Journal Title: Journal of Agriculture and Value Addition

Volume : 5 Issue 02 

Page : 1- 15

Submitted: May 19, 2022; Revised: October 09, 2022; Accepted: November 30

* Correspondence: saumyaww@gmail.com

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8437-2052

Misuse of insecticides has negative impacts on the environment and human health; hence, a search  for non-chemical alternatives for insect pest control is a timely need. Natural enemies play a  significant role in suppressing insect pest populations in crops. Mulching has an impact on the  diversity of natural enemies in soil, but it has not been adequately documented locally. Thus, this  study was conducted to examine the influence of mulches on natural enemies associated with the  pests of the brinjal crop. Four mulch materials viz. rice straw, gliricidia (Gliricidia sepium) leaves,  weed residues, and black colour polythene, as the treatments, were laid on plots of brinjal crop.  Unmulched plots, with and without weeds, were also used as controls. Experimental design was  RCBD with three replicates. Soil inhabitants were caught using pitfall traps and soil sampling was  undertaken up to 10 cm depth. Foliage insects were collected using sweep netting. The total number  of natural enemies significantly (F_(5,120) = 5.928, P<0.05) varied between the treatments. The highest  mean number of natural enemies was recorded in rice-straw mulch (2.50 plot^–1), followed by weed  residues (1.19 plot^–1), gliricidia (1.10 plot^–1), and black polythene (0.10 plot^–1). Unmulched plots left  with weeds had a higher mean number of natural enemies (1.29 plot^–1) than the plots without weeds  (0.43 plot^–1). Pest abundance was significantly (F _(5,120) = 3.897, P <0.05) different between  treatments. The highest abundance was recorded in unmulched plots (25.30 plot^–1), followed by weed  residues (7.95 plot^–1), gliricidia (7.76 plot^–1), straw (6.50 plot^–1), and black polythene (2.0 plot^–1).  The study concluded that rice-straw mulching favours natural enemies, while black polythene  reduces insect pest abundance. Further, the presence of weeds on plots enhances the abundance of  natural enemies.

Keywords: Brinjal, insect pests, mulch materials, natural enemies of insect pests

Journal Title: Journal of Agriculture and Value Addition

Volume : 5 Issue 02 

Page : 16- 29

Submitted: July 14, 2022; Revised: October 28, 2022; Accepted: November 15, 2022

* Correspondence: dinesh@uwu.ac.lk

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2251-4200

Protein malnutrition remains a challenging and unresolved health problem among young children in Sri Lanka. This paper aimed to explore the impact of socio demographic attributes on meat and meat product consumption of young children and the factors that affect to change meat and meat products consumption. A total of 387 students aged 17-18 y from different subject streams in Kandy district, Sri Lanka were interviewed using a pre tested structured questionnaire. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the socio-demographic factors. All factors possibly influencing meat and meat product consumption pattern were summarized into six factors (monetary, nutritional, health, quality, animal welfare, and advertising) using principal component analysis. Ordinal logistic regression analysis was performed for the linear combination of the above six principal components to investigate how those components affected the changes in meat and meat product consumption. The majority of students (82%) consumed both meat and processed meat products and chicken meat had the highest preference (75%) among the meat-eaters followed by beef (25.3%), pork (14.7%), and mutton (9.0%), respectively. Knowledge on meat quality standards, family income, and religion was the dominant socio-demographic factors that affected meat and meat product consumption (P<0.01). The majority of high school students (91%) were in the normal range of body mass index (18.5- 24.9). Monetary and advertising factors had a positive and negative impact (odds ratio=1.66 and 0.70) on the changes in meat and meat products consumption, respectively (P<0.01). Proper maintenance of meat quality and further research and development on nutritional aspects targeting healthier meat and meat products could lead to change in the perception of meat consumption of young school children in Sri Lanka.

Keywords: body mass index, chicken, high school, logistic regression, meat consumption

Journal Title: Journal of Agriculture and Value Addition

Volume : 5 Issue 02 

Page : 30- 44

August 31, 2022; Revised: December 17, 2022; Accepted: December 22, 2022

* Correspondence: bcwalpola@soil.ruh.ac.lk

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4663-0943

Soil chemical properties are playing key roles in maximizing the production and quality of tea as  well as sustainable management of tea-growing soils. Therefore, this study was carried out to assess  the impacts of Natural Rubber Tire Waste Charcoal (NRTWC) application on major soil chemical  properties in tea-growing soils. NRTWC was applied to a tea growing soil at different rates (0, 1,  1.6, 2.2 and 2.8% w/w) and soil chemical properties such as soil pH, organic matter content, NH4⁺_- N, NO3^--N, available P and exchangeable K were assessed at 10 and 20 weeks after application of  NRTWC. NRTWC amended soils showed significantly (P≤0.05) higher pH values for the  application rates of 2.2% (5.85) and 2.8% (5.86) than the control where it recorded the lowest pH  value (5.3) at the 20 weeks after application. According to the results, it was observed that the  application of NRTWC that contained a large amount of organic carbon (~50%) contributed to a  significant (P ≤ 0.05) increase in the organic matter content of tea-growing soils. The highest organic  matter (5.58%) was recorded with 2.8% NRTWC application followed by 2.2% application (4.66%)  20 weeks after application. Furthermore, slow decomposition of the NRTWC increases total N  (NH4⁺_-N and NO3^--N), available P and exchangeable K content in the soils. Significantly (P≤0.05)  higher NH4⁺_-N contents were observed for all the treatments at 20 weeks after the application of  NRTWC compared to the control. However, amended soils showed significantly (P≤0.05) higher  NO3^--N contents for the application rates of 2.2 and 2.8% (3.9 and 6.9 mg kg^-1soil, respectively)  compared to the control (1.8 mg kg^-1soil) at 20 weeks after application. The 2.8% application rate  recorded the highest exchangeable K content at 10 weeks (143 mg kg^-1soil) and 20 weeks (195 mg  kg^-1soil) after treatment application. As revealed by the results, NRTWC can be considered as a  good source of soil amendment which could enhance soil chemical properties in degraded tea soils.

Keywords: Charcoal, decomposition, organic amendments, natural rubber tire.

Journal Title: Journal of Agriculture and Value Addition

Volume : 5 Issue 02 

Page : 45- 53

Submitted: September 05, 2022; Revised: December 24, 2022; Accepted: December 26, 2022

* Correspondence: wasanap@uwu.ac.lk

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9023-3024

This study focused on finding the most appropriate conventional method for estimating missing  precipitations values in different climate zones in Sri Lanka. The main location and surrounding  locations were selected from each zone considering their data availability. Monthly precipitation  data for each selected locations were collected from 1980 to 2020. Three temporal methods; Holt  Winter’s Exponential Smoothing, Seasonal Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average and,  Multiple Aggregation Prediction Algorithm and four spatial methods; namely, Arithmetic Mean  Method (AMM), Normal Ratio Method (NR), Inverse Distance Weightage Method (IDW) and  Aerial Precipitation Ratio (APR) method were used for estimating missing values. Root Mean  Square Error, Mean Absolute Error, and Mean Absolute Percentage Error values were used for  selecting the most appropriate method for estimating missing values for each location. It was difficult  to name one method as the most appropriate method for all climate zones. Spatial methods have  performed better than temporal methods in all seven climate zones. The missing values in the Low  Country Wet Zone and Up Country Wet Zone could be estimated using AMM and NRM methods.  APR method is the most suitable for estimating missing values in the Mid Country Wet Zone and  Low Country Intermediate Zone. IDM method performed well in Mid Country Intermediate Zone,  Up Country Intermediate Zones and Low Country Dry Zone. However, further improvement of  both temporal and spatial methods for estimating missing values is necessary as none of these  methods are capable of giving estimates with high accuracy.

Keywords: Estimate, missing values, precipitation, spatial methods, temporal methods

Journal Title: Journal of Agriculture and Value Addition

Volume : 5 Issue 02 

Page : 54- 81

Submitted: October 25, 2022; Revised: November 12, 2022; Accepted: December 15, 2022

* Correspondence: ahmed361@adsu.edu.ng

ORCID: http://orcid.org/ 0000-0002-5249-8774

The study assesses the role of curing, exogenous Abscisic Acids (ABA) and storage methods  on the organoleptic properties of ware potatoes after long term storage. The study consisted  of three factors namely; curing, storage methods and ABA rates which were allocated to  main plot, subplot and sub-sub-plot respectively in a Split-Split-Plot Design (SSPD).  Treatments were replicated three times, consisting of 20 tubers, and data on organoleptic  properties were generated at the end of the storage period. The data were subjected to  Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) using SPSS. Means that showed significant difference was  separated using Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at 0.5% level of probability. The  findings revealed that curing, storage methods and exogenous ABA rates had a very high  significant (P≤0.001) impact and interaction of these factors on acceptability, aroma,  colour, taste and texture of potatoes after long-term storage. Thus, curing period, storage  condition and ABA can be employed in the extension of the shelf-life of potato tubers under  ambient conditions with little loss of organoleptic properties of the tubers after storage.  Further studies are required for confirming results.  

Keywords : Curing, Abscisic acid, organoleptic properties, Storage methods

Journal Title: Journal of Agriculture and Value Addition

Volume : 5 Issue 02 

Page : 82- 92

Submitted: October 31, 2022; Revised: December 16, 2022; Accepted: December 26, 2022

* Correspondence: subajini@gmail.com

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8620-6282

In the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka, the cloudy whitish toddy is obtained by  tapping young or matured inflorescence of both female and male palmyrah palm (Borassus  flabellifer), preserved them by using pasteurization techniques and then sold. In the present  study, the effect of heat and storage period on the physicochemical characteristics as well as nutritional and mineral content of fresh and preserved toddy were determined. Preserved  toddy showed a significantly (P<0.05) higher alcohol (%) 3.80(±0.07), acidity (%)  0.60(±0.07), turbidity (NTU) 2,694.50 (±0.07), relative density 1.01 (±0.07) and total solid (g/L) 58.22 (±0.07) while the total soluble solids (obrix) 5.93(±0.07) and pH 3.43  (±0.07) showed significantly lesser values compared to the fresh toddy. However, there was  no significant (P>0.05) difference in protein 1.42(±0.01) g, fat 0.02(±0.00) g, iron  11.9(±0.3) mg, phosphorus 0.64(±0.04) mg, calcium 13.5(±0.5) mg and magnesium  5.3(±0.5) mg/100 mL. During pasteurization, total sugar and ascorbic acid content were  significantly (P<0.05) decreased from 3.04(±0.06) to 2.80(±0.01) g/100 mL and  3.0(±0.01) to 2.1(±0.01), respectively. When pasteurized toddy was stored at room  temperature, there were no significant differences between the storage period of twelve  months in alcohol 2.9(±0.60), acidity 0.5(±0.10), TSS 7.9(±0.6), pH 3.6(±0.01) and TS  69.4(±9.3). In conclusion, the physicochemical characteristics of palmyrah bottled toddy  were not influenced by the pasteurization process and period of storage of twelve months.

Keywords : Palmyrah, toddy, pasteurization, alcohol percentage and storage