TITLE:
TO INVESTIGATE THE FACTORS AFFECTING CROP PRODUCTION
ABSTRACT
The world today is in a position to provide a life free of diseases and hence poverty reduction to its whole population. What do we see around the poor countries? The answer for this question is even more complex.
In natural systems, be it aquatic or terrestrial, diseases circulate in it and interfere with crop development, growth and quality and require much research as well as improving the professional and expert.
In this research proposal therefore, intend to deal with three factors hindering crop production in Tanzania. These factors include crop diseases, control methods and the use of agro wastes as a source of nutrients.
The research proposal aims in short, at investigating the crop diseases, with a special focus in rural areas where small farmers are found. It also aims at finding/looking the possible control methods so as to increase crop production to the people. It tries to find out the effects accelerated by nutrient harvesting from agro wastes in crop production, which is how crops respond when there is any application of nutrients and vise versa.
Data are to be collected from the field and laboratory activities involving pure culture technologies and molecular biology, pathological consultations and other application of agro wastes for crop production.
The significance of this research is to create awareness of paramount importance to whole communities of rural areas in connection with crop production.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Much has been written and said about the crisis facing agricultural production in poor countries including Tanzania. The rampancy of crop diseases and unuse of agro wastes as a source of nutrients release to crop improvement and production found at every corner of these countries (poor countries) and many people have made to question, although there are some little efforts for the use of these nutrients for crop production.
Research study will be undertaken at Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro Tanzania in order to investigate the crop diseases, control methods and use of nutrients harvested from agro wastes, and the results have to be compared with those obtained from laboratory. These results from this research study perhaps will enable the researchers to find ways that will be used in various areas even that considered to be infertile and restore them into productive and arable land in return create Tanzania with high income from crop production.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The crop diseases and agro wastes that found in many areas of Tanzania is the consequence of poverty and lucky of knowledge that results into environmental pollution and low crop production. Much of these agro wastes are not well harvested into nutrients used in crop production. Also crop disease identification and control methods are another parameters contributed to low crop production.
This research study will provide package, knowledge and skills about the effective use of nutrients harvested from agro wastes, crop disease identification and control methods in crop production.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
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- To use biotechnology methods in to develop pure cultures and molecular biology for pathogen identification for those unknown diseases
- To conduct field trials so as to compare disease intensity and severity in different crops.
- To extract and purify molecular chemicals from health and diseased crops by biotechnology methods for comparison purposes.
- To conduct field trials on the crop growth at different stages of development in order to establish the growth stage at which is affected most and presumably establish an intervention means.
- To conduct field trials on the effect of field operations such as spacing, weeding and so on. The purpose being to investigate whether these have any associate with diseases
- To examine how agro wastes have to be extracted economically.
- To assess the potential viability of bio digesting agro wastes in rural areas.
- To propose the researchable areas for economic and viable harvesting of agro wastes.
BRIEFLY METHODOLOGY
True and precise identification of the etiology characteristic diseases need a consideration of both biotic and abiotic factors in crop production. Thus biotechnology techniques will be used to identify biotic factors. These techniques will involve the preparation of pure tissue cultures and molecular biology. The preparation of pure tissue cultures will be done at randomized replicates so as to detect the causative agents from infected plants.
Biotic factors will be detected by conducting soil chemical tests for soil fertility status, humidity, temperature and altitudes. Results will be recorded from the field that selected as samples.
Throughout the research study different crops of different health status and stage will be laid out in different soil humidity, temperature and altitude condition just to investigate if all these have any associate among them and the crop disease in question.
Moreover, all laboratory activities involving pure tissue culture technologies and molecular biology and other consultations will be done at Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro Tanzania.
Agro waste materials will also be applied in some of those selected farms for the release of nutrients for crop production. Results will be compared between those farms supplied with agro wastes and those with no application of agro wastes.
Thank you.
By Emmanuel C.M.Mlyashimbi
Department of Agriculture and Livestock,
Handeni, Tanzania
Email ecmm14@yahoo.com
Cell +255784808886
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