HYPOPONICS

HELLO its been a while now
and i know the month of October was a wonderful month for us.

Scientist  and Technologist are trying day by day to boost and change the face of agriculture all around the globe. And am very proud to say agriculture has left that PHASE of crude ways of farming ..

 
I know its will be hard for some persons to believe that crops can be grown without the use of soil .. wowwwwww
yes that practice is called HYDROPONICS..

                                                               HYDROPONICS
   Its a Greek word
        hydro- water
        ponous- labour
which means working water

HYDROPONIC- it is the cultivation of plants or crops in a NUTRIENT enriched WATER without SOIL.
         Water contains required amount of nutrient for growth
HYDROPONIST- a person that practice hydroponics
HYDROPONICUM-  a building or garden which hydroponics is practiced or done.

                                                                 ADVANTAGES
1) No labour of tilling,land preparation,pest control etc.
2)Maximum yield of crops, crops will produce all year round.
3)No loss of nutrient to erosion, leaching, unlike planting on soil.
4)It can be done any where even on a barren land.

                                                              DISADVANTAGES
1) it requires a technical know how, you have to know more about it
2) it requires time.

      please what this video to get more info on hydroponics















                                   THANK YOU   READ, WATCH ,SHARE AND LEARN
                                              AGRICULTURE MUST GROW
                                                           PO9

YAM CULTIVATION

hello everyone

This week we will be looking at another very popular root crop

YAM CULTIVATION

yam plant

          

                                                         

                                                YAM

                                           Botanical name: Dioscorea   spp.   
              The botanical name has spp because we have different species of yam.
               Yam is a crop mostly grown in Africa .It can be boiled ,fried,roasted or pounded.
               yam is a ROOT AND TUBER CROP( it stores its fruit in its root) also its an
               ANNUAL CROP( crops that complete their life cycle from time of planting to harvest in one year)

yam  

                                       

                                                 CLIMATE AND SOIL REQUIREMENTS

         RAINFALL:   1020-1780mm 
                                  yam is a sun loving plant ( high sunshine)
         SOIL TYPE:   A well drained loamy soil not waterlogged and also well ploughed 
                                   soil clumping
                                                                 

                                                       LAND PREPARATION

     1)  LAND CLEARING:
              In subsistence agriculture ( this the type  of farming that is practiced just for family or self consumption after harvest it is not for sale) lands is cleared manually by the means of hoe,cutlass and grasses are raked and burnt.
               

farmers clearing farmland with a hoe

In COMMERCIAL FARMING(farming practiced where farm produce are mainly for sale) clearing with use of bulldozer for stumping and clearing.

a bulldozer clearing farmland 

    

    2)  MAKING OF RIDGES
                This the drawing together of the top soil with the use of a hoe, this is to provide sufficient depth of loose soil for the proper growth of the yam tubers in some places yam sett are planted on flat land without accumulation of the top soil. 
    Ridges can also be done manually by the use of (hoe) and mechanicaly by the use of a ridger                               

a mechanical ridger in action

                                           

                                                     

ridge ready for planting      

  

                                                      CULTIVATION

                           Yam is cultivate with the use of its SEED called YAM SETT. The diagram bellow shows yam setts that has been splited into mini sett for planting .
                                                                        

yam sett showing healthy buds

 PLANTING DATE:   OCTOBER - DECEMBER ( EARLY PLANTING)

                                                            FEBRUARY - MARCH      (LATE PLANTING) 
 setts should be planted 15cm deep and covered with 8-15cm of soil healthy buds should be present.

                                                                      STAKING
        This is the supporting of yam veins with the use of long sticks or bamboo also in the absence of wood for staking yam can be planted after maize or sougurm plant so that yam vein can climb on the stake.

     

different position of yam staking       

 

 

                                                              

 

 

  WEED CONTROL

        Weeds are unwanted plant growing in an unwanted place and this plants compete with crops for nutrients. in yam cultivation weeds are controlled
by HAND OR HOE
 CHEMICALLY BY PRIMEXTRA (HERBICIDES) herbicides are chemicals use for killing weeds.

                                                                      HARVEST
       Yam matures 8-12 months after planting ,first sign of maturity : leaves and vine dries up, the surface of the soil around the yam sometimes cracks especially in dry season.
        Yam is harvested by digging out each tubers carefully with cutlass and try as much as possible not to bruise the yam tubers.
      FOR EARLY PLANTING HARVEST TAKES PLACE BETWEEN JULY OR MID SEPTEMBER
       FOR LATE PLANT HARVEST TAKES PLACE BETWEEN  MID OCTOBER AND JANUARY


      
        
                     
                                                                           STORAGE 
Harvested yams are stored away from soil and intense sun rays to avoid spoilage 
most are stored in YAM BARNS.
Some are peeled and cut into pieces then sun dried(this kind of tubers last for a long period of time)
 Dried yam are made into yam flour by pounding in mortar orby flour mill.

                   

                                                       

yam barn

                                                                   






                                                                  YAM PEST

1)   YAM BEETLE: They make holes in yam tubers causing huge damage to crop and reduce
                                    market value.
                                    symptoms: visible holes on yam tubers.
                                     control:    use of furadan chemical.

beetle

yam affected by beetle

 2)    YAM SHOOT BEETLE: This attacks the shoot of a yam 

 3)    YAM EEL-WORM:  This attacks yam tubers in the soil causing them to rot 
                                           symptoms: yam becomes brown and soft and unfit for consumption
                                            control: crop rotation
                                                           bush burning before planting

           

yam affected by eel worm

                                              










                                                           YAM DISEASES

YAM MOSAIC:      causal Organism:virus
                                   symptoms: plant stunted growth and change in colour of plant.
                                   control:      good crop rotation.


                                                              

yam leaf affected by mosaic

                                                    SPECIES OF YAM

1) WHITE YAM ( Dioscorea rotundata): Colour of flesh is white or cream matures 8months after planting

2) YELLOW YAM (Dioscorea cayenensis): Colour of flesh is yellow, leaves are thicker and greener , matures 12month after planting.

3) WATER YAM ( Dioscorea  alata) : color  of flesh is either purple or yellow , mostly grown in west Africa high amount of water matures after 10months
                                   

                           

                                                    thanks for reading and sharing.
                                                        but remember also learn
                                                                            po9

GROUNTNUT CULTIVATION

           
hello

hope you had a wonderful independence day ..

This week we will be taking a look at GROUNDNUT CULTIVATION..

groundnut plant

                                                                  GROUNDNUT 
    BOTANICAL NAME: Arachis hypogaea

 Groundnut is mostly called PEANUT by the Americans , the main reason it is called (HYPOGAEA) is because IT IS A CROP THAT STORES ITS  FRUIT  IN ITS ROOT(root crop) .
IT IS A LEGUME


hypo-UNDER
gaea- GROUND

harvested groundnut fruits

Groundnut is a food crop and also a cash crop exported mainly because of THE OIL gotten from the fruit.   

                                                                                          








                                         CLIMATE AND SOIL REQUIREMENT
Groundnut grows mostly in the TROPICS REGION
 RAIN FALL : 510-1270mm rain fall must be well distributed )
 SUNLIGHT  : it is a sun loving plant
 SOIL TYPE  : A well drained SANDY LOAM SOIL will help in  burning the fruit in soil very 
                            before and during germination , also soil should be rich in LIME.


                                                                  CULTIVATION
  Groundnut is cultivated by SEED 
    Seeds are sown in 4-5cm deep holes 
    SPACING:  25cm  along rows and 90cm between rows  
     PLANTING 
Early planting:  MARCH-APRIL( because of the rain)
Late planting  :   SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 
         
                                                                   GERMINATION 
 It undergoes EPIGEAL GERMINATION ( the seed is been pushed out of the soil during germination, it takes place above the soil)

EPIGEAL GERMINATION

Germination takes place after 4-5days of planting 

MATURITY STAGE: 3-5months 
CULTURAL PRACTICES: weeding , fertilizer application, fumigation , drip irrigation .
                             
                                   WHAT HAPPENS DURING GERMINATION
1) The first visible evidence of growth you see is the RADICLE( the first part of a seed to shoot downwards into the soil to form root during germination) ,

2)  then the HYPOCOTYLEDON (the first tender stem formed during the process of germination which pushes up the leaves seedlings from the soil out wards) 
                                                          

GERMINATION STAGES

 

                                                                        HARVESTING
   Groundnut matures from 90-130days depending on the type of climate and seed planted
    Leave turns yellow 
    harvesting is done manually by uprooting or  digging out plant from the root it has to be         
    done carefully to avoid fruit loss

                                                                                    

harvested groundnut

                                                                                          

ripe groundnut plant ready for harvest

STORAGE

         Harvested ground nut is dried and dusted with insecticides to avoid distruction by insects
          it is put in sac for export, in bins, air tight containers , rat proof baskets , silos,

industrial silo

          local silos.

dried nut

                                                                                         
                                                                             DISEASES

1 Groundnut Rosette: Caused by virus
                                    casual organism: aphids
                                    symptom : yellowing of leaves,  stunted growth
                                    control:      early planting, control of organism

leaf affected by rosette

2   Aspergillus        : caused by fungi
                                  symptom:   williting of fruit
                                  control:    rapid   drying groundnut

aspergillus

3   Leaf spot          :    caused by fungi
                                    symptom:  brown ring forms on leaf
                                    control:   crop rotation

                                                                  PEST

1 BEETLE
2 APHIDS
3 TERMITES  
                                                 GENERAL CONTROL

       FUMIGATION WITH INSECTICIDE (CARBON DISULPHATE)


                                                         EXPORTING COUNTRIES
   CHINA
   AMERICA
   NIGERIA 


                                            NUTRITONAL VALUE

PROTIEN - 25%-30%
OIL           - 50%
CARBOHYDRATE-  5%



REFRENCES:    LANDMARK UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FARM
                            GROWTH AND MINERAL NUTRITION OF FIELD CROP(NAND KUMAR     
                                                                                                                                     FAGERIA)




                   WE SHOULD ALL BE LOOKING FORWARD TO OUR  PRACTICE OF THE WEEK
                                 IT WILL BE POSTED ON THE BLOG ON THURSDAY
                                              THANK YOU  READ AND SHARE
                                NOT JUST READ , PLEASE PRACTICE AGRICULTURE
                                                                  PO9