(a) Briefly discuss the cultivation of cassava under the following: (i) Soil requirement (ii) Land Preparation (iii) Spacing (iv) Weed Control (iv) Fertilizer Requirement (vii) Harvesting (viii) Storage (b) Complete the following table under the following.
Name of Diseases
Causal Organism
Farm animal
Symptoms
Control
i
Coccidiosis
ii
Rinderpes
Explanation
(a) Cultivation of cassava (i) Soil requirements - Grows best on well drained sandy loam or clay loam - Tolerant to poor soils (ii) Land propagation - Land is cleared, stumped, ploughed and harrowed - Ridges/mounds could be made - May also be planted on flat land (iii) Propagation - Propagation by stem cuttings - Stem cuttings are planted at an angle of about 45° or in a slanting position or buried flat - About 2/3 of the stem cutting is buried in the soil - The cuttings used must contain a good number of nodes - Can also be propagated by seed (iv) Spacing - lm x 1m - 90cm x 90cm (v) Weed control - Regular weeding is done with use of hoe or cutlass - Herbiscus could be used to control weeds - Hand pulling of weeds could be done on a small scale (vi) Fertilizer requirement - Potassium fertilizer, e.g. muriate of potash - NPK 10:10:20 or 15:15:15 (vii) Harvesting - Maturity is about 6-15 months - Harvesting is done by uprooting the tubers manually or mechanically (viii) Storage - Stored in processed forms such as cassava flour, chips, garri - Tubers can be placed in a pit and covered with earth for storage on a small scale - Could be peeled and kept in deep freezers (b) Completion of the table Coccidiosis (i) Casual organism -Protozoan (Eimera spp) (ii) Farm animal affected - Poultry - Rabbit - Sheep - Goat (iii) Symptom - Foul -smelling droppings - Bloody diarrhoea/droppings - Droopiness - Emaciation - Rise in body temperature - Loss of hair or alopecia (in rabbit) (iv) Control - Treatment with coccidiostat - Regular change of litter - Provision of clean water and feed - Use of foot bath at the entrance of poultry houses Rlnderpest (i) Causal organism - Virus (ii) Farm animal affected - Cattle - Goat - Sheep
(iii) Symptom - High fever - Bloody diarrhoea - Reduced milk yield - High mortality - Difficulty in breathing - Lesions on tongue (iv) Control - Cull and destroy infected animal - Routine vaccination