Area closures have recognized to be the best land management practices for creating economically and ecologically sustainable land use planning. Although the need of scientific information is clear, studies made to assess woody species diversity under the different age of area closure and slope aspect of Boswellia dominated woodland are very limited. This study assesses the woody species composition, diversity, and richness of Boswellia dominated woodland under the different age of area closure and slope aspect. For this study, four slope aspects (east, west, north, and south) and three age (two, five and eight) of area closure and one open land were purposively selected. The present study was conducted in Kaftan Humera, Tigray Region. Vegetation assessment was done using systematic plot sampling and two-way analysis of variance was used to analyze the vegetation data. The results of the study showed that eight years east slope aspect area closure were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in species richness (5.25), Margalef index (1.92), Simpson (0.67) and Shannon (1.37) diversity index. However, species evenness was not significantly (P > 0.05) differ in all age and slope aspect of the area closures. This suggests that age and slope aspects create plant communities that are quite different on different sides of the mountain of the area closure. Thus, area closures have a considerable contribution in maintaining most importance woody species like Boswellia papyrifera from deforestation and land degradation for increasing biodiversity, ecological restoration, and community livelihood improvement.
Diabetes mellitus is becoming an increasing concern all over the world. Many people especially in poor communities have been using medicinal plants to treat diabetes and its complications. In Nigeria, the number of people suffering from diabetes is believed to be rising steadily.This study aimed at documenting the plants that have been tried for the treatment of diabetes mellitus in Buruku Local Government of Benue State, Nigeria. The ethnomedicnal information was collected through a structured questionnaires, sample collection and identification of the plant specimens. Twenty eight plants were mentioned as being used for treatment of Diabetes mellitus in Buruku Local Government of Benue State by the herbalists. Out of these, a total of twenty two (22) plant species, distributed across 17 families were identified. The most commonly species were Moringa oleifera and Vernonia amygdalina. The families Asteraceae and Rubiaceae was represented by the highest number of species (three species each), followed by Euphorbiaceae (two species). The rest were represented by one species each (14 families). In all cases, the treatment involved drinking the extracts for a long period of time. There was a general belief on the efficacy of the prepared extracts.
For identification of a crude drug, there are several parameters which standardize it for sure. Microscopic features describe a crude drug very well. Chances of adulteration are very common due to morphological similarities in different species of drugs and to avoid such confusions, standardization via microscopy helps to create a valuable profile of a given crude drug. Involving different parts of plant drug in microscopy viz leaves, stem, roots and flower etc. helps a lot in identifying the original drug. Transverse section of different parts of plant, powder microscopy and determination of leaf constants like stomatal number, stomatal index, vein islet number, vein termination number and palisade ratio of Pelargonium x hortorum describes the basic features of the drug and authenticate it as the original one.
Maize is an important cereal crop that is not only rich in carbohydrate but also a potential source of protein and essential minerals. Comparative effect of organic and inorganic manure on the growth of maize (Zea mays) was investigated in this study using two varieties of maize namely: SAMMAZ 52 and TZEE 2009. Soil samples were collected from the bank of river Benue, Makurdi and were mixed with the various manure and taken to the Department of Agronomy, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi for analysis. A 2x4 factorial scheme fitted into a completely randomized design with three replicates was adopted for the study in which twenty four pots were filled with about 14 kg of soil of uniform properties. Six of the pots were mixed with 1.5 kg of poultry droppings, six with 1.5 kg NPK fertilizer s and six with 1.5 kg goat dung leaving six pots free of organic or inorganic fertilizers. The setup was left for two weeks before planting. The hybrid seeds were sown into each of the soil and Agronomic data were collected weekly up to a period of 10weeks. Investigation showed that poultry droppings had better results in terms of pH, organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorous and exchangeable cation. Organic fertilizers also produced significantly higher yields than the inorganic fertilizer especially with poultry droppings treated soils in all parameters including plant height, number of leaves and leaf area; SAMMAZ 52 having significantly higher yields than TZEE 2009. ??It was concluded that organic fertilizer improves the chemical and physiochemical properties of the soil thereby increasing the growth of maize; the use of poultry droppings as an organic manure having a more significant effect in enhancing growth than inorganic manure. It is recommended that organic fertilizers be adopted by farmers as a potent alternative to inorganic fertilizers in promoting growth in maize plant and other cereals.
The defeat of the fruits of fungal diseases is currently an important issue of plant science and is also of great economic importance. With the help of microscopic methods the leaves and fruits surface tissues of plants of four genera of the Maloideae subfamily were screened: Malus Mill., Pyrus L., Cydonia Mill., Mespilus L. and attempts were made to explain the dependence of mycosis damage on microstructural features. The species composition of fungi that cause damage to the Maloideae leaves and fruits in the Russia southern regions is analyzed. It is established that among pathogens with different types of parasitism there are common excitants, as well as highly specialized responses as on Mespilus germanica. Higher resistance to the complex of fungal diseases, in comparison with apple and pear, was found in quince and medlar. This stability at the initial stage of the pathological process is associated with structural features such as micromorphology of the fruits and stomata cuticle in the abaxial epidermis of leaves. The leaves stomatal openings of medlar are narrow with raised outgrowths, on the surface of the fruit – the layered structure of the cuticular layer. Quince has a continuous cuticular cover. Compared with Malus and Pyrus, Cydonia and Mespilus also have a large (30 % or more) polyphenol content in the pericarp of outer layer cells. In addition to the general specific differences in the microstructure of the integumentary tissues and the content of polyphenols affecting the resistance to pathogens at the stage of their penetration, general patterns of leaf surface formation, such as hypostomacy, anomocytic stomata, folded microrelief of the cuticular surface, and the presence of single and multicellular trichomes are noted. Epidermal cells from the 4 genera examined contained most of the condensed polyphenols compared to the hypodermal cells.
