Table of Contents
- Research Article
Sewage Fish Culture as an Alternative to Address the Conflict between Hunters and Hunting Communities in Northern Region PDF Issahaku Abdul-Rahaman, Mark Owusu-Frimpong, Patrick K. Ofori-Danson The people of Tamale in the Northern region of Ghana also hunt as a recreational or traditional or hobby at weekends during the dry season. Wild animals are indiscriminately killed and this poses a threat to the wildlife populations in the country. The conflict between hunters and hunting communities, the dangers involved in communal hunting, the occasional loss of lives, the destruction of the plant cover and the burning of farms is an indication that an alternative is necessary. Sewage fish culture is one of such alternatives. Human faeces are an effective fattening diet for fish. Sewage-fed ponds contain high levels of N, P, Ca, and K (Pacey, 1978) and can produce as high as 7-10 t/ha/yr of fish (FAO, 1994) depending on the sewage retention time (Kalbermatten et al., 1982). The use of sewage for fish culture has the potential to defray the costs of sanitation and sewage treatment processes in Tamale and other towns and cities in Ghana. - Research Article
Canopy Temperature Efficiency as Indicators for Drought Tolerance in Durum Wheat (Triticum Durum Desf.) in Semi Arid Conditions PDF A. Guendouz, S. Guessoum, K. Maamri, M. Benidir, M. Hafsi Durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) is one of the more widely cultivated crops in the Mediterranean basin, where drought is the main abiotic stress limiting its production. This study was conducted on the experimental site of station ITGC in Setif, Algeria. The objectives of this study were (i) to determine differences in canopy temperature (CT) and canopy temperature depression (CTD) of different durum wheat under both well-watered and moisture stressed conditions and (ii) to correlate canopy temperature (CT) and canopy temperature depression (CTD) with drought resistance indices value and yield of durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) under both conditions. The results of study showed a significant difference between CT and CTD under both conditions and among genotypes. Under dryland conditions, grain yield and mean CTD were correlated positively (r = 0.32**), this correlation is similar to other studies (Blum et al., 1989; Royo et al., 2002). Similar results of correlation between canopy temperature (CT), canopy temperature depression (CTD) and grain yield suggest that the use of CT and CTD in screening for highly tolerant varieties to drought is similar. The significant correlation of CT and CTD with Mean productivity (MP) and Stress tolerance index (STI) suggests that CTD and/or CT can be favorite selection criteria in plant breeding for drought tolerance. - Research Article
Assessment of the Acceptability of Sewage-cultured Fish Using Bacteriology and Social Responses at Gbalahi PDF Issahaku Abdul-Rahaman, Mark Owusu-Frimpong, Patrick K. Ofori-Danson This study focused on the suitability of using sewage treatment ponds at Gbalahi, a suburb of Tamale in the northern region of Ghana, to convert residual organic nutrients into quality animal protein through pisciculture. Two tilapia species O. niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758) and S. galilaeus (Linne, 1758) was evaluated and compared under identical conditions in hapas installed in five sewage treatments ponds. The microbiological enumeration showed that, total coliform bacteria were in higher levels (600-42000 cfu) than faecal coliform bacteria (64-8400 cfu) in all the ponds. The levels of faecal coliforms compared to the safe level (5000 cfu) set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Ghana, showed that fish from the ponds are safe for human consumption. However many people (44% of a total of 400) rejected sewage cultured fish because of high bacterial presence which could pose health hazards. Majority (60%) of the 1000 respondents would eat fish from sewage ponds even though about 80% of those who would eat sewage cultured fish were poor. The 40% who would not eat sewage-cultured fish were the rich.