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Role of Seaweed and Water Hyacinth Biofertilizers: Quality and Production of Cowpea (Vigna Unguiculata)
Published in Megh R Goyal, Sustainable Biological Systems for Agriculture, 2018
Bhumika P. Chadamiya, Hetal J. Chadamiya, Vaishali D. Patel, Gaurav V. Sanghvi, Prashant D. Kunjadia, Devendra Vaishnav, Gaurav S. Dave
Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) is a good protein source and one of the most ancient human food sources probably since Neolithic times.20 It is an important multipurpose grain legume extensively cultivated in arid and semiarid tropics. It is an important source of nutrients and provides high quality, inexpensive protein to diets based on the cereal grains and starchy foods.28 Cowpea is a good source of food, forage, fodder, vegetable, and certain snacks.21 Moreover, it has been reported about its ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen in soil at the rate of 56 kg/ha through symbiotic bacteria under favorable conditions.2, 9, 10 In India, the capita/day availability of pulses had decreased from 69 g during 1960s to 35 g today, as against the Food And Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization (FAO/WHO)’s current recommendation of 80 g per day.3 Worldwide, cowpeas are cultivated in approximately 8 million hectares. Area under cowpea in India is 3.9 million hectares with a production of 2.21 million tons with the national productivity of 683 kg/ha.28
Biotechnology Development in Nigeria
Published in Sylvia Uzochukwu, Nwadiuto (Diuto) Esiobu, Arinze Stanley Okoli, Emeka Godfrey Nwoba, Christpeace Nwagbo Ezebuiro, Charles Oluwaseun Adetunji, Abdulrazak B. Ibrahim, Benjamin Ewa Ubi, Biosafety and Bioethics in Biotechnology, 2022
A. Akpa, N. C. Ezebuiro, Benjamin Ewa Ubi, Christie Onyia, Abdulrazak Ibrahim
Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is a food and animal feed crop grown in the semiarid tropics covering Africa, Asia, Europe, the United States, and Central and South America. The grains contain 25% protein, and several vitamins and minerals. The plant tolerates drought, performs well in a wide variety of soils, and being a legume, it has the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen. It is grown mainly by small-scale farmers in developing regions where it is often cultivated with other crops as it tolerates shade. It also grows and covers the ground quickly, preventing erosion. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization Corporate Statistical Database for 2016 (FAOSTAT, 2016), more than 5.4 million tons of dried cowpeas are produced worldwide, with Africa producing nearly 5.2 million. Nigeria, the largest producer and consumer, accounts for 61% of production in Africa and 58% worldwide. More than 11 million hectares are harvested worldwide, 97% of which are in Africa. Fifty-two percent of Africa’s production is used for food, 13% as animal feed, 10% for seeds, 9% for other uses, and 16% is wasted (https://www.iita.org/cropsnew/cowpea/). Nigeria harvests 4.5 million hectares annually. The crop can be harvested in three stages: while the pods are young and green, mature and green, and dry. All parts of the cowpea crop are valuable because they are rich in nutrients and fiber for humans and livestock. In Africa, humans consume the young leaves, immature pods, immature seeds, and the mature dried seeds. The stems, leaves, and vines serve as animal feed and are often stored for use during the dry season.
Arsenic removal from aqueous solutions and groundwater using agricultural biowastes-derived biosorbents and biochar: a column-scale investigation
Published in International Journal of Phytoremediation, 2019
Riaz Ahmad Tabassum, Muhammad Shahid, Nabeel Khan Niazi, Camille Dumat, Yongqing Zhang, Muhammad Imran, Hafiz Faiq Bakhat, Imtyaz Hussain, Sana Khalid
In contrast to other cations, mean values of water Mg contents increased after treatment with all the biosorbents (Table 4). The concentrations of K increased in water after treatment with sand, decreased for orange peels, banana peels, and biochar while it remained unaffected after treatment with rice husk. This increase in Mg and K contents after treatment could be due to solubilization of these cations from biosorbents. Indeed, compared to other cations, Mg and K are present in a very high amount in biosorbents. Previously, Olaofe and Sanni (1988) reported that the agricultural products (sorghum, maize, soybean, cowpea, sweet potato, cassava, white yam and water yam) contained high Mg and K contents (377–4510 mg/100 g food sample) compared to other mineral nutrients (Fe, Ca, Zn, and Mn). Moreover, it has been reported that Mg and K have high digestibility in the straw and hay compared to micro-elements (Kabaija and Little 1989), which can be a possible reason for the increase in Mg and K contents after treatment with agricultural biosorbents.
Fabrication and characterization of nano-hydroxyapatite particles and assessment of the effect of their supplementation on growth of bacterial root endosymbionts of cowpea
Published in Inorganic and Nano-Metal Chemistry, 2022
Simranjot Kaur, Anu Kalia, Sat Pal Sharma
Legume plants have been one of the first crops for which the biofertilizers or rhizobial inoculants were developed and commercialized. Unlike other legume plants, vegetable cowpea (Vigna unguiculata Walp L.) is a promiscuous host with its root nodules being inhabited by a variety of endosymbiotic bacteria other than the Bradyrhizobium sp., the traditional root nodule bacteria. These non-rhizobial endosymbionts provide several biomolecules (plant growth-promoting substances) to the host plant thereby improving the root and shoot growth, mineral and water absorption potential, availability of essential macronutrients (N, P) and micronutrients (Zn, Fe, Mn), photosynthesis and productivity of the host plant.[13] Isolation of these endosymbionts followed by their characterization for functional plant growth-promoting (PGP) traits can help in obtaining biofertilizers with improved efficiency. The extended PGP activities of the legume non-rhizobial endosymbionts including the production of Indole acetic acid (IAA),[14,15] siderophore molecules,[16] and availability of fixed organic or inorganic P-nutrient in the soil in the plant-available form[22] are of greater significance. The establishment and competitiveness of these microbial inoculants is a prerequisite for ensuring the benefits these microbes impart to the inoculated host plant. Hence, the growth and cell division rate of the inoculated bacteria can be enhanced. Further, the possibility of dilution and slough off of the individual bacterial cells from the root surface of the inoculated plant due to being out-numbered by the indigenous microbial population and predated by the bacterial grazers are enormous.[13] Therefore, microbial inoculants exhibiting high cell division rates and possessing the ability to produce extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) and form biofilm-like structures that allow these bacteria to coat the root surface are very useful traits. The present investigation explores the eliciting effect of supplementation of nHA in liquid broth medium on growth and morphology of the non-rhizobial endosymbionts of vegetable cowpea. This will be the initial report that depicts the positive impact of nanoHA on bacterial physiological processes and viable cell count of the endosymbiotic bacterial cultures.