Journal of Agriculture, Science and Technology

Germination response of Striga hermonthica ecotypes from Western Kenya upon exposure to maize root exudates

Elvin Elizabeth Mulaa — 2025-04-14

Striga hermonthica, commonly known as witchweed or ‘cereal killer', is a root hemiparasite of cereals, germinating only in response to host-induced molecules, strigolactones (SL). It continues to pose a serious threat to maize production in western Kenya, resulting in up to 100% crop failure. Percent germination of Striga is an important indicator of the virulence level of the parasite as it translates to high attachment to the host roots and varies based on the SL profile. However, specificity of Striga ecotypes when exposed to germination stimulants from host root exudates of differential testers of maize is unknown, hindering deployment of effective management strategies. The study sought to establish variations in virulence among Striga ecotypes based on crude root exudate-induced germination. We hypothesized no variation in germination responses among the Striga ecotypes. In vitro germination assays were used to determine differences in virulence among 5 Striga ecotypes collected from maize, sorghum, and finger millet fields in western Kenya using crude root exudates from two maize genotypes, WH403 (susceptible) and KSTP94 (resistant). Striga germination data was recorded by counting Striga seeds with a protruding radicle. All Striga ecotypes germinated in response to root exudates of KSTP94 and WH403. However, variations were observed among the ecotypes, (P < 0.05) with Alomodoi sorghum ecotype recording the highest germination in exudates of WH403 (81.9%). Bunyala sorghum ecotype recorded the lowest germination as induced by the genotypes WH403 (35%), and KSTP94 (37%). The two maize genotypes varied in their ability to induce Striga ecotype germination (P < 0.05). Results suggest that the virulence of Striga ecotypes could be genotypespecific. These novel outcomes necessitate using Striga germination response rate as a virulence factor in Striga virulence assays and the development of region-specific resistant genotypes. We recommend further analysis of the crude root exudates to ascertain the active compounds as well as genomic analysis of the Striga ecotypes.

Uptake of diabetes testing and associated individual-level factors among people with a familial risk of diabetes mellitus in rural Kenya.

Felarmine Wangui Muiruri — 2025-04-14

People with family history of diabetes are expected to have regular diabetes testing owing to their higher risk of the disease. Regular testing is associated with early diagnosis of diabetes and has a potential of reducing the health and economic burden caused by the disease. This study therefore sought to determine the uptake of diabetes testing and associated individual-level factors among relatives of individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Understanding uptake of diabetes testing among individuals with family history is a significant step towards promoting both primary and secondary prevention among this group at risk. This was a cross-sectional study among 202 adult relatives of patients with T2D in Kiambu county in Kenya. Multi-level sampling technique was employed and interviewer-administered questionnaire used to collect data. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test for independence and Fisher's exact test as well as multivariate logistic regression were used to analyze data at 0.05 level of significance. The study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Review Committee of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. The results indicated that 52.5% of the relatives had never had a blood glucose test. Individual level factors that had a statistically significant association with uptake of diabetes testing included residence (p=0.003), employment status (p=0.019), familial risk awareness (P=0.003), perceived risk (p=0.002), knowledge of diabetes signs and symptoms (p=0.001) and relationship with the patient (p=0.045). Living in farms (AOR=3.9, p=0.002), being aware of own familial risk (AOR=2.5, p=0.016), high knowledge (AOR=2.3, p=0.017) and being a close relative to the patient (AOR= 3.0, p= 0.041) increased uptake of diabetes testing. In conclusion, uptake of diabetes testing is low and is associated with several individual-level factors that can be modified to increase the uptake. Strategies to increase uptake such as health education should be enhanced.

Pigeon pea: A companion crop for boosting maize growth and striga control in push-pull farming systems in Western Kenya

Sylvia Buleti — 2025-04-14

Crop diversification is one of the strategies for sustainable intensification that hold promise for reducing poverty and ending hunger in communities that derive livelihood from farming. Intensification of smallholder systems require identification of companion crops that are amenable to intercropping within existing crop and farming systems, add economic/marketable value, are a source of food, and provide ecosystem services not currently provided in existing crop or farming systems. Push-pull is a companion cropping system that involves intercropping cereal crops with forage legumes in the (e.g. Desmodium), and planting a forage grass (e.g. Brachiaria) around this intercrop to control stem borer, suppress witch weed (striga) in maize-based systems. This study evaluated the performance of push-pull system when further intensified with Cajanas cajan (pigeon pea). Four treatments were set up on farmers’ plots in Kisumu, Siaya and Vihiga counties during the long and short rain seasons in 2021, 2022 and 2023: (1) conventional push-pull, (2) push-pull with (pigeon pea), (3) maize and pigeon pea, and (4) maize mono-crop. Crop growth and striga weed density were monitored in 20×10 m plots demarcated in each treatment during the growing season. Data on maize growth, number and vigour of striga weed were recorded on all plants within sub-plots measuring 2x2 m for four seasons. Results show that integration with pigeon pea further suppresses striga weed and does not affect growth and yield of maize. Pigeon pea could be a potential alternative crop for weed management in smallholder farming systems, where it can serve as a source of firewood and fodder.

Factors associated with sickle cell crisis among sickle cell disease patients aged ≤15 years in three Kenyan health facilities

Davis Kimile — 2025-04-14

In view of the dearth of definitive therapeutic measures for sickle cell disease (SCD) and its associated crises, the resulting financial burden on parents and caregivers, coupled with psychological distress, social stigma, and other far-reaching consequences, is still incalculable. This research assessed the determinants of sickle cell crises among individuals with SCD aged 15 years and below, focusing on three healthcare facilities in Nairobi County. Using an analytical crosssectional design, the study aimed to establish the correlation between SCD crises and various variables in this specific age group within the selected health facilities. Structured questionnaires administered by the interviewer, featuring open and dichotomous questions, were meticulously validated, optimized, and used to collect pertinent data from the participants. The findings revealed that most patients with SCD under 15 years of age in the hospitals sampled were women (52.85%), and the highest incidence of SCD occurred in the age range of 0-5 years (46.63%). Educational attainment among patients reached its peak at the primary school level (65.80%), with a minimal 7.77% reaching the secondary school level. Furthermore, female caregivers (92.23%) were prevalent among those responsible for patients with SCD under 15 years of age. Primary caregivers aged 26-30 years (37.82%) and 31-35 years (26.42%) were predominately married (75.13%) and engaged in agricultural activities (63.73%). This study revealed that of the patients with SCD under 15 years of age sampled, a staggering 83.94% experienced crises related to their sickle cell disease, manifesting as abdominal pains for nearly 70 %, joint discomfort for more than 72.22%, acute chest pain occurring approximately 25 %, with bone ache accounting about 32 %. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the gender, age group of 6-10 years and frequent hospital visits (more than twice a month) significantly increased the odds ratio of severe SCD crises. Therefore, this study underscores the impact of patient and caregiver factors on the severity of SCD and its crises. Modifying these factors appropriately has the potential to improve the prognosis and well-being of both patients and caregivers, and strategic interventions must be devised to improve adherence to treatment protocols for patients with SCD aged 15 years and under, thus improving the prognosis and overall quality of life.

Evaluation of public procurement procedures for construction projects in Kenya: A contractor selection system based on project performance.

Harrison Wachira Kiiru — 2025-04-14

Contractor selection is one of the main activities undertaken by state-procuring entities. Without a proper and accurate method for selecting the most appropriate contractor, the performance of the construction project will be affected. It is indeed important that capable contractors with appropriate attributes are selected to ensure that construction project performance is not put at risk. This study is aimed at evaluating the contractor selection procedures that are used during the tender evaluation process. The significance and the relationship between the contractor’s selection procedures and project success performance were determined based on a questionnaire survey. A quantitative and qualitative research strategy and a cross-sectional survey design were used. A stratified random sampling was adopted to determine the proportion of each stratum for the 263 sample size from a target population of 841 public projects that formed the unit of analysis. The data was analysed for multicollinearity, descriptive, multiple regression, and a test of significance computed at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive statistics results revealed that financial soundness, technical capacity, experience, quoted tender price, management capability, and government statutory requirements are the most appropriate variables in tender evaluation. The hypothesis was stated in null form, for which the following results were recorded: (F(2,155)=17.218, p=0.000) and (F(2,154=10.828,p=0.000) thus rejected hypothesis. A stepwise multiple regression model was derived based on dependent variables and independent variables to determine whether there is a relationship between the variables. The goodness fit of the model, as defined by the value of R-square (0.123), was found to be 12.3%. It was therefore, concluded that financial soundness and technical capacity are statistically significant variables that suggest that the variables explain the construction project success. The study is significant in that it provides specific variables to procuring entities and construction contractors with recommendations of better evaluation of tenders both financially and technically.

A reflection on challenges affecting youth empowerment programmes in Kenya

Catherine Mbugua — 2025-04-14

For the past two decades, youth empowerment has remained a rallying call among development actors in addressing the perennial unemployment challenge among the youth. However, the concept is largely unspecific and is not understood by many. Over decades, a myriad of youth empowerment programmes (YEPs) have been rolled out in Kenya by both state and non - state actors amidst efficacy and sustainability concerns. Notably, the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) in Kenya, is still operational since its establishment in 2007 by the government with pronounced wide presence overtly known for provision of micro - credit to youth. The programme has drawn attention of many scholars but there is need to examine the interplay of various YEPs. The study examined the impediments by specifically unpacking how YEPs have been propagated in Kenya over the years, and modest outcomes so realized. A mixed method; a comparative survey of Nairobi; an urban setting and Trans Nzoia; a rural setting. The cross- sectional survey covered 244 youth respondents; and Key Informant Interviews and Focus Group Discussions were also done. The study established that nearly 70% had received post - school training through YEPs; predominantly on entrepreneurship/ business skills, with least focus paid to vocational and technical training. Majority were self-employed earning an average income of less than Kshs 10,000 a month (USD 80). Many YEPs are rolled out by both state and non - state actors but youth in disadvantaged areas have limited or no access. The state micro-credit model (YEDF) dominates the youth development space and that a near third of the respondents were beneficiaries of two or multiple YEPs (both state and non-state) latently promoting dependency syndrome. There is a weak linkage/minimal synergy of state YEPs to similar civil society owned programmes.

The status of dairy development in the highly dairy and potential dairy counties in Kenya

Menjo Dominic Kiplagat — 2025-04-14

Dairy cattle production contributes approximately 6-8% of Kenya’s gross domestic product, creates jobs along the value chain, and plays a key role in food security. However, most of the data used in this industry are based on cross sectional surveys, projections, and estimates, making it difficult to draw concrete conclusions about milk production, consumption, and marketing patterns. To address this gap, this study collected data from 4 highly dairy and 6 potentially dairy counties in Kenya using a harmonized county-based dairy data gathering and monitoring tool. The aim was to assess the status of dairy cattle development between these 2 categories of counties. The results indicated that the average milk production per farm per day was 7.5 litres and the production per cow per day was 4 litres. Acreage under fodder for silage (p=0.026), milk production per day (p=0.047), milk production per cow per day (p=0.009), milk consumed in the location per day (p=0.042) and number of milk shop retailers (p=0.049) were significantly different (P< 0.05) between highly dairy and potentially dairy counties. Of the total milk produced, 35% (113,153 litres), was sold to itinerant traders. followed by 31% (99,740 litres) consumed at home, while (20%, 91,084 litres) was sold to processors. The remaining 14% (19,039 litres) was unaccounted for, likely due to post-harvest losses. Out of the milk sold to processors, only 29% was processed per day in the sampled counties. Averagely in all 8 counties, 5 milk processors, 27 coolers and 5 pasteurisers were identified in each County in this study. In conclusion, the study demonstrates that while highly dairy counties possess several advantages in terms of infrastructure and productivity, there are significant opportunities for growth in potentially dairy counties, particularly through the enhancement of market structures and extension services.

A plant-based system for evaluating the health of wetlands in Mathioya watershed, Murang’a County, Kenya.

Movin O. Oginga — 2025-04-14

Wetlands in Mathioya watershed have been undergoing degradation over the past decades. This can be attributed to human activities such as farming within the wetlands, washing of cars in wetlands, and harvesting/clearing of wetland vegetation. Such activities are likely to impact on the health of the wetlands, which could lead to an overall loss of wetland function and ecosystem services. The aim of this study was to assess the health status of wetlands in Mathioya watershed, Murang’a County. Plant metrics and water quality parameters were used to develop the Plant Index of Biotic Integrity (PIBI). The PIBI was then used to evaluate the health of the wetlands in response to anthropogenic disturbance. The plant metrics selected to be included in the final PIBI include: number of tolerant species, sensitive species, exotic species and shrub species. A trisect interquartile method was then used to assign values to the core metrics. Scores from the selected four metrics were summed to come up with the final PIBI. The metric scores ranged between 4 and 20, with 4 being very poor health and 20 very good health. From the results, only two wetlands were of moderate health, six were of poor health, and one wetland was of very poor health. The average score shows that wetlands in Mathioya watershed are generally of poor health. This study concludes that the majority of the wetlands (6 out of 9) were of poor health, wetlands in areas with relatively low human activities were of better health. Therefore, a restoration project should be initiated to restore the ecological integrity of the wetlands.

Evaluation of quality and shelf life of fresh tomatoes stored in a pumice padded evaporative cooler with a roof pond

Elias W. Ngotho — 2025-04-14

The world is faced by myriad challenges like climate change and ever-increasing population making the achievement of global food security a challenge. Although highly perishable, tomatoes are popular food commodity. Farmers have to sell the commodity soon after harvest for fear of deterioration. For longer storage, tomatoes require an environment with low temperature and high relative humidity. Cooling systems such as refrigeration are not accessible to most small-scale farmers because they require connection to the grid. In this study, a solar powered pumice evaporative cooler was developed and evaluated for the storage of ripe tomatoes. The system adopted the principle of evaporative cooling and comprised of walls filled with pumice coupled with a pond filled with water on the roof and below the storage space. This design allowed water to drip from an elevated tank through the pumice walls and drain into the reservoir below the storage space before recirculation using a solar powered pump. Mature tomatoes c.v Ann F1 were harvested at the turning stage and stored both in the cooler (treatment) and under ambient conditions (control). Quality attributes namely pH, total soluble solids (TSS), firmness, colour and shelf life were evaluated on a seven-day interval for 28 days. Results showed a significant (p≤0.05) difference for pH, TSS, and firmness between samples stored in the cooler and control. However, there was no significant (p>0.05) difference in the colour (hue angle) for the fruits under the treatment and control. Compared to the control, the developed solar powered storage system increased the shelf life of tomatoes from 14 days to 28 days. The results from this study indicate that the solar powered pumice evaporative cooler preserves the quality of tomatoes. This enables the farmers to get better returns as they do not have to sell their harvest at low prices for fear of deterioration.

Performance evaluation of a scoria evaporative cooler for storage of mango fruits

Peter N. Mokaya — 2025-04-14

The scoria evaporative cooler designed for this project applies the principle of evaporative cooling to reduce the temperature while at the same time increasing relative humidity inside the storage chamber. The modern preservation systems such as refrigerators are out of reach to most farmers; in-terms of cost and electricity which is costly and inappropriate for remote areas without electricity. The design consists of a cabinet box type whose dimensions of length, width, and height were 1000mm, 1000mm, and 1400mm, respectively. The performance of the scoria evaporative cooler was evaluated by monitoring the vitamin C, the weight, total soluble solutes, and firmness of the mango fruits and also the temperature and relative humidity throughout the study period. Mature and green apple mangoes were sourced directly from a farm in Tala Machakos County. Three labelled mangoes were randomly selected for evaluation of physiological weight and peel colour changes during storage and subsequent evaluation was repeated on the same fruits. The measurement of firmness, vitamin C and total soluble solids which involved destruction of fruits, the fruits were randomly selected, evaluated and discarded. The shelf-life and quality attributes (viz., physiological weight, firmness, TSS, and vitamin C) of the fruit stored in the cooler were evaluated against the fruits stored under ambient conditions. The temperature and relative humidity of storage environment for the cooler was of average value of 19.27^oC and 88.88% whilst the ambient storage were on average 30.41^oC and 35.28% respectively. Thus, the cooler lowered the storage temperature by 11.14^oC as compared to ambient conditions. This technology extended the shelf life of the apple mangoes by ten days as compared to storage under ambient conditions and this also preserved the quality of the fruit thereby reducing the losses and hence will make mango farming more profitable.

Application of regression techniques to capture value influences for mass valuation of residential property: A case study of two residential estates in Nairobi

Bernard Ochieng — 2025-04-14

This research project sets out to apply statistical techniques in the valuation of land and properties through various models. It focused on comparing predictive accuracies of mass valuation models with a dataset of 500 single-family property transactions in two neighbourhoods within Nairobi city. There are a number of statistical models that are used for mass valuation of properties. The first step in this study was to gather data on property sales used in the development of a base model and proposed model. Each of the property units in the database were geocoded and vectorized. The data was screened and visualized to investigate the nature of the potential association between the response, Y, and predictor variables, X. The predictor variables were tested for multicollinearity and a regression model developed based on hypothesized relationships. The model was tested for lack of fit by ordering the residuals using a residual scatterplots and histograms. Finally, the fitness statistics were reviewed by looking at the spread of the plot and evaluating observed values around the regression line, and examining how accurate the independent variables are in predicting the dependent variables. The results revealed an overall level of 0.96 for Komarock and 0.98 for Runda estate respectively. One measure of how well the model predicts is to compute the correlation between the actual values in the holdout sample and the predicted values. The correlation should be high when the model is valid. The correlation between the assessed value and the actual selling price is 0.71 and 0.98 for Komarock and Runda respectively. Determining the quality of the valuation output also requires measuring uniformity: uniformity between groups of properties and uniformity within groups (Abidoye, Huang, Amidu, & Javad, 2021). The coefficient of dispersion (COD) is the most used measure of valuation uniformity. The results show a COD of 18% and 10% for Komarock and Runda respectively.

Comparative histoquatitative effects of lamotrigine and levetiracetam on fetal memory circuitry structurers in albino rats

Ann W. Mwangi — 2025-04-14

Memory, a key component of the human brain, entails the cognitive ability to encode, store, and retrieve information, that is fundamental for survival. Memory is stored in different circuitry structurers in the brain. On the other hand, Lamotrigine (LAM) and levetiracetam (LEV) are anticonvulsant medicines currently being prescribed as first line in the management of maternal conditions like unipolar depression, acute bi-polar depression, schizophrenia, fibromyalgia, among others. Use of these two medicines is guided by past literature on their efficacy and torrelability. Despite their current use, data on their comparative histoquatitative outcomes on fetal memory circuitry structurers upon their maternal exposure remains equivocal, hence the basis of this study. Data is aimed at establishing which among the two medicines is safer when used prenatally in management of maternal conditions. A post-testonly with control experimental design was adopted in the study. 30 sexually mature female albino rats 250+30grams were used as experimental models. They were categorized as 3 rats for the control group and 27 rats for both LAM and LEV treatment groups. Collected data was coded in excel spreadsheets, and analysis was done using SPSS version 25. The findings of the study were expressed as mean+ standard error of mean (SEM). Values with P<0.05 were considered to have a statistical significantly difference. The comparative findings of the study delineated statistically significant reduction in means of total fetal brain volume, as well as the volume densities of memory circuitry structurers that includes; prefrontal cortex, entorhinal cortex, hippocampal gyrus, subiculum and dentate gyrus for both lamotrigine and levetiracetam. The mean reduction was observed to depict a time and dose dependency, with the most reduction being more marked in high dosages administered during the first trimester. Lamotrigine was associated with deleterious effects than levetiracetam. The study recommends further studies with animals close to human species.