Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Awareness and Determinants of Sustainable Agricultural Land Management Practices Among Crop Farmers in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Igwe, Augustine Abor and Nwose Donatus Ijeh ………………………………………………..1

Quality Properties and Shelf life Evaluation of Bread and Cookies Incooperated with Organic Preservative Extracts (Anti-microbial and Antioxidants) obtained from Natural Sources

Orishagbemi, C. Ojo; Michael, O. Edith;  Opega, J. Ladi, Odiba & A. Adegede…….11

Factors Influencing the Use of E-Agriculture Information Sources and Their Extent of Usage on the Livelihood Status of Cereal Crop Farmers in Borno and Kebbi States, Nigeria

Mshelizah R. J., O. J. Ajayi, J. H. Tsado, I. Mohammed, G. Y. Chonoko, M. Y. Gele& A. Y. Sanda……………………………………………………………………………………31

Studies on Phytochemical Screening of Parkia biglobossa Ethanol and Hexane Extract Using Gc-Ms Analytical Technique

Tijjani, A.  Aliyu, M. Zaharaddeen, S.  And Abubakar, S.…….………………………….52

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE USE OF E-AGRICULTURE INFORMATION SOURCES AND THEIR EXTENT OF USAGE ON THE LIVELIHOOD STATUS OF CEREAL CROP FARMERS IN BORNO AND KEBBI STATES, NIGERIA

Mshelizah R. J¹., O. J. Ajayi², J. H. Tsado², M. Mohammed², G. Y. Chonoko¹ , M. Y. Gele³ & A. Y. Sanda¹ 

¹Department of Agricultural Extension and Management, College of Agriculture Zuru, Kebbi State

 ²Department of Agricultural Extn and Rural Development, Federal University of Technology, Minna

³Department of Agricultural Technology, Colleges of Agriculture Zuru, Kebbi State

Email: rejoicejames19@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The study examined the factors that influence the cereal crop farmers’ usage of e-agriculture information sources and their extent of usage on their livelihood status in Borno and Kebbi state, Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study are; to investigate the sources of information of e- agriculture and their extent of usage by the cereal crop farmers, to examine the livelihood status of the cereal crop farmers in the usage of e-agriculture information sources and to determine the factors that influence the usage of e-agriculture by the cereal crop farmers in the study area. Three (3) stage sampling procedure were used for the sampling. Data were collected using structured questionnaires. Simple descriptive statistics along with Likert scale of measurement were used to summarize the data collected on objectives (i) and (ii), while logit regression model and Pearson product moment correlation (PPMC) were used to achieve objective (iii) and tested the hypothesis of this study respectively. The result of the simple descriptive statistics revealed that, about 90% of the cereal crop farmers were using e-agriculture information sources. The likert scale result on extent of usage revealed that, mobile phone which is ranked 1^st in extent of usage with the mean score of 2.70 is highly in used by the cereal crop famers, along with radio which is ranked 2^nd in extent of usage with mean score of 2.64. The marginal effect result of logit regression revealed an inverse relationship between age (-2.59***), household size (-2.75***) and labour usage (-1.82***) which are negative, but has significant influence on the cereal crop farmers usage of e-agriculture information sources. These variables are significant at 1%, and 10% levels of significance respectively. Result on education (4.10***), farm size (2.86***), extension contact (2.73***), membership of cooperative (3.73***), sources of e-agriculture (4.34***), e-agriculture information on marketing (3.45***) and e-agriculture information on training (3.21***) are positive and statistically significant at 1% levels of significance. The hypothesis that was tested using PPMC, revealed direct and inverse correlations between livelihood status and the extent of usage of e-agriculture information sources all at 0.05 levels of significance, it was weak correlations, but lead to the rejection of the null hypothesis of the study.  Conclusively, the most used e-agriculture information sources are obviously mobile phone, radio and other farmers (friends). Therefore, cereal crop farmers are encouraged to explore the use of other sources of e-agriculture information; also extension contact with farmers in the study area should be increased as this will help them gain new knowledge that may help enhance their productivity. Keynote: Factors influencing, Extent of Usage, E-agriculture information sources, Livelihood Status, Cereal Crop Farmers, Borno and Kebbi

QUALITY PROPERTIES AND SHELF LIFE EVALUATION OF BREAD AND COOKIES INCOOPERATED WITH ORGANIC PRESERVATIVE EXTRACTS (ANTI MICROBIAL AND ANTIOXIDANTS) OBTAINED FROM NATURAL SOURCES

Orishagbemi, C. Ojo; Michael, O. Edith;  Opega, J. Ladi & Odiba, A. Adegede

Department of Food, Nutrition and Home Sciences

Kogi State University, PMB, 1008, Anyigba, Nigeria

Email: cornelosag@g.mail.com

ABSTRACT

Organic extracts containing antimicrobial and antioxidant agents from lemon, tumeric, onion peel and ripe cloves were prepared and used to preserve bread and cookies alongside sodium benzoate chemical preservative, then subjected to sensory property, microbiological and shelf life evaluation at the ambient temperature (28+2⁰C). Each extract was applied at four (4) concentration levels (0.04, 0.06, 0.08 and 0.10g/100g flour) and sodium benzoate (0.03g/100g flour) as control for bread, doughnut and biscuit samples (all coded). They were stored under ambient conditions, subjected to interval routine inspection, sensory, microbiological assessment, shelf life evaluation and data analysis using standard methods in all cases. The colour, taste, flavour and texture of bread loaf were most retained for five (5) days with 0.06g lemon extract/100g flour, similar to the control without any significant difference (p>0.05). Other extracts regardless of their concentration (0.04-010g) were found to retain these sensory attributes for lesser days before onset of mould growth. Also, the sensory attributes (colour, taste and flavour) of doughnut samples were not affected up to 8 days with 0.06g onion peel extract and 0.10g lemon extract /100g flour, while the control sample did not keep more than 5 days in storage. Tumeric and clove extracts, regardless of the concentration (0.04-0.10g) did not preserve doughnut beyond 3 and 6 days respectively. Apparently, extracts of lemon, onion peel and tumeric (0.04-0.010g concentration levels) and control were found to retain the colour, taste and flavour of biscuit for up to 5weeks under ambient storage temperature (28+⁰C), while clove extract preserved samples had poor colour, taste and flavour ratings regardless of the storage duration. The total plate count (TPC) of bread samples stored up to 5 days with lemon extract ranged from 2.9-4.1×10¹ cfu/g samples; doughnut with lemon and onion peel extracts kept for 8 days had a range of 5.3 -5.7×10^l and biscuit stored for 5 weeks had range, 1.5-3.0 x10¹ cfu/g sample. However, moulds and coliform were not detected. Although, samples with other extracts with corresponding concentrations that kept for few days as applicable had moulds (1.9-3.6×10¹ MPN/g sample) which rendered them unsafe for consumption and storage discontinued. Both lemon juice and onion peel extracts are found to be suitable organic antimicrobial /antioxidant agents suitable to replace chemical preservative for bread and cookies (doughnut and biscuit). 

Keywords: Organic Preservatives, Fruit/vegetable extracts, Cookies/bread preservation, Antimicrobial agent, Antioxidant.