Crop Soil & Pest Management

There has been for quite some time a persistent advocacy of the improvement of world nutritional status, especially in developing countries through substantial increase in the intake of protein foods of animal origin. There is therefore the need for this course which presents brief history of meat ( e.g beef, mutton and chevon) industry in Nigeria, standard growing and finishing management practices, housing requirements, feeds and feeding, breeding, herd record keeping and health management of beef cattle, sheep and goats. The course also provides information on marketing and techniques for establishing large beef cattle, sheep and goats ranches.

This course is designed to introduce students to different areas of poultry business, highlighting the scope, importance, problems and prospects of poultry industry. It traces the origin and breeds of poultry species. The systems of poultry management with emphasis on housing and equipment. Management of chicks, growers, layers, breeders, broilers and some other poultry species like turkeys, ducks, guinea fowl at commercial and semi-commercial levels. The principles of poultry nutrition, record keeping and marketing are covered. Practical ways of establishing a poultry farm - provision of land, housing, equipment, and labour. 

This course is designed to provide students with a general understanding of the hatchery business as an integral part of poultry industry. By providing a good level of knowledge in the various areas required to establish and manage hatcheries, and incubation process, the students would have clearer understanding of how to produce the greatest number of high quality chicks capable of optimum performance. Topics to be covered in this course would include procedure for setting up and running of a hatchery - hatchery layout, housing, equipment and labour management. Technical details about the types, parts, installation and handling of incubators. Production or purchase of good quality hatchable eggs. Embryology and incubation procedures. Hatchery hygiene. Handling and marketing of hatched chicks.

Crop Preservation, Processing and Storage is a course designed for the students in their fourth year in the Department of Crop, Soil and Pest Management. It is a course that will expose students to various aspects of how crops and crop products can be protected from the harmful effects of pests. It will also clearly explain the concepts and significance of preservation, processing and storage in food security. This course will also cover areas such as storage losses in crops, storage methods (traditional and modern techniques). Storage pathology and entomology will also be comprehensively covered. The practical aspects will focus on familiarizing students with the pests capable of causing loss to the crops and their products and how to deter them.

This course is a follow up to CSP 317. It takes a critical look at the various attempts made to control plant disease since the onset of crop husbandry. The effectiveness of quarantine and embargo as disease control measures are critically assessed. The history of chemical use in plant disease control and the pioneering work of professor Millardet are reviewed. Common groups of synthetic chemicals used in plant disease control, their active ingredients and mode of actions are discussed. The course also discusses the relevance of breeding for resistance and cultural methods in disease control. Integrated Plant Disease Management (IPDM) a modern method of plant disease control is also discussed extensively.

The course was designed to educate the students on what pest are, and why insect become pest, types of damage caused by insect to agricultural plant. Pest status and economic decision level will be discussed. General methods of insect pest control including biological, legislative, cultural, physical and mechanical, use of host plant resistance, use of plant botanical and the use of chemical insecticide will be discussed. Chemical insecticidal classification based on chemical composition of the insecticide and the mode of action will be discussed.

Nutrients and mineral nutrition of plants. Essential plant nutrients: form, functions, chemistry, deficiency symptoms, sources. The nitrogen cycle to include biochemistry and microbiology of nitrification; phosphorus cycle, potassium cycle, microbial transformation of sulphur, iron and other minerals, transmission of hydrocarbons and pesticides. The soil as a plant nutrient medium, soil reaction, chemistry and utilisation of water logged soils, redox potential. Crop growth and response to soil nutrients; major, secondary and trace elements in crop nutrition. Soil organic matter and functions: organic matter decomposition; production of organic compost, mycorrhizal fungi. Fertilizers and fertilizer calculation/formulation; fertilizer management, application methods, rates and timing. Characteristics of alumino-silicate clays and organic colloids. Cation and anion exchange. Soil pH. Active and reserve acidity. Liming. Practical : methods of soil analysis.

Eukaryotic cell: its structure and components. The processes of Mitosis and Meiosis. Chromosomes: their structure and variation in their structure and number. Biochemical nature of genetic material. Gene function and Mutation. Basic concepts of Mendelian and polygenic inheritance. Gene interaction, linkage and crossing over. Qualitative inheritance. Chimeras. Polyploidy. Genetic basis of breeding.

This course will primarily provide students with basic knowledge and skills in statistics as applied to various fields of agriculture. Several methods of data analysis will be treated using portable scientific calculator as well as the computer (for lab exercises). Depending on students’ interest and time availability, some special topics with relevance to specific fields may also be treated. Topics to be covered include review of biometrical concepts in agriculture; planning of experiment; analysis of variance; transformation of data; experimental designs such as completely randomized design, Latin square, missing values, multiple comparisons, nested designs, factorial experiments, split-plot and split-split-plot designs; analysis of data from qualitative variables; application of correlation and regression analyses in agricultural experiments.

Students are to be posted to different farms or agro-allied industries for on-the-job experience in their areas of interest. The industry-based supervisor will assess, monitor and grade the performance of the student, the knowledge and skills gained, and will forward his report to the school.

The SIWES Coordinator assesses and grades students record of work during the period of the industrial training.

After the completion of the 6-months SIWES, the write up and oral presentation of each student will be assessed and graded.