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Investigations were conducted to study the effect of stem portion and number of stakes per stand on crop establishment, growth and yield of cassava variety NR 8082 in Umudike Southeastern Nigeria during the 2016/17 and 2017/18 cropping seasons. In each year, the experiment was laid out as a 3 × 3 factorial, in randomized complete block design with three replications. Treatments consisted of three stem portions of different physiological ages (top, middle and basal) and three numbers of stakes per stand (1, 2 and 3). The middle and basal stem portions significantly increased percent establishment, plant height and leaf area index at 3 months after planting (MAP) but had no effect on number of storage roots per plant. The best stem portion for storage root yield was, however, the top portion which produced the highest yield on average. Number of stakes per stand did not significantly affect stem girth, number of nodes per plant and leaf area index, but the use of 1 stake per stand increased number of storage roots per plant, root weight and storage oot yield in 2017/2018 cropping season. Number of stakes per stand did not significantly influence storage root yield across the two seasons of evaluation. Interactions between stem portion and number of stakes per stand did not significantly affect storage root yield of NR 8082 high cassava variety in both cropping seasons. Based on the findings, the use of 1 stake per stand is recommended for high root yields of NR 8082 cassava variety under conditions of low soil fertility in Umudike, South East Nigeria. Although the top portion enhanced root yield, farmers could use any of the stem portions, since the middle and basal parts gave satisfactory yields and had better establishment than the former.

56days experiment was carried out to study the effect of substituting dietary maize with graded levels of cassava root meal “Garri” in broiler chicken diet. The percentage dietary maize in the diet was gradually substituted with cassava root meal at 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, and 100% respectively in a Completely Randomized Design. Two hundred and twenty (220) day-old unsexed broiler chicks were randomly assigned to the treatments. Each treatment consists of 20 chicks replicated twice with 10 chicks per replicate. Mean weight gain and feed-to-gain ratio of birds fed diets 1 and 2 were significantly (P 0.05) influenced, but others were. Valuesobtained were also within the range reported for healthy birds. The cost variables were significantly (P

Twenty-one cassava genotypes were screened for their intercrop performance at Umudike between 1997 and 1998 cropping seasons. The 2-year yield data were subjected to Rank-Summation Index (RSI) and Simple Regression (SR) Techniques with the view to determine the performance of the new cassava genotypes under intercrop and identify suitable cassava genotypes for maize or maize/melon intercrops. Yields of cassava under monoculture were also correlated with their yields under mix-culture. From the RSI, 10 Cassava genotypes were found compatible with maize and melon. A linear function described the relationship between cassava fresh root yield and maize yield with a significant coefficient of determination ((R2) = 0.889 and correlation coefficient ® of 0.94. Significant correlation was also established between sole cassava and intercropped cassava yields (r = 0.52), while a yield depression of between 20 and 60% was recorded in the cassava for the 2 years. Fitting a bi-plot, four distinct groups emerged thus; Group 1 – optimum performance of cassava and maize (12 genotypes), Group II – low yield of cassava and high yield of maize (5 genotypes), Group III – High yield of cassava and low yield of maize (3 genotypes) and Group IV – low yield of both cassava and maize (1 genotype). Most genotypes identified as being compatible for intercropping by the 2 techniques were similar except in few cases. [Niger Agric. J. 33 (2002): 50-59]