Table of Contents
- Research Article
Influence of Breed on the Organoleptic Properties of Rabbit PDF Adelodun Opeyemi Fadare, Victoria Kehinde Arogbo An investigation was made on the influence of breed on the organoleptic characteristics of rabbit. The experiment was carried out at the rabbitry unit of the Department of Environmental Biology and Fisheries, Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba-Akoko, Ondo state. Forty eight (48) rabbits which include California white, Palomino brown, New Zealand white and Havana black were used for this study. At 12 weeks of age, rabbits were slaughtered and cooked samples were evaluated on a 9-point hedonic scale for colour, flavour, taste, juiciness, tenderness, texture and overall acceptability. The breed of rabbit had significant (P<0.05) influence on the flavour, tenderness, juiciness and overall acceptability of the meat samples. Meat samples from Havana black rabbit had the best ranking for flavour, tenderness, juiciness and overall acceptability while the Californian breed was the least preferred. However, the influence of breed was not significant (P>0.05) on the colour and texture of rabbit meat. Meat from New Zealand white and Palomino brown rabbit had the similar ranking for flavour and juiciness. Male rabbit meat was preferred to female rabbit meat in colour, flavour, tenderness, juiciness, texture and overall acceptability. In conclusion, Havana black rabbit meat had better organoleptic traits compared with meat from New Zealand white, Californian and Palomino brown rabbit. - Research Article
Sustainable Agricultural Production in Degraded Oil Producing and Conflict Prone Communities of Niger Delta, Nigeria PDF Ekanem Jemimah, Nwachukwu Ike The rich alluvial soil of the delta coupled with copious web of fish and salt water bodies provide the necessary incentives for the people of Niger Delta of Nigeria, who are predominantly farmers and fishers. The ecological devastation occasioned by oil exploration has rendered farming and fishing which are the main occupations of the rural people of this region, useless. The paper seeks to highlight the extent of the environmental degradation in the Niger Delta region, determine the efforts of the Oil Companies in remediating the degraded farmlands, and make recommendations for a sustainable agricultural development in the Niger Delta. It identifies three (3) states, and 31 environments which are severely polluted with oil, noted the effects of oil production on agricultural production and attempt to describe some of the remediation activities carried out by some of the oil companies in this region and concludes that, to achieve sustainable agricultural production, continuous remediation of the degraded environment, Special agricultural intervention by the three tiers of government, youth education, encouragement and motivation and supply of subsidized inputs to the real farmers were necessary.