications of Schiff bases in organic synthesis is recognizable Schiff bases are aldehyde or ketone like compounds in which the carbonyl group is replaced by an imine or azomethine group. They are widely used for industrial purposes and also exhibit a broad range of biological activities.  The IR spectral data reveal that the ligand behaves as bidentate with ON donor atom sequence towards central metal ion. Keywords: Bidentate Schiff base, Antibacterial activity, IR spectral dat

Urban Water Supply Performance Assessement - The Case of Hossana Town in Hadiya Zone, SNNP Regional State of Ethiopia

The provision of adequate and reliable water supply in developing countries is becoming a challenge for most water utilities especially public service providers. Water demand has been increasing drastically in these countries due to many factors including population growth as a result of rural to urban migration. As a consequence, in many countries public service utilities have failed to provide consumers with adequate water supply and sanitation services. Apart from service coverage, there are other problems that affect public service providers such as high Unaccounted for Water (UfW) and poor services, poor consumer records and inefficient billing practices. This study tried to assess the performance of Hossana town water supply system based on four main performance indicators namely water loss, water quality, customers satisfaction and operation and maintenance. Poor water quality which is not in accordance with the national standard, high water loss, presence of customer complaints and operation and maintenance problems indicates that there are deficiencies on the quality of the service and contribute to low performance of the water supply system. Methods used in the study included, previous studies and documentary review, water production and consumption recording and analysis, household interviews, key stakeholders interview, conducting water quality tests, and field observations. The result of the research show that there are water quality problems and the water supply accessibility and reliability is also inadequate. The operation and maintenance timely response towards customers was also a matter of concern. Moreover, the UfW for the year 2014 was found to be 50.55% which is very high loss and needs reduction. In conclusion, the quality of service delivered by the HWSS for the customers was not found satisfactory and also the UfW was higher than the generally accepted value of 25% suggested by the World Bank. It is recommended that the reduction of UfW through appropriate water demand management strategies should be given priority and HWSS should engage in environmental conservation at main water sources of water supply. In order to improve the quality of services, the HWSS should improve customer relation and care by expanding the branch offices in the town as the town is currently expanding fast in every corner of the town

Effects of Land Use/Land Cover Changes on Selected Soil Physical and Chemical Properties in Shenkolla Watershed, South Central Ethiopia

Land use change from natural ecosystems to managed agroecosystems is one of the main causes of soil fertility decline. Severe soil erosion caused by agricultural expansion and poor management worsened soil nutrient depletion in cultivated outfields (crop lands). This study was conducted to examine the effects of land use and land cover changes (LU/LC) on selected soil physicochemical properties in the Shenkolla watershed. A total of 40 top soil samples at 0–20 cm depth were collected from four land use/land cover types (forest land, grazing land, cultivated outfield, and cultivated homestead garden fields). The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to determine differences in soil parameters among land use types. Treatment means comparison was determined using the least significant difference (LSD) at 0.05 level of significances. The result indicated that there were significant P<0.05 differences among the four LU/LC types for soil characteristics. For most parameters evaluated, the most favorable soil properties were observed in the forest land, followed by homestead garden fields, while the least favorable soil properties were found in intensively cultivated outfields. Increase in the extent of cultivated land at the expense of forest cover associated with poor management has promoted significant loss of soil quality in intensively cultivated outfields. Reducing the land cover conversion and adopting proper management practices of the soil commonly used in homestead garden fields are very crucial in order to improve soil fertility in intensively cultivated outfields

Effects of Land Use/Land Cover Changes on Selected Soil Physical and Chemical Properties in Shenkolla Watershed, South Central Ethiopia

Land use change from natural ecosystems to managed agroecosystems is one of the main causes of soil fertility decline. Severe soil erosion caused by agricultural expansion and poor management worsened soil nutrient depletion in cultivated outfields (crop lands). This study was conducted to examine the effects of land use and land cover changes (LU/LC) on selected soil physicochemical properties in the Shenkolla watershed. A total of 40 top soil samples at 0–20 cm depth were collected from four land use/land cover types (forest land, grazing land, cultivated outfield, and cultivated homestead garden fields). The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to determine differences in soil parameters among land use types. Treatment means comparison was determined using the least significant difference (LSD) at 0.05 level of significances. The result indicated that there were significant P&lt;0.05 differences among the four LU/LC types for soil characteristics. For most parameters evaluated, the most favorable soil properties were observed in the forest land, followed by homestead garden fields, while the least favorable soil properties were found in intensively cultivated outfields. Increase in the extent of cultivated land at the expense of forest cover associated with poor management has promoted significant loss of soil quality in intensively cultivated outfields. Reducing the land cover conversion and adopting proper management practices of the soil commonly used in homestead garden fields are very crucial in order to improve soil fertility in intensively cultivated outfields.</jats:p

Land Use/Land Cover Change and Its Driving Forces in Shenkolla Watershed, South Central Ethiopia

Land use change is one of the challenges that aggravate environmental problems. Understanding the scope of land use change, driving forces, and consequences is very crucial for proper management of land resources. We investigated land use/land cover changes using remote sensing data (for the years 1973, 1995, and 2017), and field observation, household survey, key informant interview, and focus group discussion were used to determine the drivers and consequences of land use/land cover changes in Shenkolla watershed, south central Ethiopia. Unsupervised and supervised classification techniques were employed to get thematic information from satellite imagery. ArcGIS 10.3 and QGIS v 3.0 softwares were used to accomplish the analysis. The results disclosed that Shenkolla watershed has changed significantly during the past 4 decades between 1973 and 2017. This observed change indicates a reduction in forest land and an increase in agricultural land. Forest land was reduced from 29.51% in 1973 to 20.52% in 2017, but agricultural land was expanded from 70.49% in 1973 to 79.48% in 2017. Agricultural expansion, policy change and social unrest, population pressure, shortage of farm land, and biophysical factors were major driving forces of the LU/LC changes. Environmental implications such as climate change, biodiversity loss, scarcity of basic forest products, habitat alteration, decline in quality and availability of water, and crop yield reduction are the consequences of the LU/LC change. The expansion of agricultural land at the expense of forest cover in Shenkolla watershed has negative implications on the natural resources and the livelihood of local people. Hence, appropriate measures need to be employed to reduce the dramatic change in land use and to harmonize environmental conservation with human livelihood.</jats:p

Land Use/Land Cover Change and Its Driving Forces in Shenkolla Watershed, South Central Ethiopia

Land use change is one of the challenges that aggravate environmental problems. Understanding the scope of land use change, driving forces, and consequences is very crucial for proper management of land resources. We investigated land use/land cover changes using remote sensing data (for the years 1973, 1995, and 2017), and field observation, household survey, key informant interview, and focus group discussion were used to determine the drivers and consequences of land use/land cover changes in Shenkolla watershed, south central Ethiopia. Unsupervised and supervised classification techniques were employed to get thematic information from satellite imagery. ArcGIS 10.3 and QGIS v 3.0 softwares were used to accomplish the analysis. The results disclosed that Shenkolla watershed has changed significantly during the past 4 decades between 1973 and 2017. This observed change indicates a reduction in forest land and an increase in agricultural land. Forest land was reduced from 29.51% in 1973 to 20.52% in 2017, but agricultural land was expanded from 70.49% in 1973 to 79.48% in 2017. Agricultural expansion, policy change and social unrest, population pressure, shortage of farm land, and biophysical factors were major driving forces of the LU/LC changes. Environmental implications such as climate change, biodiversity loss, scarcity of basic forest products, habitat alteration, decline in quality and availability of water, and crop yield reduction are the consequences of the LU/LC change. The expansion of agricultural land at the expense of forest cover in Shenkolla watershed has negative implications on the natural resources and the livelihood of local people. Hence, appropriate measures need to be employed to reduce the dramatic change in land use and to harmonize environmental conservation with human livelihood

Abundance and diversity of soil invertebrate macro-fauna in different land uses at Shenkolla watershed, South Central Ethiopia

Abstract Background Land use can exert a strong influence on the abundance, diversity, and community composition of soil macro-fauna. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of four land use types on the abundance and diversity of soil invertebrate macro-fauna communities. These land uses include forest land, grazing land, crop cultivated outfields, and homestead garden fields present at Shenkolla watershed, south central Ethiopia. Monolith sampling of soil macro-fauna was done according to the standard of Tropical Soils Biology and Fertility Institute (TSBF) procedure. Five sampling points were chosen in each land use type and small monolith (25 × 25 × 30 cm) was dug out at 5-m interval along a transect with randomly positioned starting point, but perpendiculars to the slope. A total of 20 monoliths (4 treatments × 5 replications) were taken across all the land use types. Sampling of SIMF was carried out in April 2019 where soil macro-faunas are known to be more active. To evaluate the SIMF community eight parameters were measured: Shannon-Wiener index, Simpson diversity index, Pielou’s measure of evenness, Margalef’s diversity index, the Number of Occurrence Index, Relative abundance, Density (individuals per square meter) of each taxon and density of all SIMF and Bray-Curtis similarity index. The data were further analyzed using ANOVA and a general linear model to determine the variation and the influence of land use type, respectively. Results In general, 332 individuals, 10 orders, 12 families, and 15 species were identified, from the collected samples. There were significant differences (p &lt; 0.05) among the four land use types for SIMF except wireworm, spiders, and millipedes. Overall abundance and diversity were lowest in the crop cultivated outfields and highest in homestead garden fields and forest land. Bray-Curtis’ similarity was highest between the sampled sites s16 and s19 with in the forest land, and lowest (2%) between sites s1 (crop cultivated out fields) and s14 (homestead garden fields). Conclusion The results revealed that the diversity of SIMF was positively influenced by forest land and homestead garden fields and negatively influenced in grazing land and cultivated outfields. Therefore, maintenance of a continuous litter cover at the surface and application of a wide range of organic fertilizers (farmyard manure, household refuse, and compost) is very much critical to prevent the decrease in diversity of SIMF. </jats:sec

Analysis of Selected Soil Properties in Relation to Soil and Water Conservation Practices in Sibiya Arera, Soro District, South Central Ethiopia

Soil erosion by water is a severe and continuous ecological problem in the south central highlands of Ethiopia. Limited use of soil and water conservation technologies by farmers is one of the major causes that have resulted in accelerated soil erosion. Within this context, significant attention has been given to soil and water conservation practices. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of soil and water conservation practices on soil physicochemical properties after being practiced continuously for up to 10 years. The physicochemical properties of soil of landscape with physical soil and water conservation structures without biological conservation measures and physical soil and water conservation structures combined with biological conservation measures were compared with soil of landscape without soil and water conservation practices. The result of analysis disclosed that soil and water conservation interventions (both with biological and without biological measures) significantly increased the soil pH, soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, and available phosphorus content than the soil of landscape without soil and water conservation practices. The results of the analysis also showed that the mean value of cation exchange capacity and exchangeable bases (K+, Na+, C a 2 + , and M g 2 + ) of the soil under nonconserved farm field was significantly lower as compared to the soil of adequately managed farm fields. The findings of this study clarified that there was significant variation in soil properties. This variation could be due to uneven transport of soil particles by runoff. Therefore, soil conservation structures supported with biological measures improves the soil’s physicochemical properties.</jats:p