Studies to evaluate the response of passion fruit seedlings in terms of emergence, nursery, and early field growth to growing media and mulching were carried out at the Teaching and Research Farm of Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University Makurdi between July and December 2018. Treatments consisted of five media, composted from readily available substrates. The five nursery media were; medium 1:1:2:3 (SB) composed of top soil + poultry manure + river sand; medium 2:1:2:3 (RHB) – rice hull + poultry manure + river sand; medium 3:2:3:1 (RHB) – rice hull + poultry manure + river sand; medium 4:1:4:3 (SDB) – sawdust + poultry manure + river sand and medium 5:1:2:3 (SDB) – sawdust + poultry manure + river sand. For the nursery experiment, treatments were the five potting media, while the field trial was a 5 × 2 factorial arrangement consisting of the five growing media and mulching status (mulch and no mulch). In both cases, treatments were laid out in randomized designs that were replicated three times. Results showed that there were no significant differences in all the emergence traits evaluated. However, medium M5 (sawdust based) showed superior performance in most of the seedling characters evaluated. Under field conditions, the sawdust based media (M4 and M5) gave the best growth of passion fruit seedlings compared to the other potting media. Application of mulch, however, did not elicit any significant response in plant growth. It is therefore conclusive that sawdust based growing media could be used to produce high quality passion fruit seedlings with the prospect of excellent performance under field conditions.
Humanity is currently facing several global problems, such as global warming, air pollution, water pollution, deforestation, desertification, and land degradation, which are connected to the consequences of negative human activity. One of the possible and effective institutional tools for environmental protection is the environmental education of the general population. It is a relatively well-known and used environmental protection policy tool that governments of all developed countries have in their instrument mix. This qualitative analysis assigned itself the task of investigating whether the ability of environmental education can be affected by certain neuropsychological diseases in addition to thinking about the psychology of environmental education at large. To fulfill this main task, the authors asked themselves the following research questions: 1st—Is pedagogical psychology identical and applicable in the case of environmental education? And 2nd—What effect do some neuropsychological disorders have on the ability of environmental education? Based on the study, analysis, selection, and comparison of current professional scientific works obtained from the research activities of current researches on this topic, it is possible to accept the premise that the psychology of environmental education is basically the same as the general psychology of education and that neuropsychological diseases do indeed affect the ability of environmental education similarly to scholarly education. The main benefit of this qualitative review is the originality of the survey. There are no relevant and credible publications on the chosen topic, i.e., on the influence of selected neuropsychological diseases on the ability of environmental education of the population, to be found in the representative databases. Due to the importance of environmental education of the population, as one of the basic tools of environmental protection, the knowledge gained can gradually be incorporated into the politics, psychology, and didactics of education, to improve the technique of environmental education.
This article explores the application of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) framework in the context of integrating self-driving tractors into agricultural practices. With a focus on understanding the factors influencing the acceptance and adoption of this transformative technology, we delve into the implications for farmers, industry stakeholders, and the future of sustainable agriculture and rural tourism.
Solid waste has become a major environmental concern globally in recent years due to the tremendous increase in waste generation. However, these wastes (e.g., plastics and agro-residues) can serve as potential raw materials for the production of value-added products such as composites at low cost. The utilization of these waste materials in the composite industry is a good strategy for maintaining the sustainability of resources with economic and environmental benefits. In this report, the environmental impacts and management strategies of solid waste materials are discussed in detail. The study described the benefits of recycling and reusing solid wastes (i.e., plastic and agro-waste). The report also reviewed the emerging fabrication approaches for natural particulate hybrid nanocomposite materials. The results of this survey reveal that the fabrication techniques employed in manufacturing composite materials could significantly influence the performance of the resulting composite products. Furthermore, some key areas have been identified for further investigation. Therefore, this report is a state-of-the-art review and stands out as a guide for academics and industrialists.
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