Research Articles

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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14155/178

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Antimicrobial and preservative activities of A. danielli in food matrices.
(Lambert Academic Publishing, Saarbrucken, Germany., 2013) Adegoke, G. O.; Afolabi, M. O.
Antimicrobial wound healing properties of indigenous medicinal plants of Lesotho and the pharmacist's role in minor wound care
(Department of Pharmacy, National University of Lesotho, Lesotho, 2021) Hlokoane, OK; Sello, M
Lesotho has a rich supply of indigenous medicinal plant resources. More than a dozen Lesotho medicinal plants have been used to treat minor wound infections among Basotho for over 100 years. The aim is to provide scientific validation of their antimicrobial activities against microorganisms relevant to the skin. The anti-infective activities of plants are thought to be due to the presence of active phytochemicals in parts of the plants, especially phenolic compounds, anthraquinones, glycosides, and alkaloids. Although there is limited research that establishes the structure-activity relationship of those phytochemicals, there are reports that attributed the phytochemical constituents with the antimicrobial effects through a variety of mechanisms ranging from inhibition of cytoplasmic membrane function, inhibition of energy metabolism to inhibition of bacterial nucleic acid synthesis. The role of the pharmacist is to provide medical information on these compounds to promote the safe use of herbal products and in combination with conventional medicines.
Antioxidant and anti-browning activities of A. daniell
(Lambert Academic Publishing, Saarbrucken, Germany., 2013) Adegoke, G. O.; Afolabi, M. O.
Assessment of Adoption of Conservation Agriculture in Roma Valley, Lesotho
(International Journal of Science and Research, 2019-01-01) P.D. Sesoai, M.A.O Akintunde and K.J.B. Keregero
The study assessed adoption of CA in Roma Valley. The specific objectives were to: assess whether farmers possess knowledge of CA, assess the attitudes of farmers towards CA and find out the extent to which farmers have implemented CA. The study involved 47 farmers based in Roma Valley. An interview schedule was used for collecting data which were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer programme version 20. The findings revealed that majority of the respondents possessed knowledge of CA and positive attitudes towards it. They also revealed that none of the farmers practiced CA in Roma Valley. The study concluded that while respondents in Roma Valley are generally aware of CA as a farming practice and have positive attitude towards it, implying potential inclination towards adopting it, they have generally not practiced it
Bowen Ratio Energy Balance Measurement of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Fluxes of No-till and Conventional Tillage Agriculture in Lesotho.
(Open Journal of Soil Science, 2014) O'Dell, D.; Sauer, T. J.; Hicks, B. B.; Lambert, D. M.; Smith, D. R.; Bruns, W.; Marake, M. V.; Walker, F. W.; Wilcox Jr., M. D.; Eash, N. S.; Basson, A.
Global food demand requires that soils be used intensively for agriculture, but how these soils are managed greatly impacts soil fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2). Soil management practices can cause carbon to be either sequestered or emitted, with corresponding uncertain influence on atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The situation is further complicated by the lack of CO2 flux measurements for African subsistence farms. For widespread application in remote areas, a simple experimental methodology is desired. As a first step, the present study investigated the use of Bowen Ratio Energy Balance (BREB) instrumentation to measure the energy balance and CO2 fluxes of two contrasting crop management systems, till and no-till, in the lowlands within the mountains of Lesotho. Two BREB micrometeorological systems were established on 100-m by 100-m sites, both planted with maize (Zea mays) but under either conventional (plow, disk-disk) or no-till soil management systems. The results demonstrate that with careful maintenance of the instruments by appropriately trained local personnel, the BREB approach offers substantial benefits in measuring real time changes in agroecosystem CO2 flux. The periods where the two treatments could be compared indicated greater CO2 sequestration over the no-till treatments during both the growing
Characterization of fatty acid profile by FFFS
(Springer Science+Business Media, 2014-01-25) Ntakatsane, M. P.; Zhou, P.; Mothibe, K. J.; Adegoke, G. O.; Odenya, W. O.; Liu, X. M.
The purpose of the study was to assess potential application of front face fluorescence spectroscopy as a rapid and non-destructive technique to discriminate between fats of animal and plant origin based on their fatty acid profiles, and to predict concentration of fatty acids from fluorescence spectra. Vitamin E emission spectra (300–500 nm) of butterfat and vegetable oil samples were recorded with excitation wavelength set at 295 nm. Fatty acid composition of the samples was determined by gas chromatography. Principal component analysis and partial least squares regression analysis were applied to the gas chromatography and fluorescence spectroscopy data. The butter-fats and vegetable oils were discriminated based on the total saturated and unsaturated fatty acids respectively. Tocopherols and tocotrienols accounted for the variability among various oils. A good prediction model was established with R2 = 0.745–0.992 for saturated fatty acids. The unsaturated fatty acids were characterized by low coefficients of determination (R2\0.339). The fatty acid profiles predicted from fluorescence spectra did not show significant difference to those determined by gas chromatography used as references. A good association was established between the two data tables. The study demonstrated great potential of front face fluorescence spectroscopy to rapidly discriminate between fats of animal and plant origin, and predict their saturated fatty acids composition, which could in turn be used for detection of milk fat adulteration with vegetable oil.
Characterization of fatty acid profiles of fats and oils by fluorescence spectroscopy.
(Journal of Food Measurement and Characterization, 2014) Liu, X. M.; Nkheloane, T.; Ntakatsane, M. P.; Zhou, P.; Mothibe, K. J.; Adegoke, G. O.; Odenya, W. O.
Conservative agriculture adoption, profitability, input demand and maize production: A household survey analysis of smallholder producers in Lesotho
(Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 2014) Lambert, M. D.; Marake, M.
Effect of Information Communication Technologies on Information Access in Lesotho Extension System
(Merit Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Soil Sciences, 2019-01-01) Akintunde* M.A.O. and Oladele O.I.
The study assessed the effect of Information Communication Technologies on information access among public and private agricultural extension officers in Lesotho. ICT infrastructure in Lesotho is currently low, with accessibility to telecommunication services of about 3% of the entire population for land telephone lines and just about 20% for mobile phone. Lesotho ICT policy has provided guidance by allocating various responsibilities to role players: this involves the Ministry of Communications to formulate policies and the Lesotho Telecommunication Authority (LTA) to regulate operations in communication infrastructure. However, the effect of ICT on information access among extension officers is still not known. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 86 public and 19 private extension officers. Data collected were analysed through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), using frequencies, percentages, mean, standard deviation and multiple regressions. Both categories of extension officers (public and private) had very high perceptions of the positive effects of information and communications technology on access to information. They scored high in most of the twenty-nine statements measuring these effects. The multiple regression model revealed a strong relationship between independent variables and public and private extension officers’ information access. Collaborations between public and private extension should be be strengthened, since private extension service is more organized than the public, this will help the use of ICT in the development programmes in the country.
Effect of restricted feeding and season on the carcass chemical composition of Koekoek chickens
(International Journal of Applied Poultry Research, 2014) Molapo, S. M.; Webb, E. C.
The main objective of the study was to determine the effect of restricted feeding and season on carcass chemical composition of Koekoek chickens. Two hundred and seventy hens and 27 cocks were used. The experiment was designed as a factorial of two seasons and four feeding regime treatments. The four treatments were AA, AR, RA and RR. Each treatment had seven replicates (10 birds per replicate) with an exception of RR treatment which was replicated six times (10 birds per replicate). Data was collected at 18 and 32 weeks of age. At the age of 18 weeks, feed restriction had an impact on dry matter, fat and crude protein percentage. At 32 weeks of age, birds that were fed restrictedly had reduced fat content and increased crude protein. The lowest crude protein percentage was recorded in chickens that were allocated to full feeding for the entire study (AA). Chickens that were allotted to summer treatment had a higher dry matter and crude protein content than chickens that were in winter treatment at 18 weeks of age. Koekoek chickens that were in summer and winter treatments performed differently in terms dry matter, ash, crude fat and crude protein percentages at the age of 32 weeks. It is therefore, concluded that restricted feeding coupled with rearing chickens in winter resulted in lean carcass with more protein.
Effect of restricted feeding on carcass characteristics of Koekoek chickens
(Anim. Vet. Sci, 2014) Molapo, S. M.; Webb, E. C.
An experiment was conducted to evaluate the impact of feed restriction on carcass characteristics of Koekoek chickens. Two hundred and seventy hens and twenty seven cocks were randomly allocated to four feeding level treatments in a completely randomized design in chickens were full-fed in the rearing and laying phases (AA), chickens were full-fed in the rearing phase and restricted fed during the laying phase (AR), chickens were fed restricted feeding in the rearing phase and full-fed in the laying phase (RA) and chickens were fed restrictedly during the rearing and laying phases (RR). Each treatment had seven replicates (10 animals per replicate) with the exception of RR treatment which had six replicates (10 animals per replicate). Collected data was subjected to SPSS (17.00) package and analyzed by using analysis of variance (ANOVA). In the rearing phase, feed restriction resulted in reduced slaughter weight, dressing weight, skin weight, breast muscle weight, shank width, chest width and heart girth (P<0.05). Abdominal fat weight was higher (P<0.05) in chickens that were full-fed. At the age of 32 weeks, the effect of compensatory growth was prominent in chickens that that were subjected to RA treatment in a number of carcass traits. It is concluded that full feeding only in the laying phase (RA) would be the appropriate feeding management technique if chickens were to be slaughtered in the laying phase.
Effect of restricted feeding on the growth performance of Koekoek chickens.
(International Journal of Applied Poultry Research, 2014) Molapo, S. M.; Webb, E. C.
The objective of this study was to determine the effect of restricted feeding on growth performance of Koekoek chickens. Two hundred and seventy Koekoek chickens were randomly allocated to four feeding treatments. The four treatments were AA (full feeding throughout the study), AR (full feeding for rearing and feed restriction for laying, RA (feed restriction for rearing and full feeding for laying phase) and RR (restricted feeding throughout the study). Feed restriction during the rearing phase (AA and AR) significantly (P<0.05) increased the final body weights and total weight gains of chickens. The feed intake was significantly higher in full-fed chickens. Unrestricted feeding during the rearing phase (AA and AR) significantly improved the average feed conversion ratio. During the laying phase, final body weights of chickens in RA treatment were significantly heavier compared to those in other treatments. Chickens in RA treatment gained (P<0.05) more weight followed by birds in AA, RR and AR treatments respectively. The chickens that were feed restricted only during the laying phase (RA) were significantly efficient in feed conversion. Therefore, it is concluded that early feed restriction is the best feeding management strategy. Key words: Full-fed, weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, mortality rate
Effect of stocking density and age at stocking on growth and survival of Heterobranchus bidorsalis larvae
(Trop. Anim. Prod. Invest, 2016-01-01) *Osho, E. F1., Ajani E. K1., Omitoyin B.O, Oyebola O. O1., Setufe S. B1., Kareem O. K1. and M. A. Akintunde2
Survival and growth performance of Heterobranchus bidorsalis larvae reared for 28 days at different stocking densities and ages were monitored to determine the optimum stocking density and age at stocking. Nine hundred fry were stocked at densities 100fry/m3 (SD1), 200fry/m3 (SD2), 300fry/m3 (SD3) and 400fry/m3 (SD4). Fry were stocked at day 3, day 6 and day 9 after hatching (A, B, and C respectively). They were fed with same commercial fry wean diet ad libitum. Growth indices (mean weight gain, mean total length, average daily growth rate, specific growth rate, performance index, condition factor) and survival rate were measured. The result showed that mean weight gain, mean total length, average daily growth and specific growth rate were stocking density dependent. Mean weight gain ranged from 0.09±0.03 in SD2A to 0.41±0.15g in SD1A. The least stocking density (100fry/m3) stocked at day three (SD1A) had the highest values of mean weight gain and mean length gain, while the highest survival was also recorded in the fish stocked at 100fry/m3 in day three (SD1A) and day nine (SD1C). The fish stocked in day three at 100fry/m3 had the highest performance index but the most consistent performance index was observed in fish stocked in day nine. It was concluded that H. bidorsalis fry should be stocked at 100fry/m3 at day three after hatching as this will enhance optimum survival and best yield.
The effect of trade liberalization on wheat-flour-bread value chain in Lesotho
(International Journal of Current Research, 2014) Rantlo, A. M.
The effects of access to electricity on biomass use for energy purposes in Ha Lebenkele area.
(Lesotho Journal of Agricultural Science, 2014) Rantlo, A. M.
Effects of effective microorganisms (EM) on garlic (Allium Sativum L) Production in Roma Valley in Lesotho
(Lesotho Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2014) Mofokeng, M.; Mohammed, J.
Evaluation of cover crops performance and impact on soil nutrient status under minimum tillage in two agro-ecological zones of Lesotho.
(Lesotho Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2014) Mapeshoane, B.; Mothunya, L.
Farmers’ perception of alley cropping: a case study of IITA alley cropping programme participants
(Asian Journal of Science and Technology, 2016-08-01) Akintunde, M. A. O. and Rantlo, A.M
Alley cropping or hedgerow intercropping is one of the many sub-systems of agroforestry technology. It has been introduced to farmers in many countries of West Africa including Nigeria by International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan. IITA established these alley farms and supervised its maintenance in order to achieve results. The farmers were also given incentives like tree seedlings, palm trees, cutlasses, to encourage them. This study is narrowed down to two villages- Alabata in Akinyele local government area of Oyo state and Ayepe in Ishokan local government area of Oshun state. All the fifty-five male farmers who are participating in the programme are purposively selected. They recognized that alley cropping helped to increase soil fertility, improved weed control and reduced pests. They also recognized certain constraints such as increased labour demand, competition among crops and weeding.
Genetic parameter and relationships of faecal worm egg count with objectively measured wool traits in the Tygerhoek Merino flock
(South African Journal of Animal Science, 2013) Cloete, S. W. P.; Matebetsi-Ranthimo, P. A. M.; van Wyk, J. B.; Olivier, J. J.
The costs of internal parasite control and treatment are potentially very high in grazing sheep. Faecal worm egg count (FEC) has been suggested as a suitable criterion for selection for resistance to nematode infestation in livestock. Genetic parameter estimates for FEC and its relationship with wool traits were assessed in the current study, using data from Merino sheep from a selection experiment maintained at Tygerhoek Research Farm. Data consisted of ~7 100 animals born between 1989 and 2010. Rectal faecal samples were taken from individual sheep at 13 to 16 months of age, after drenching had been withheld for at least 10 weeks, generally in July to September. Nematode eggs were counted with the McMaster technique, with a sensitivity of 100 eggs per gram of wet faeces. The fixed effects of birth type, sex, birth year and sex x birth year interaction were included in the operational model for FEC. Only the effect of additive animal affected the data for FEC. Heritability estimates of FEC ranged from 0.10 for untransformed FEC to 0.16 for Log (FEC + 100). The genetic relationships of Log (FEC + 100) with staple strength (SS), staple length (SL), coefficient of variation of fibre diameter (CVFD) and standard deviation of fibre diameter (SDFD) were favourable. The genetic correlations of FEC with wool weight traits were unfavourable in absolute terms, but not significantly different from zero. Selection for FEC is unlikely to result in unfavourable correlated responses to wool traits in South African Merinos, with the exception of wool weights. __________________________________________________________________________________
Growth Patterns and Condition Factor of Hepsetus odoe (Bloch, 1794) Captured in Eleyele Lake, Southwest Nigeria
(Fisheries and Aquaculture journal, 2016-07-20) Kareem OK1*, Olanrewaju AN2, Osho EF1, Orisasona O3 and Akintunde MA4
Hepsetus odoe is a commercially valuable fish and is considered as endemic to Nigeria. The growth patterns and condition factor of Hepsetus odoe from Lake Eleyele, Oyo State were investigated as an aspect of its biology essential for bringing it to culture. A Total of 205 specimens (55 and 150, males and females, respectively) were collected between June, 2012 and August, 2012. The morphometric indices such as Total Length (TL), Standard Length (SL), Body Weight (BW) and Stomach Weight (SW) were assessed using standard methods. Also, the length-weight relationship (W=aLb) and Condition factor (100W/L3) were calculated. Sex ratio of 1:3 (Males and Females) was obtained which shows a female dominated population. The Standard length (SL) and body weight (BW) ranged from 16.60-30.50 cm and 51.0-250.0 g respectively. Length-weight relationship equations were calculated as: Log BW=2.051+3.105log SL (r=0.93) This analysis showed significant relationship between the standard length, body weight and stomach weight. The relative condition factor (Kn) calculated ranged from 0.99-2.14 while the mean K value was 1.24. The condition factor fall within the range recommended for freshwater fish species in the tropics. The growth pattern indicates that the fish follows cube law and exhibited positive

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