Dataset Information

Evaluation on maturity and stability of organic fertilisers in semi-arid Ethiopian Rift Valley.

ABSTRACT: Case studies that have comprehensively examined local organic fertilisers (OFs) for their maturity and stability are rare in sub-Saharan Africa. Farmers in the semi-arid Ethiopian Rift Valley use indigenous compost (kosi) and household wastes for OFs. With the entry of fast compost that was introduced by the administration, maturity and stability of these OFs were assessed. Their maturity was assessed by: monitoring pile temperature and volume, pH, organic matter and total nitrogen contents, and carbon to nitrogen ratio; determination of NO₃^- to NH₄⁺ ratio; and respirometric measurement of CO₂ evolution. Their stability was assessed by weed seed germination tests and phytotoxicity bioassays. Weed seeds that were originally contained in the feedstock of the kosi and fast compost samples became inactive during the composting process. The CO₂ evolution tests and phytotoxicity bioassays indicated a probable presence of some phytotoxic compounds in the kosi. Mature kosi and immature kosi in a kosi pile should be mixed before the field application. Some samples (15%) of the household wastes contained weed seeds. The combination of several assessment methods used in this study and determination methods for nitrogen components using RQ-flex is considered to be effective for on-site quality assessment of OFs in sub-Saharan Africa.

SUBMITTER: Mukai S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7890062 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Evaluation on maturity and stability of organic fertilisers in semi-arid Ethiopian Rift Valley.

Mukai Shiro S Oyanagi Wataru W

Scientific reports 20210217 1

Case studies that have comprehensively examined local organic fertilisers (OFs) for their maturity and stability are rare in sub-Saharan Africa. Farmers in the semi-arid Ethiopian Rift Valley use indigenous compost (kosi) and household wastes for OFs. With the entry of fast compost that was introduced by the administration, maturity and stability of these OFs were assessed. Their maturity was assessed by: monitoring pile temperature and volume, pH, organic matter and total nitrogen contents, and ...[more]

PMID: 33597609

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Project description:BackgroundThe Middle East North Africa (MENA) region is under continuous threat of the re-emergence of West Nile virus (WNV) and Rift Valley Fever virus (RVF), two pathogens transmitted by the vector species Culex pipiens. Predicting areas at high risk for disease transmission requires an accurate model of vector distribution, however, most Cx. pipiens distribution modeling has been confined to temperate, forested habitats. Modeling species distributions across a heterogeneous landscape structure requires a flexible modeling method to capture variation in mosquito response to predictors as well as occurrence data points taken from a sufficient range of habitat types.MethodsWe used presence-only data from Egypt and Lebanon to model the population distribution of Cx. pipiens across a portion of the MENA that also encompasses Jordan, Syria, and Israel. Models were created with a set of environmental predictors including bioclimatic data, human population density, hydrological data, and vegetation indices, and built using maximum entropy (Maxent) and boosted regression tree (BRT) methods. Models were created with and without the inclusion of human population density.ResultsPredictions of Maxent and BRT models were strongly correlated in habitats with high probability of occurrence (Pearson's r=0.774, r=0.734), and more moderately correlated when predicting into regions that exceeded the range of the training data (r=0.666,r=0.558). All models agreed in predicting high probability of occupancy around major urban areas, along the banks of the Nile, the valleys of Israel, Lebanon, and Jordan, and southwestern Saudi Arabia. The most powerful predictors of Cx. pipiens habitat were human population density (60.6% Maxent models, 34.9% BRT models) and the seasonality of the enhanced vegetation index (EVI) (44.7% Maxent, 16.3% BRT). Maxent models tended to be dominated by a single predictor. Areas of high probability corresponded with sites of independent surveys or previous disease outbreaks.ConclusionsCx. pipiens occurrence was positively associated with areas of high human population density and consistent vegetation cover, but was not significantly driven by temperature and rainfall, suggesting human-induced habitat change such as irrigation and urban infrastructure has a greater influence on vector distribution in this region than in temperate zones.

Project description:BackgroundKnowledge of the distribution and habitat preference of freshwater snail intermediate hosts can provide information to initiate and set-up effective snail control programmes. However, there is limited research conducted on the factors driving the occurrence and abundance of freshwater snail intermediate hosts in the Ethiopian Rift Valley. Hence, in this study, we investigated how environmental and biotic factors influence the occurrence and abundance of the snail intermediate hosts in Ethiopian Rift Valley region.MethodsData on freshwater snails, physico-chemical water quality parameters, physical characteristics of habitat, predators and competitors, and anthropogenic activity variables were collected from 174 sampling sites during the wet season of 2017 and 2018. Generalized linear models were used to identify the main environmental and biotic factors affecting the occurrence and abundance of the snail species.ResultsIt was found that Bulinus globosus (31.7%) was the most abundant snail species followed by Lymnaea natalensis (21.6%), Lymnaea truncatula (15.1%) and Biomphalaria pfeifferi (14.6%). Generalized linear models indicated that physico-chemical parameters (water temperature, turbidity, chlorophyll-a, dissolved oxygen, chemical oxygen demand, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, nitrate and ammonia), physical habitat characteristics (water depth, canopy cover, macrophyte cover and substrate type) and biotic factors (abundance of predators and competitors) were found to be the main variables determining the occurrence and abundance of snail species in the Ethiopian Rift Valley region. In terms of anthropogenic activities, human settlement, farming, bathing and swimming, clothes washing, grazing, drainage of land, car washing, boating, fishing and silviculture were also important variables determining the occurrence and abundance of snail species in the region.ConclusionsThe findings reported herein suggest that integrated snail control strategies should be considered to control snails via protection of water bodies from disturbance by anthropogenic activities. In this way, it is possible to reduce the concentration of organic matter and dissolved ions in aquatic ecosystems which are conducive for the presence of snails.

Dataset Information

Evaluation on maturity and stability of organic fertilisers in semi-arid Ethiopian Rift Valley.

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Evaluation on maturity and stability of organic fertilisers in semi-arid Ethiopian Rift Valley.

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