Agricultural production is very sensitive to climate change, and it suffers from periodic outbreaks of insect pests which cause considerable losses especially in the humid and sub-humid tropics which severely constrain the productivity potential of global agriculture under changing climate conditions. The oil palm leaf miner is a major pest of the oil palm. Mathematical relationships between the leaf miner insect stages and weather factors were developed for pest predictions and forecasting. Decadal variation in air temperature was characterized by wide differences between 1961 – 1970 and 2001 – 2010. The assessment of the sensitivity of leaf miner to variability in weather and climate conditions is important in view of evidence that show expansion of pest ranges as a result of climate variability impacts. The study has established an upward increase in temperature, attributed to climate change, with a concomitant increase in leaf miner abundance between 1980 and 2010. Larvae showed an increasing trend for the observed period. When this observation was correlated with the weather (temperature, rainfall, and relative humidity) during these periods, it could be inferred that there was proliferation as a result of weather changes. This was different from the decreasing trend observed during the 1976 – 1980 period. Pupae showed a decreasing trend for the observed period. Adults showed an increasing trend for the observed period. It could be inferred that adults were proliferating due to temperature increases and rainfall decreases. An incremental increase in temperature could help explain fluctuations in insect pest populations within and between years. Thus climatic conditions greatly influenced seasonal leaf miner populations. The climate forecast up to 2050 indicates an upward trend in temperature and a downward trend in rainfall and relative humidity. This followed the climate trend between 1961 and 2010. This study contributes to the understanding of the insect pest-weather relationship in broad agricultural and food security terms. A major advantage is the potential for limiting the spread of outbreaks through timely control of early pest infestations.

The present investigation aimed at comparing meat qualities of broiler chickens reared on deep litter as affected by skip-a-day feed restriction and strain. A total number of two hundred and eighty-eight (288) unsexed day-old broilers comprising of 96 chicks each of Arbor acre, Marshall and Hubbard strains of broiler chickens raised on intensive housing systems were used to evaluate the organoleptic attributes. The chicks were allotted randomly to 12 pens per strain. The birds were distributed into four treatments with three replicates per treatment. An organoleptic test was carried out using the breast muscle at the 8th week. The cuts were salted and kept inside labeled polythene bags and steamed to the temperature of 72?C. A total of ten trained individuals aged between 20 and 30 years (males and females) were employed to assess the coded meat samples. Equal bite size from each treatment was coded, replicated thrice, and served for evaluation by the trainees. Analyzed results revealed that the organoleptic parameters such as Aroma, flavor, tenderness, juiciness, texture, and overall acceptability were not significantly affected by both the different feeding regimes and strains of broiler chickens.

Vegetable oils have many nutritional and therapeutic benefits, as it contains essential fatty acids and antioxidant compounds. In this study, virgin olive oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, and sesame oil were used in labneh manufacture for increasing its health benefits. Labneh was manufactured by using reconstituted milk skim milk powder and 1-2% of different vegetable oils. The chemical, rheological, microbiological, and organoleptic properties of labneh manufactured by using vegetable oils were determined. There were slight significant differences in moisture, protein, total nitrogen, fat, and ash values in labneh treatments while pH values decreased gradually until 21 days may be due to an increase in the acidity. Total viable count was gradually increased during storage up to 14 days, then they decreased in 21 days period of storage in treatments. Lactobacillus count was gradually increased during storage up to 21 days. Coliform and staphylococcus bacteria were not detected, while yeasts and molds were detected and reached a maximum at 21 days. Fracture, hardness, adhesiveness, cohesiveness springiness, and chewiness of fresh labneh treatments were determined. Organoleptic properties showed that with the increase in the percentage of vegetable oils, the total score of labneh treatments decreased, except for sesame oil. On other hand, all labneh treatments were sensually acceptable. The best treatment was fortified with 1% sunflower oil, it had a total score higher than the control treatment. Fortified labneh with virgin olive, sunflower, corn, and sesame oils can be considered as a new product with functional properties.

This study evaluated the distribution of particulates (PM1, PM 2.5, PM 4, PM 7, PM 10, and TSP) around smallholder gari production facilities in the Niger Delta, Nigeria. The particulates were evaluated at 3 distances (3.05, 7.62, and 15.24 m) from emission source in the dry season (November, January, and March) and wet season (May, July, and September) in Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Abia states. A mini-volume air sampler was used to assess the concentration of particulates, while health risk was assessed following standard protocol using median and geometric mean as reference values. The particulates ranged from 11.54 – 14.99 µg/m3, 18.70 – 22.34 µg/m3, 26.12 – 36.04 µg/m3, 37.00 – 52.26 µg/m3, 46.91 – 72.49 µg/m3 and 57.94 – 99.49 µg/m3 for PM1, PM2.5, PM4, PM7, PM10 and TSP, respectively. There were statistical variations (p<0.05) across months, distances, and locations of study and their interactions. The particulates correlates positively at p<0.01 with higher concentrations recorded for the dry season as opposed to the wet season, (indication of seasonal influence). The health risk assessment indicated a slight to moderate pollution in both seasons across the study area, which should be taken into advisement when considering long-term exposure to sensitive groups. Hence, there is a need to adopt a sustainable management of emissions due to gari production from cassava tuber.

The aim of this study was to evaluate serum liver enzymes’ activities and hepatic histoarchitecture in partially feed-deprived Clarias gariepinus (African Catfish). A total of forty-eight (48) active, live and apparently normal catfish randomly placed into two groups were used for this study. Fish in control group (labeled B) were fed with 4% of their body weight twice daily while fish in the feed-deprived group (labeled A) were fed with 25% of that quantity fed to the control group. Blood and liver samples were obtained at intervals of 7 days for 28 days for alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and for histopathology respectively. Results revealed significantly higher (P < 0.05) values for ALT, AST and ALP in the feed-deprived group (A) compared to the control group (B). On histopathology, liver sections of feed-deprived fish showed lipid vacuolation and this became accentuated over the period and most prominent on day 28. The study has demonstrated that starvation in catfish produced liver damage reflected by increase in serum activities of these liver enzymes.