ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Identification of sources of resistance in cowpea lines to Macrophomina root rot disease in Northern Ghana

Macrophomina root rot disease (MRRD) caused by Macrophomina phaseolina is an emerging threat to the profitable cowpea production in northern Ghana. Recommended control methods including the use of fungicides are ineffective and expensive for resource poor farmers whilst biocontrol options are not commercially available. An integrated method based on host plant resistance is considered the cheapest and most effective method of managing the disease. This study sought to confirm and characterize previously identified MRRD isolates from Northern Ghana using molecular technology, and to identify cowpea with potential sources of resistance to the MRRD. A PCR assay of ten isolates of the cowpea root rot pathogen revealed all isolates belonged to the species M. phaseolina, whilst a nucleotide BLAST of eight isolates showed 98% similarity with the sequences of Macrophomina isolates from other host available in GenBank. A sick pot method evaluation of 49 cowpea lines found 10 lines resistant to MRRD on a 1–9 disease severity scale (disease score, less than 5). A selection of eight resistant lines (Suvita 2, Abagbaala, IT97K573-1-1, IT93K 503-1-1, Hewale, AV2 3224, Nhyira and T2T4), and a susceptible check (Songotra) were evaluated against 10 isolates of M. phaseolina using a sick pot method. All the genotypes except for the susceptible check were resistant to MRRD. Thus, these genotypes could be used in cowpea MRRD resistance breeding programs.

Source: UG
Identification of sources of resistance to Alectra vogelii in cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] germplasm from Burkina Faso

In Burkina Faso, cowpea serves as both a food and cash crop generating significant income for stakeholders. However, cowpea production is seriously hampered by several constraints among which is the parasitic weed Alectra vogelii. There is therefore an urgent need to identify Alectra-resistant genotypes, possessing farmers’ desired traits, in cowpea germplasm in Burkina Faso. Cowpea genotypes were screened under artificial (screen house) and natural (field) A. vogelii infestation for their reaction to the weed. For the screen house experiment the data were collected on parameters such as days to cowpea flowering and maturity, days to Alectra shoots emergence, the severity of Alectra attack. Cowpea grain yield, Alectra shoots count and severity were scored from the field experiment. These data were subjected to analysis of variances in SAS 9.4. Correlation analysis was also run to determine the association between Alectra infestation parameters and cowpea yield. Twenty Genotypes including KVx414-22-2, KVx165-14-1, Komcalle, IT99K-573-2-1, IT98K-205-8, IT86D10-10, IT93K-693-2 and B301 were identified to be resistant to A. vogelii. Variety Komcalle, IT99K-573-2-1 and IT98K-205-8 are improved and farmers’ adopted varieties. Therefore, these varieties can be recommended for Alectra-infested areas. The other genotypes showing resistance are potential donor parents for resistance to A. vogelii. © 2018, Springer Nature B.V.

Source: UG
Identification of stable genotypes and genotype by environment interaction for grain yield in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench)

Sorghum is a staple food crop in Niger and its production is constrained by sorghum midge and the use of low yielding, local sorghum varieties. To improve sorghum productivity, it is crucial to provide farmers with high yielding sorghum cultivars that are resistant to midge. We evaluated 282 genotypes in four environments of Niger Republic. Alpha (0.1) lattice with two replications was the experimental design. Genotype and genotype by environment (GGE) biplot analysis was used to study grain yield (GY) stability and G × E interactions. The results revealed that two distinct mega environments were present. Genotype L232 was the best genotype for GY in the first planting date at Konni and the first and second planting dates (PDs) at Maradi. Genotype L17 was the best for GY in the second PD at Konni. The second PD at Konni was the most discriminating environment while the first PD at Konni is suitable for selecting widely adapted genotypes for GY.

Source: UG
Identification to cytospecies of the vector of onchocerciasis in the Republic of Niger

The Department of Parasitology conducts research into parasitic diseases of public health importance with the overall goal of reducing their transmission and the heavy disease burden that they impose on affected populations. The Department maintains focus on parasitic diseases in general. These include major diseases such as malaria, and others listed under the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) control initiative such as, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis.

Source: UG
Identifying deprived ‘‘slum” neighbourhoods in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area of Ghana using census and remote sensing data

Background: Identifying urban deprived areas, including slums, can facilitate more targeted planning and development policies in cities to reduce socio-economic and health inequities, but methods to identify them are often ad-hoc, resource intensive, and cannot keep pace with rapidly urbanizing communities. Objectives: We apply a spatial modelling approach to identify census enumeration areas (EAs) in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) of Ghana with a high probability of being a deprived area using publicly available census and remote sensing data. Methods: We obtained United Nations (UN) supported field mapping data that identified deprived ‘‘slum” areas in Accra’s urban core, data on housing and population conditions from the most recent census, and remotely sensed data on environmental conditions in the GAMA. We first fitted a Bayesian logistic regres sion model on the data in Accra’s urban core (n=2,414 EAs) that estimated the relationship between hous ing, population, and environmental predictors and being a deprived area according to the UN’s deprived area assessment. Using these relationships, we predicted the probability of being a deprived area for each of the 4,615 urban EAs in GAMA. Results: 899 (19%) of the 4,615 urban EAs in GAMA, with an estimated 745,714 residents (22% of its urban population), had a high predicted probability (>80%) of being a deprived area. These deprived EAs were dispersed across GAMA and relatively heterogeneous in their housing and environmental conditions, but shared some common features including a higher population density, lower elevation and vegetation abundance, and less access to indoor piped water and sanitation. Conclusion: Our approach using ubiquitously available administrative and satellite data can be used to identify deprived neighbourhoods where interventions are warranted to improve living conditions, and track progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals aiming to reduce the population living in unsafe or vulnerable human settlements.

Source: UG
Identifying Ecosystem-Based Alternatives for the Design of a Seaport’s Marine Infrastructure: The Case of Tema Port Expansion in Ghana

Long-term sustainable port development requires accounting for the intrinsic values of ecosystems. However, in practice, ecosystem considerations often only enter the planning and design process of ports when required by an Environmental Impact Assessment. At this late stage, most of the design is already fixed and opportunities to minimize and restore ecosystem impacts are limited. In this paper, we adopt a large-scale, ecosystem perspective on port development with the aim to identify ecosystem-based design alternatives earlier and throughout the planning and design of a port’s marine infrastructure. We present a framework, termed the ‘ecosystem-based port design hierarchy’ (EPDH), to identify ecosystem-based alternatives at four hierarchical design levels: 1) alternatives to port developments, 2) port site selection, 3) port layout design, and 4) design of structures and materials. In applying the EPDH framework retrospectively to a case study of port expansion in Tema, Ghana, we establish that ecosystem considerations played only a limited role in identifying and evaluating alternatives at all four design levels in the case study, whereas more eco-friendly alternatives in terms of port layouts, structures, and materials are identified using the EPDH framework. This reveals that opportunities for ecosystem-friendly port designs may have been missed and demonstrates the need for and the potential added value of our framework. The framework can assist practitioners in earlier and wider identification of ecosystem-based alternatives for a port’s marine infrastructure in future seaport developments and, hence, represents an important step towards more sustainable port designs.

Source: UG
Identifying Ecosystem-Based Alternatives for the Design of a Seaport’s Marine Infrastructure: The Case of Tema Port Expansion in Ghana

Long-term sustainable port development requires accounting for the intrinsic values of ecosystems. However, in practice, ecosystem considerations often only enter the planning and design process of ports when required by an Environmental Impact Assessment. At this late stage, most of the design is already fixed and opportunities to minimize and restore ecosystem impacts are limited. In this paper, we adopt a large-scale, ecosystem perspective on port development with the aim to identify ecosystem-based design alternatives earlier and throughout the planning and design of a port’s marine infrastructure. We present a framework, termed the ‘ecosystem-based port design hierarchy’ (EPDH), to identify ecosystem-based alternatives at four hierarchical design levels: 1) alternatives to port developments, 2) port site selection, 3) port layout design, and 4) design of structures and materials. In applying the EPDH framework retrospectively to a case study of port expansion in Tema, Ghana, we establish that ecosystem considerations played only a limited role in identifying and evaluating alternatives at all four design levels in the case study, with more eco-friendly alternatives in terms of port layouts, structures, and materials are identified using the EPDH framework. This reveals that opportunities for ecosystem-friendly port designs may have been missed and demonstrates the need for and the potential added value of our framework. The framework can assist practitioners in earlier and wider identification of ecosystem-based alternatives for a port’s marine infrastructure in future seaport developments and, hence, represents an important step towards more sustainable port designs.

Source: UG
Identifying famers' preferences and constraints to Pearl Millet productionin the Sahel and North-Sudan zones of Burkina Faso

The low yield of pearl millet largely due to the low adoption of improved varieties substantiates the application of client-oriented plant breeding for pearl millet. Hence to enhance adoption, new varieties must correspond to farmers’ preferences and respond to the constraints prevailing in the production environments, participatory rural appraisals were conducted in two agro-ecological zones (Sahel and North-Sudan) to determine farmers’ preferences in the choice of varieties and to identify constraints to pearl millet production. The study revealed that the major production constraints are hierarchically drought, Striga, head miner, bird and downy mildew. Compact panicle, large grain size and non-bristle panicle were the most preferred traits in pearl millet across agro-ecological zones. Very long panicle and early maturity crop cycle were more preferred in the Sahel zone whereas, in the North-Sudan zone medium panicle length and medium maturity cycle were more preferred by farmers. Traits largely rejected by farmers were small grain size, narrow, loose and bristled panicle. Very few investigations were done to understand the raison of the low adoption of improved technologies in pearl millet. This study identified the major criteria of new pearl millet variety adoption by farmers. It is expected that breeding program must integrate these criteria in new pearl millet variety profiling to enhance adoption.

Source: UG
Identifying interventions to help rural Kenyan mothers cope with food insecurity: results of a focused ethnographic study.

The overall goal of the department is to conduct research and provide solutions to nutritional problems in Ghana. In pursuance of this goal, the Nutrition Department since its inception has focused its research in the areas of maternal, infant and young child nutrition, food consumption and food security and micronutrient deficiency and interventions. These are priority food and nutrition problems in Ghana.

Source: UG
Identifying key contributing root system traits to genetic diversity in field-grown cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) genotypes

Cowpea is a grain legume that is grown extensively as an alternate protein and income source for many smallholder farmers. Characterising cowpea root phenotypes could provide the basis for developing genotypes with root system architecture (RSA) traits that increase soil resource acquisition. Measuring RSA traits of any field crop is a demanding task, in terms of expediency, time, cost, and competence. Targeted root phenotyping strategies focusing on a few relevant traits might aid in side-stepping some of the challenges associated with phenotyping roots of field crops. The objectives of this study were to (i) measure genotypic variation for RSA and shoot traits of cowpea genotypes; and (ii) identify candidate variables and genotypes that contribute the largest share of variance. Sixty cowpea accession were grown in field trials at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. Seventy variables, mostly quantitative RSA traits were measured. Multivariate analysis was used to determine major traits contributing to variation. There were significant differences (P < 0.05) for the majority of traits evaluated. Fifty-nine traits had coefficients of variation of ≥0.3 among genotypes and were selected for further examination. Broad-sense heritability (H2) estimates were generally intermediate to high and ranged from 0.11 to 0.96. The Shannon-Weaver diversity index (H’) was variable among traits and ranged from 0.00 to 0.88. Shoot and root biomass correlated closely and positively with count- and length- and diameter-related traits. Cluster analysis identified three homogeneous genotype groups and identified groups of cowpea genotypes that could be exploited in breeding programs to improve the genetic basis of root traits. The first nine principal components explained over 74% of total genotypic variation for the twenty-nine traits included in the PCA. Sixteen traits contributed more than other traits to the variability in PC1 and PC2. Soil and root tissue angle-related traits, shoot and root diameter-related traits, root biomass, hypocotyl root length, root count and lateral root density -related traits were among the top 50% of the most important traits contributing to variation and thus warrant consideration in efforts to breed for improved genotypes in cowpea. The workflow presented offers a robust, cost-effective and simple approach to identifying focal root traits that contribute to diversity in grain legumes. The results could potentially facilitate the characterization of specific traits suitable for targeted genotype selection and breeding of new cowpea varieties for efficient RSAs.

Source: UG
Identifying key processes in the hydrochemistry of a basin through the combined use of factor and regression models

An innovative technique of measuring the intensities of major sources of variation in the hydrochemistry of (ground) water in a basin has been developed. This technique, which is based on the combination of R-mode factor and multiple regression analyses, can be used to measure the degrees of influence of the major sources of variation in the hydrochemistry without measuring the concentrations of the entire set of physico-chemical parameters which are often used to characterize water systems. R-mode factor analysis was applied to the data of 13 physico-chemical parameters and 50 samples in order to determine the major sources of variation in the hydrochemistry of some aquifers in the western region of Ghana. In this study, three sources of variation in the hydrochemistry were distinguished: the dissolution of chlorides and sulfates of the major cations, carbonate mineral dissolution, and silicate mineral weathering. Two key parameters were identified with each of the processes and multiple regression models were developed for each process. These models were tested and found to predict these processes quite accurately, and can be applied anywhere within the terrain. This technique can be reliably applied in areas where logistical constraints limit water sampling for whole basin hydrochemical characterization. Q-mode hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) applied to the data revealed three major groundwater associations distinguished on the basis of the major causes of variation in the hydrochemistry. The three groundwater types represent Na-HCO3, Ca-HCO3, and Na-Cl groundwater types. Silicate stability diagrams suggest that all these groundwater types are mainly stable in the kaolinite and montmorillonite fields suggesting moderately restricted flow conditions. © Indian Academy of Sciences.

Source: UG
Identifying Models of HIV Care and Treatment Service Delivery in Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia Using Cluster Analysis and Delphi Survey

Background: Organization of HIV care and treatment services, including clinic staffing and services, may shape clinical and financial outcomes, yet there has been little attempt to describe different models of HIV care in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Information about the relative benefits and drawbacks of different models could inform the scale-up of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and associated services in resource-limited settings (RLS), especially in light of expanded client populations with country adoption of WHO's test and treat recommendation. Methods: We characterized task-shifting/task-sharing practices in 19 diverse ART clinics in Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia and used cluster analysis to identify unique models of service provision. We ran descriptive statistics to explore how the clusters varied by environmental factors and programmatic characteristics. Finally, we employed the Delphi Method to make systematic use of expert opinions to ensure that the cluster variables were meaningful in the context of actual task-shifting of ART services in SSA. Results: The cluster analysis identified three task-shifting/task-sharing models. The main differences across models were the availability of medical doctors, the scope of clinical responsibility assigned to nurses, and the use of lay health care workers. Patterns of healthcare staffing in HIV service delivery were associated with different environmental factors (e.g., health facility levels, urban vs. rural settings) and programme characteristics (e.g., community ART distribution or integrated tuberculosis treatment on-site). Conclusions: Understanding the relative advantages and disadvantages of different models of care can help national programmes adapt to increased client load, select optimal adherence strategies within decentralized models of care, and identify differentiated models of care for clients to meet the growing needs of long-term ART patients who require more complicated treatment management.

Source: UG
Identifying motivators for state-pastoralist dialogue: Exploring the relationships between livestock services, self-organisation and conflict in Nigeria's pastoralist Fulani

Historical tensions between Nigeria's pastoralist Fulani and settled indigenous farmers have intensified in recent years, with dwindling natural resources and land availability greatly contributing to the ongoing, escalating conflict in the north of the country. The urgent requirement to engage with, rather than isolate, Nigeria's Fulani from various socioeconomic and environmental management strategies is fundamental to peace and agricultural productivity in the region. This requires a greater understanding of formal and informal governance mechanisms and their relative impact on the Fulani. This study examines the existing and potential roles of various actors within the transhumant Fulani community of the Kachia Grazing Reserve in Nigeria's Kaduna State, triangulated with views from external public and private sector representatives. The findings reveal three main spheres of governance that intertwine and impact on the largely self-organising Fulani: religious or customary laws overseen by the imams, ‘informal’ laws of the community overseen by Fulani civil leaders and the ‘formal’ laws outlined in the official policies of the state. In addition, peripheral entities such as Fulani co-operatives, non-governmental organisations and the private sector can have considerable influence. The health and husbandry of livestock was identified as a key motivator for successful self-governance, integral to Fulani daily life. Understanding and appreciating the self-governance structures of the Fulani, particularly given their current isolation from formal state policy processes, can help identify motivators and opportunities for dialogue between the Fulani and various external actors. Improved veterinary service provision and livestock extension services are potentially powerful entry points for both the public and private sectors alike. Keywords: Policy; Self-governance; Livestock disease; Veterinary services; Pastoralist-indigene conflict

Source: UG
Identities and Archaeological Heritage Preservation at the Crossroads: Understanding the Challenges of Economic development at Tengzug, Upper East Region, Ghana

It is evident that both tangible and intangible elements constitute heritage and this needs to be recognized by researchers, heritage professionals and government bodies charged with implementing development policies. However, the relationship between traditional beliefs, worldview, heritage conservation, and archaeological investigation is a complex one. This is illustrated by the conflict that can occur between government policy and indigenous belief in relation to architecture, and with reference to perceptions of landscape amongst the Talensi communities of Tengzug in the Upper East Region of Ghana. The resilience of the community to preserve and identify their heritage is high-lighted and community involvement at all stages of development and research projects is stressed to be crucial for sustainable development.

Source: UG