Entrepreneurial development paths and livelihood strategies in smallholder irrigation schemes in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa
- Gidi, Lungile Sivuyile https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2896-2709
- Authors: Gidi, Lungile Sivuyile https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2896-2709
- Date: 2016-07
- Subjects: Farms, Small , Irrigation farming -- Economic aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/24906 , vital:63670
- Description: South Africa has implemented several successful rural poverty relief initiatives; however, poverty continues to strain rural development efforts. The aim of the study was to analyse the entrepreneurial development paths and livelihood strategies in smallholder irrigation schemes in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The study has outlined five hypothesizes for the basis of concrete scientific research. Initially the study hypothesizes that a smallholder’s socio-cultural contexts such as village level institutions especially village governance as well as household circumstances including age, education and gender compositions of the household membership as well as household income can determine a smallholder’s transformation ability. The second hypothesis was that alternative economic activities especially farming activities such as livestock and crop production as well as off-farm economic opportunities which were open to a household could influence a smallholder’s willingness to change from homestead gardening to food crop production under government irrigation programme. The third hypothesis was on the smallholder’s assessment of available market for the products of his or her food crop irrigation farming which could be an important consideration in his or her willingness to change. The fourth assumption was that entrepreneurial skills are lacking, in particular the ability to search for opportunities and willingness to do something different than the masses and take risks in that process. Finally, the study hypothesized that the government irrigation scheme governance could determine the attractiveness of the scheme and thereby influencing the willingness of a smallholder to participate. Specifically, the legal and regulatory environments are very restrictive and they are not conducive to effective value and job creation in the villages and for the principal crop and livestock enterprises. The study used cross-sectional data collected from both scheme farmers and non-scheme farmers. There were 107 smallholder farmers administered. Cobb-Douglass production and Multiple Regression Models were used. The results indicated 62 percent were male household head and 38 percent were female household head. The majority of the farmers were above middle age for both men and women households head. Specifically, about 80percent were above 51 years of age. Wage employment on the other hand contributed 8percent for both scheme and non-scheme farmers. The majority of the family members were dominated by students and pensioners indicating 27percent of the respondents who were unemployed, among them students were included and pensioners were indicated by 9percent. The overall findings were that there are important differences in behavior regarding the transition from homestead gardening to irrigation farming. Smallholder farmers of Mnquma and Mbhashe municipalities have a great potential in maize, beans, potatoes, pumpkin, butternut production, as well as cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry production. Lastly, the study has highlighted various factors affecting livelihoods sources. Therefore, there is a need for these smallholder farmers to engage consistently with the market to enhance information flow. Extension officers must play a role using the recent extension approach of participatory rural appraisal through discussions with farmers and empower them for marketing problems and solutions. Smallholder farmers must ensure frequent consultation with extension or agricultural advisors for financial and production input support. Government need to strengthen agricultural activities in the rural areas in order to sustain rural livelihoods for rural dwellers. Once the rural economy becomes transformed through agricultural activities then rural dwellers can achieve good standard of living in line with a key macroeconomic objective the South African government. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2016
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016-07
- Authors: Gidi, Lungile Sivuyile https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2896-2709
- Date: 2016-07
- Subjects: Farms, Small , Irrigation farming -- Economic aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/24906 , vital:63670
- Description: South Africa has implemented several successful rural poverty relief initiatives; however, poverty continues to strain rural development efforts. The aim of the study was to analyse the entrepreneurial development paths and livelihood strategies in smallholder irrigation schemes in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The study has outlined five hypothesizes for the basis of concrete scientific research. Initially the study hypothesizes that a smallholder’s socio-cultural contexts such as village level institutions especially village governance as well as household circumstances including age, education and gender compositions of the household membership as well as household income can determine a smallholder’s transformation ability. The second hypothesis was that alternative economic activities especially farming activities such as livestock and crop production as well as off-farm economic opportunities which were open to a household could influence a smallholder’s willingness to change from homestead gardening to food crop production under government irrigation programme. The third hypothesis was on the smallholder’s assessment of available market for the products of his or her food crop irrigation farming which could be an important consideration in his or her willingness to change. The fourth assumption was that entrepreneurial skills are lacking, in particular the ability to search for opportunities and willingness to do something different than the masses and take risks in that process. Finally, the study hypothesized that the government irrigation scheme governance could determine the attractiveness of the scheme and thereby influencing the willingness of a smallholder to participate. Specifically, the legal and regulatory environments are very restrictive and they are not conducive to effective value and job creation in the villages and for the principal crop and livestock enterprises. The study used cross-sectional data collected from both scheme farmers and non-scheme farmers. There were 107 smallholder farmers administered. Cobb-Douglass production and Multiple Regression Models were used. The results indicated 62 percent were male household head and 38 percent were female household head. The majority of the farmers were above middle age for both men and women households head. Specifically, about 80percent were above 51 years of age. Wage employment on the other hand contributed 8percent for both scheme and non-scheme farmers. The majority of the family members were dominated by students and pensioners indicating 27percent of the respondents who were unemployed, among them students were included and pensioners were indicated by 9percent. The overall findings were that there are important differences in behavior regarding the transition from homestead gardening to irrigation farming. Smallholder farmers of Mnquma and Mbhashe municipalities have a great potential in maize, beans, potatoes, pumpkin, butternut production, as well as cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry production. Lastly, the study has highlighted various factors affecting livelihoods sources. Therefore, there is a need for these smallholder farmers to engage consistently with the market to enhance information flow. Extension officers must play a role using the recent extension approach of participatory rural appraisal through discussions with farmers and empower them for marketing problems and solutions. Smallholder farmers must ensure frequent consultation with extension or agricultural advisors for financial and production input support. Government need to strengthen agricultural activities in the rural areas in order to sustain rural livelihoods for rural dwellers. Once the rural economy becomes transformed through agricultural activities then rural dwellers can achieve good standard of living in line with a key macroeconomic objective the South African government. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2016
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016-07
Evaluation of cellulase and xylanase production by two actinobacteria species belonging to the Micrococcus genus isolated from decaying lignocellulosic biomass
- Mmango-Kaseke, Ziyanda https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8936-1149
- Authors: Mmango-Kaseke, Ziyanda https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8936-1149
- Date: 2016-05
- Subjects: Lignocellulose , Biomass energy
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/24197 , vital:62442
- Description: Bacteria were isolated from sawdust and screened for cellulase and xylanase production on carboxyl methyl cellulose (CMC) and birchwood xylan agar. The bacteria showing halo forms around the colony were selected for further analyses and those isolates with the highest cumulative halozone size (isolate PLY1 and MLY10) were chosen for detailed studies. Evaluation of cellulase and xylanase production by saw dust actinobacterial species whose 16S rDNA nucleotide sequences were deposited in GenBank as Micrococcus luteus strain SAMRC-UFH3 with accession number KU171371 and Micrococcus yunnanensis strain SAMRC-UFH4 with accession number KU171372. Optimum culture conditions for the production of cellulase for respective axenic culture include incubation period (96 h), incubation temperature (25oC), agitation speed (50 rpm), and pH 5. For xylanase production, the optimum culture conditions in the presence of 1percent (w/v) birchwood xylan include incubation period (84 h), incubation temperature (25oC), agitation speed (200 rpm), and pH 10. For Micrococcus yunnanensis strain SAMRC-UFH4 cellulase production was optimal under such conditions as, incubation temperature (30oC), agitation speed (0 rpm), and pH 5, while xylanase production was optimal at, incubation temperature (30oC), agitation speed (150 rpm), and pH 10. The high cellulase and xylanase activity obtained from these isolates suggest suitability of the organisms as important candidates for commercial application. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2016
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016-05
- Authors: Mmango-Kaseke, Ziyanda https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8936-1149
- Date: 2016-05
- Subjects: Lignocellulose , Biomass energy
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/24197 , vital:62442
- Description: Bacteria were isolated from sawdust and screened for cellulase and xylanase production on carboxyl methyl cellulose (CMC) and birchwood xylan agar. The bacteria showing halo forms around the colony were selected for further analyses and those isolates with the highest cumulative halozone size (isolate PLY1 and MLY10) were chosen for detailed studies. Evaluation of cellulase and xylanase production by saw dust actinobacterial species whose 16S rDNA nucleotide sequences were deposited in GenBank as Micrococcus luteus strain SAMRC-UFH3 with accession number KU171371 and Micrococcus yunnanensis strain SAMRC-UFH4 with accession number KU171372. Optimum culture conditions for the production of cellulase for respective axenic culture include incubation period (96 h), incubation temperature (25oC), agitation speed (50 rpm), and pH 5. For xylanase production, the optimum culture conditions in the presence of 1percent (w/v) birchwood xylan include incubation period (84 h), incubation temperature (25oC), agitation speed (200 rpm), and pH 10. For Micrococcus yunnanensis strain SAMRC-UFH4 cellulase production was optimal under such conditions as, incubation temperature (30oC), agitation speed (0 rpm), and pH 5, while xylanase production was optimal at, incubation temperature (30oC), agitation speed (150 rpm), and pH 10. The high cellulase and xylanase activity obtained from these isolates suggest suitability of the organisms as important candidates for commercial application. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2016
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016-05
A bitcoin framework : an alternative payment system for marginalized areas of South Africa using low-end mobile phones
- Authors: Dlamini, Nelisiwe Peaceness
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Electronic funds transfers -- South Africa Bitcoin -- South Africa Mobile commerce -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11884 , vital:39115
- Description: The emergence of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, has invoked the need for developing financial systems that can be used to transfer digital value. This would serve as a solution to developing countries especially the challenged ones, when it comes to accommodating the financial needs of the disadvantaged people. Moreover, it facilitates access to financial services to allow them to transact with ease. Numerous companies have taken advantage of the prevalence of mobile phones and introduced financial platforms to provide financial inclusion to disadvantaged people. Financial institutions and Mobile Network Operators (MNO) have developed platforms such as cell phone banking services, mobile money, mobile wallets, and electronic wallets that can be used to provide affordable financial services. Although this is the case, alternative platforms that are affordable and accessible through mobile phones are still required. Therefore, this study proposes a Bitcoin framework that can be used as an alternative platform through low-end mobile phones to provide access to financial services to the disadvantaged people in marginalized areas. To prove the concept of the proposed Bitcoin framework, a Mobile Bitcoin Wallet System (MBWS) prototype was developed, which allows a person using a low-end mobile phone with no intervening technology such as Internet or Bluetooth, to access a Bitcoin wallet by sending a Short Message Service (SMS). This enables Bitcoin to be accessed more easily and affordably by the people. Thus the developed prototype conceptualizes an alternative payment system or a payment method that can augment the existing payment methods. The MBWS is evaluated to assess if it can offer the services that other platforms offer by being compared to a cell-phone banking service. It was deployed on a computer connected to the Internet to enable a connection to the Bitcoin network and access to the blockchain which records all the transactions that take place in Bitcoin. Although this system provides access to the Bitcoin wallet, for it to be applied to areas where people require an alternative payment system, it still needs to be enhanced for such use. This includes scaling the system and adding more functions to it.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Dlamini, Nelisiwe Peaceness
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Electronic funds transfers -- South Africa Bitcoin -- South Africa Mobile commerce -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11884 , vital:39115
- Description: The emergence of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, has invoked the need for developing financial systems that can be used to transfer digital value. This would serve as a solution to developing countries especially the challenged ones, when it comes to accommodating the financial needs of the disadvantaged people. Moreover, it facilitates access to financial services to allow them to transact with ease. Numerous companies have taken advantage of the prevalence of mobile phones and introduced financial platforms to provide financial inclusion to disadvantaged people. Financial institutions and Mobile Network Operators (MNO) have developed platforms such as cell phone banking services, mobile money, mobile wallets, and electronic wallets that can be used to provide affordable financial services. Although this is the case, alternative platforms that are affordable and accessible through mobile phones are still required. Therefore, this study proposes a Bitcoin framework that can be used as an alternative platform through low-end mobile phones to provide access to financial services to the disadvantaged people in marginalized areas. To prove the concept of the proposed Bitcoin framework, a Mobile Bitcoin Wallet System (MBWS) prototype was developed, which allows a person using a low-end mobile phone with no intervening technology such as Internet or Bluetooth, to access a Bitcoin wallet by sending a Short Message Service (SMS). This enables Bitcoin to be accessed more easily and affordably by the people. Thus the developed prototype conceptualizes an alternative payment system or a payment method that can augment the existing payment methods. The MBWS is evaluated to assess if it can offer the services that other platforms offer by being compared to a cell-phone banking service. It was deployed on a computer connected to the Internet to enable a connection to the Bitcoin network and access to the blockchain which records all the transactions that take place in Bitcoin. Although this system provides access to the Bitcoin wallet, for it to be applied to areas where people require an alternative payment system, it still needs to be enhanced for such use. This includes scaling the system and adding more functions to it.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Adaptive responses to heat stress, quality of hide and meat from indigenous Nguni and non-descript crossbred cattle
- Authors: Chikwanda, Denice
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Cattle -- Effect of temperature on Nguni cattle Beef cattle breeds
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Agriculture)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/10614 , vital:35635
- Description: The main objective of this study was to determine the adaptive responses of Nguni and non-descript crossbred cattle (NDCC) to heat stress, nutritionally-related blood metabolite profiles, fatty acid profiles, carcass and meat characteristics, physico-mechanical properties of automotive upholstery crust leather and the associated collagen fibre architecture of hides and crust leather. Forty steers (20 Nguni and 20 NDCC) which were approximately 14 months of age with live weights ranging between 153 kg and 203 kg at the beginning of the study were used. Environmental variables (ambient temperature, relative humidity, wind parameters, solar radiation) were collected from a weather station at the research farm. Temperature-humidity index (THI) values were computed. Rectal and skin temperature, skin traits and blood metabolites were determined at two-week intervals over 16 weeks. Hair coat scores ranged from extremely short (score 1) to very woolly (score 7). At slaughter, blood samples were collected after exsanguination. Meat samples were collected from the right muscularis longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) and Triceps brachii (TB) muscles after 24 hours of chilling of carcasses for physico-chemical quality tests. Fatty acid profiles and physico-chemical quality of meat were determined on the LTL and TB. An additional fifty-four hides (27 Nguni and 27 NDCC) were obtained from a commercial abattoir at slaughter. The hides were tanned into automotive crust leather and tested for physico-mechanical quality. Results showed that week and environmental variables affected skin temperature; also, the rectal and skin temperatures were negatively correlated to body condition, skin pigment, coat score and skin thickness. Non-descript crossbred cattle had higher coat scores (2.1 ± 0.36 to 4.1 ± 4.20) than Nguni cattle (1.6 ± 0.36 to 4.1 ± 0.36). Body condition scores, blood creatinine, urea, total protein, albumin and globulin were affected by genotype and week of sampling. At the end of the trial, NDCC had higher slaughter and hide weights (285.9 ± 6.52 kg and 18.4 ± 0.54 kg, respectively) than Nguni cattle (232.6 ± 6.5 kg and 14.7 ± 0.54 kg, respectively). The majority of NDCC carcasses (73.7 percent) had a fatness level of 1 compared to Nguni carcasses (50 percent). Intramuscular fat was higher in Nguni (1.8 ± 0.09 percent) compared to NDCC (1.5 ± 0.09 percent) steers. Nguni steers had darker muscle colour (L*=33.6 ± 0.01) than NDCC (L*= 35.7 ± 0.54). Nguni and NDCC had similar thawing loss, cooking loss, WBSF tenderness, fat-free dry matter, moisture content, fatty acid profiles and health-related lipid indices. Ultimate muscle pH, meat colour and chroma were similar in the LTL and TB. Concerning the skin, Nguni and NDCC had similar physico-mechanical properties. However, breaking load and tensile strength were higher (1257.1 ± 70.72 N and 28.3 ± 1.23 MPa) in samples taken parallel to the backbone compared to that taken perpendicular to the backbone (979.5 ±70.72 N and 23.6 ±1.23MPa) across the two genotypes. Non-descript crossbred crust leather varied in physico-mechanical tests by direction of sampling. Collagen fibre orientation in hides and crust samples also varied between longitudinal and cross-sections. Collagen fibre diameters in the Nguni were similar in longitudinal and cross-sections (3.4 ± 0.12 μm and 3.2 ± 0.11 μm, respectively). From this study, it is concluded that THI, hair coat, skin traits and body condition affect skin temperature, but not rectal temperature, cortisol and CK activity in Nguni and NDCC reared extensively. The two genotypes differ in nutritionally-related blood metabolites, growth performance, hide weights and carcass traits. Beef from Nguni and NDCC differs in the IMF and meat lightness but is similar in the meat fatty acid composition and some physico-chemical quality parameters. Automotive crust leathers from the two genotypes were similar in some physico-mechanical properties. Collagen architecture varied among different regions of hides and crust leathers
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Chikwanda, Denice
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Cattle -- Effect of temperature on Nguni cattle Beef cattle breeds
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Agriculture)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/10614 , vital:35635
- Description: The main objective of this study was to determine the adaptive responses of Nguni and non-descript crossbred cattle (NDCC) to heat stress, nutritionally-related blood metabolite profiles, fatty acid profiles, carcass and meat characteristics, physico-mechanical properties of automotive upholstery crust leather and the associated collagen fibre architecture of hides and crust leather. Forty steers (20 Nguni and 20 NDCC) which were approximately 14 months of age with live weights ranging between 153 kg and 203 kg at the beginning of the study were used. Environmental variables (ambient temperature, relative humidity, wind parameters, solar radiation) were collected from a weather station at the research farm. Temperature-humidity index (THI) values were computed. Rectal and skin temperature, skin traits and blood metabolites were determined at two-week intervals over 16 weeks. Hair coat scores ranged from extremely short (score 1) to very woolly (score 7). At slaughter, blood samples were collected after exsanguination. Meat samples were collected from the right muscularis longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) and Triceps brachii (TB) muscles after 24 hours of chilling of carcasses for physico-chemical quality tests. Fatty acid profiles and physico-chemical quality of meat were determined on the LTL and TB. An additional fifty-four hides (27 Nguni and 27 NDCC) were obtained from a commercial abattoir at slaughter. The hides were tanned into automotive crust leather and tested for physico-mechanical quality. Results showed that week and environmental variables affected skin temperature; also, the rectal and skin temperatures were negatively correlated to body condition, skin pigment, coat score and skin thickness. Non-descript crossbred cattle had higher coat scores (2.1 ± 0.36 to 4.1 ± 4.20) than Nguni cattle (1.6 ± 0.36 to 4.1 ± 0.36). Body condition scores, blood creatinine, urea, total protein, albumin and globulin were affected by genotype and week of sampling. At the end of the trial, NDCC had higher slaughter and hide weights (285.9 ± 6.52 kg and 18.4 ± 0.54 kg, respectively) than Nguni cattle (232.6 ± 6.5 kg and 14.7 ± 0.54 kg, respectively). The majority of NDCC carcasses (73.7 percent) had a fatness level of 1 compared to Nguni carcasses (50 percent). Intramuscular fat was higher in Nguni (1.8 ± 0.09 percent) compared to NDCC (1.5 ± 0.09 percent) steers. Nguni steers had darker muscle colour (L*=33.6 ± 0.01) than NDCC (L*= 35.7 ± 0.54). Nguni and NDCC had similar thawing loss, cooking loss, WBSF tenderness, fat-free dry matter, moisture content, fatty acid profiles and health-related lipid indices. Ultimate muscle pH, meat colour and chroma were similar in the LTL and TB. Concerning the skin, Nguni and NDCC had similar physico-mechanical properties. However, breaking load and tensile strength were higher (1257.1 ± 70.72 N and 28.3 ± 1.23 MPa) in samples taken parallel to the backbone compared to that taken perpendicular to the backbone (979.5 ±70.72 N and 23.6 ±1.23MPa) across the two genotypes. Non-descript crossbred crust leather varied in physico-mechanical tests by direction of sampling. Collagen fibre orientation in hides and crust samples also varied between longitudinal and cross-sections. Collagen fibre diameters in the Nguni were similar in longitudinal and cross-sections (3.4 ± 0.12 μm and 3.2 ± 0.11 μm, respectively). From this study, it is concluded that THI, hair coat, skin traits and body condition affect skin temperature, but not rectal temperature, cortisol and CK activity in Nguni and NDCC reared extensively. The two genotypes differ in nutritionally-related blood metabolites, growth performance, hide weights and carcass traits. Beef from Nguni and NDCC differs in the IMF and meat lightness but is similar in the meat fatty acid composition and some physico-chemical quality parameters. Automotive crust leathers from the two genotypes were similar in some physico-mechanical properties. Collagen architecture varied among different regions of hides and crust leathers
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
An analysis of grade 12 students' attitudes towards agriculture as a career choice in Nkonkobe municipality, Eastern Cape
- Authors: Ndema, Tenjiwe N
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Career development -- South Africa , Agriculture -- Study and teaching -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/26592 , vital:65661
- Description: In South Africa there is a perception that the youth, particularly black youth, lack interest in agriculture as a career. The youth are perceived to be more drawn to white collar jobs, because they believe that these jobs are more pleasant and better paying. The literature moreover suggests that the youth perceive agriculture as dirty work which is more appropriate for uneducated or illiterate people. The main aim of the research was to analyse Grade12 students’ attitudes towards agriculture as a career choice in Nkonkobe Municipality. Students from four high schools were interviewed using a structured questionnaire, and the total sample size was 100. Based on the results, about one third of students have a favorable perception of agriculture as a career choice, which is more than what had been expected based on the literature reviewed. Both students from non-agricultural schools and agricultural schools possess a positive attitude towards agriculture. They indicated that agriculture offers a lot of financial gain, is not necessarily associated with poverty, nor is agriculture widely regarded as a last resort for those who have failed in other careers. Moreover, they believe that agriculture is as important as other sectors. However, of those learners who indicated an intention to pursue agriculture as a career, only 1 % specifically wished to become a farmer. The others rather wanted professional careers within the agricultural sector, such as veterinarians, agricultural economists, and so forth. Their interest in agriculture as a career related in large measure to a desire to live in a rural area and work with their hands; however this did not extend to actual farming. , Thesis (M Agric) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2016
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Ndema, Tenjiwe N
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Career development -- South Africa , Agriculture -- Study and teaching -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/26592 , vital:65661
- Description: In South Africa there is a perception that the youth, particularly black youth, lack interest in agriculture as a career. The youth are perceived to be more drawn to white collar jobs, because they believe that these jobs are more pleasant and better paying. The literature moreover suggests that the youth perceive agriculture as dirty work which is more appropriate for uneducated or illiterate people. The main aim of the research was to analyse Grade12 students’ attitudes towards agriculture as a career choice in Nkonkobe Municipality. Students from four high schools were interviewed using a structured questionnaire, and the total sample size was 100. Based on the results, about one third of students have a favorable perception of agriculture as a career choice, which is more than what had been expected based on the literature reviewed. Both students from non-agricultural schools and agricultural schools possess a positive attitude towards agriculture. They indicated that agriculture offers a lot of financial gain, is not necessarily associated with poverty, nor is agriculture widely regarded as a last resort for those who have failed in other careers. Moreover, they believe that agriculture is as important as other sectors. However, of those learners who indicated an intention to pursue agriculture as a career, only 1 % specifically wished to become a farmer. The others rather wanted professional careers within the agricultural sector, such as veterinarians, agricultural economists, and so forth. Their interest in agriculture as a career related in large measure to a desire to live in a rural area and work with their hands; however this did not extend to actual farming. , Thesis (M Agric) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2016
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
An analysis of the efficiency of ontology and symbolic learning algorithms in indigenous knowledge representation
- Authors: Dzimba, Jesman
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Ontology Computer algorithms
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11939 , vital:39120
- Description: It is without a doubt that machine learning has been the area of focus in early days of artificial intelligence, but the early neural networks approach suffered some shortcomings and this led to a temporary decline in research capacity. New symbolic learning techniques have emerged since then which have yielded promising results and have led to a revival in research in machine learning. This has seen many researchers focusing on these techniques and experimenting with them by comparing their performances for different applications. With that in mind, the research thus decided to make an analysis of the symbolic approach against other approaches such as the neural network (connectionist) to evaluate the power of the former approach. This was done by first generating an ontology that acted as a representation of some collected indigenous knowledge. It is from this ontology that a dataset was generated. The dataset was made ambiguous to see the learning power of classifiers in such data. Two experiments were done, one using WEKA and the other using Orange as tools. The reason why the two experiments were used is because there was not a single tool which contained all the required learning algorithms. The research wanted to make use of ID3 and CN2 symbolic algorithm. However, WEKA had ID3 and not CN2 while Orange had CN2 and not ID3. The most important attributes from the ontology regarding the indigenous knowledge were the name of the plant, the province it is found and the disease the plant treats. Therefore the dataset had two features which were disease and province and one label which was the name of the plant. The learning algorithm was to use the two features to generate rules used to predict the label. However, there was ambiguity on the dataset. The challenge was that two different labels would contain the same features, thus leading to wrongful classification. This was the core of the research. Even though the learning model concluded this situation as wrongful classification, in real time, a system using the same learning model would provide desired and correct results. The only flow which was there is that the learning model simply used one label to predict under and ignore the other label with similar features. This was identified as a flow for both symbolic and non-symbolic algorithms. There is no way of giving suggestions in the case a user wants a different plant but with similar features. Therefore for classification using an ambiguous dataset, both these approaches proved to have the fore mentions flow. The research then decided to use recall to analyze the power of these approaches. It was discovered that ID3 has better recall than Multilayer perceptron and Naïve Bayes algorithms when using a training set. ID3 managed to recall clearly and effectively three of its classes by a probability of 1 while Bayes Net had only one class with recall probability of 1. To further investigate the issue of recall, cross validation was used to contrast the competence of recall of the three algorithms to strengthen the assertion that indeed ID3 has a better recall as compared to the other two algorithms. Three stages of cross-validation were done, one stage using 10 fold, the other 20 fold, and the last using 50 fold. For all the different stages of crossvalidation, Bayes Net proved to perform better in terms of recall than the other two algorithms. In cross-validation, MLP could recall approximately above 88% of the instances available in contrast to when using training set where the algorithm recall only two out of 18 instances. In overall the symbolic approach proved to be a commendable approach for use over the nonsymbolic approach. The study of machine learning involves the building of learning algorithms, improving upon learning algorithms or making comparisons of machine learning algorithms. The research raised awareness on some improvements that need to be done on not only symbolic algorithms but non-symbolic ones as well. Some improvements include improving on or coming up with algorithms that suggest alternative predictions in cases of ambiguity instead of doing wrongful classification and not reflect on other possibilities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Dzimba, Jesman
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Ontology Computer algorithms
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11939 , vital:39120
- Description: It is without a doubt that machine learning has been the area of focus in early days of artificial intelligence, but the early neural networks approach suffered some shortcomings and this led to a temporary decline in research capacity. New symbolic learning techniques have emerged since then which have yielded promising results and have led to a revival in research in machine learning. This has seen many researchers focusing on these techniques and experimenting with them by comparing their performances for different applications. With that in mind, the research thus decided to make an analysis of the symbolic approach against other approaches such as the neural network (connectionist) to evaluate the power of the former approach. This was done by first generating an ontology that acted as a representation of some collected indigenous knowledge. It is from this ontology that a dataset was generated. The dataset was made ambiguous to see the learning power of classifiers in such data. Two experiments were done, one using WEKA and the other using Orange as tools. The reason why the two experiments were used is because there was not a single tool which contained all the required learning algorithms. The research wanted to make use of ID3 and CN2 symbolic algorithm. However, WEKA had ID3 and not CN2 while Orange had CN2 and not ID3. The most important attributes from the ontology regarding the indigenous knowledge were the name of the plant, the province it is found and the disease the plant treats. Therefore the dataset had two features which were disease and province and one label which was the name of the plant. The learning algorithm was to use the two features to generate rules used to predict the label. However, there was ambiguity on the dataset. The challenge was that two different labels would contain the same features, thus leading to wrongful classification. This was the core of the research. Even though the learning model concluded this situation as wrongful classification, in real time, a system using the same learning model would provide desired and correct results. The only flow which was there is that the learning model simply used one label to predict under and ignore the other label with similar features. This was identified as a flow for both symbolic and non-symbolic algorithms. There is no way of giving suggestions in the case a user wants a different plant but with similar features. Therefore for classification using an ambiguous dataset, both these approaches proved to have the fore mentions flow. The research then decided to use recall to analyze the power of these approaches. It was discovered that ID3 has better recall than Multilayer perceptron and Naïve Bayes algorithms when using a training set. ID3 managed to recall clearly and effectively three of its classes by a probability of 1 while Bayes Net had only one class with recall probability of 1. To further investigate the issue of recall, cross validation was used to contrast the competence of recall of the three algorithms to strengthen the assertion that indeed ID3 has a better recall as compared to the other two algorithms. Three stages of cross-validation were done, one stage using 10 fold, the other 20 fold, and the last using 50 fold. For all the different stages of crossvalidation, Bayes Net proved to perform better in terms of recall than the other two algorithms. In cross-validation, MLP could recall approximately above 88% of the instances available in contrast to when using training set where the algorithm recall only two out of 18 instances. In overall the symbolic approach proved to be a commendable approach for use over the nonsymbolic approach. The study of machine learning involves the building of learning algorithms, improving upon learning algorithms or making comparisons of machine learning algorithms. The research raised awareness on some improvements that need to be done on not only symbolic algorithms but non-symbolic ones as well. Some improvements include improving on or coming up with algorithms that suggest alternative predictions in cases of ambiguity instead of doing wrongful classification and not reflect on other possibilities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
An assessment of public support given to land reform commonage farmers by local and provincial government and their perfomance: A case study of Makana Local Municipality in Eastern Cape
- Authors: Gqweta, N V P
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Land reform -- South Africa , Land use
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23991 , vital:62238
- Description: Access to land is very important for previously disadvantage people from the countries where agriculture is one of the main sources for employment in order to improve their livelihoods. Worldwide, Land Reform arose mainly because of inequalities of resources. In South Africa the Land Reform started in as early as 1658 where blacks were not afforded equal opportunities as white people and therefore off farm land and properties. When South Africa’s first democratic government came into power in 1994, one of its goals was to redress the injustice of the past and give back land to the previously disadvantaged people through various land reform programmes. One of the components of the land reform programme was the provision of commonages lands to urban municipalities for use by the urban poor. The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform acquired commonages land for the municipalities for the purpose of agricultural production. The study focused on the Municipal Commonage Programme and this has been done by assessing the public support given to land reform commonage farmers by local and provincial government and their performance in Makana Local Municipality in Eastern Cape. The study showed that land reform commonage emerging farmers are confronted by numerous challenges such as poor infrastructure, access to markets, mentorship, credit, transport by beneficiaries, lack of support from government departments and lack of co-ordination between government departments. These and other challenges ultimately hamper beneficiaries from making effective use of land. The study was done on eight commonages in Makana Municipality. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel. Data collection entailed questionnaire, interviews and focus group discussions. In view of the challenges for commonage farmers, this study provides recommendation for improving the commonage land reform redistribution projects. Current management attempts are not ensuring the efficient equitable and sustainable use of these commonages. Municipal Commonage should be better integrated into agrarian reform through leases and an efficient Commonage Farmers Support Programmes. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2016
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Gqweta, N V P
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Land reform -- South Africa , Land use
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23991 , vital:62238
- Description: Access to land is very important for previously disadvantage people from the countries where agriculture is one of the main sources for employment in order to improve their livelihoods. Worldwide, Land Reform arose mainly because of inequalities of resources. In South Africa the Land Reform started in as early as 1658 where blacks were not afforded equal opportunities as white people and therefore off farm land and properties. When South Africa’s first democratic government came into power in 1994, one of its goals was to redress the injustice of the past and give back land to the previously disadvantaged people through various land reform programmes. One of the components of the land reform programme was the provision of commonages lands to urban municipalities for use by the urban poor. The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform acquired commonages land for the municipalities for the purpose of agricultural production. The study focused on the Municipal Commonage Programme and this has been done by assessing the public support given to land reform commonage farmers by local and provincial government and their performance in Makana Local Municipality in Eastern Cape. The study showed that land reform commonage emerging farmers are confronted by numerous challenges such as poor infrastructure, access to markets, mentorship, credit, transport by beneficiaries, lack of support from government departments and lack of co-ordination between government departments. These and other challenges ultimately hamper beneficiaries from making effective use of land. The study was done on eight commonages in Makana Municipality. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel. Data collection entailed questionnaire, interviews and focus group discussions. In view of the challenges for commonage farmers, this study provides recommendation for improving the commonage land reform redistribution projects. Current management attempts are not ensuring the efficient equitable and sustainable use of these commonages. Municipal Commonage should be better integrated into agrarian reform through leases and an efficient Commonage Farmers Support Programmes. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2016
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
An assessment of quality, class and grade of service (QoS, CoS and GoS) over worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMax) networks through performance evaluation of bandwidth
- Authors: Nomnga, Phumzile
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Wireless communication systems Wireless LANs -- Standards Broadband communication systems
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/8033 , vital:31481
- Description: The Dwesa WiMAX network provides broadband communications over wireless connectivity for various types of multimedia traffic, such as emailing, browsing, VoIP, file transfer, etc. to the community members. The community members of Dwesa use schools’ computer labs to access the network and generate the aforementioned multimedia packets on dedicated timeslots and thus cause network congestion during such timeslots. Against this background, WiMAX implementation has faced several challenges in living up to its objectives in RMAs. Quality of Service (QoS) degradation as a result of high traffic demands remains one of the challenges thwarting WiMAX implementation. The GoS is also bound to get compromised as connectivity demands arise consistently with more subscribers connecting to the network, making it difficult to measure the success a subscriber is expected to have in accessing the network. The CoS and SchedType play a significant role in the redistribution of the available bandwidth to all bandwidth requests. This research project exploits this avenue to assess the resultant degradation of QoS and GoS caused by the inconsistent availability of bandwidth as redistributed by the CoS combination with a SchedType. The four CoS which are, namely, the UGS, rtPS, nrtPS and BE were implemented with the different SchedTypes, namely, MBQOS, FCFS and rtPS. Although the implementation process was conducted in a simulated environment using NS-3, the simulated network emulated the network setup implemented in Dwesa. The outcomes of the implementation suggests that certain combinations of the CoS’s with SchedTypes can lead to degradation of QoS whilst some combinations can redistribute the available bandwidth to ensure the provisioning of guaranteed QoS.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Nomnga, Phumzile
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Wireless communication systems Wireless LANs -- Standards Broadband communication systems
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/8033 , vital:31481
- Description: The Dwesa WiMAX network provides broadband communications over wireless connectivity for various types of multimedia traffic, such as emailing, browsing, VoIP, file transfer, etc. to the community members. The community members of Dwesa use schools’ computer labs to access the network and generate the aforementioned multimedia packets on dedicated timeslots and thus cause network congestion during such timeslots. Against this background, WiMAX implementation has faced several challenges in living up to its objectives in RMAs. Quality of Service (QoS) degradation as a result of high traffic demands remains one of the challenges thwarting WiMAX implementation. The GoS is also bound to get compromised as connectivity demands arise consistently with more subscribers connecting to the network, making it difficult to measure the success a subscriber is expected to have in accessing the network. The CoS and SchedType play a significant role in the redistribution of the available bandwidth to all bandwidth requests. This research project exploits this avenue to assess the resultant degradation of QoS and GoS caused by the inconsistent availability of bandwidth as redistributed by the CoS combination with a SchedType. The four CoS which are, namely, the UGS, rtPS, nrtPS and BE were implemented with the different SchedTypes, namely, MBQOS, FCFS and rtPS. Although the implementation process was conducted in a simulated environment using NS-3, the simulated network emulated the network setup implemented in Dwesa. The outcomes of the implementation suggests that certain combinations of the CoS’s with SchedTypes can lead to degradation of QoS whilst some combinations can redistribute the available bandwidth to ensure the provisioning of guaranteed QoS.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
An evaluation of medicinal plants used in South Africa and Lesotho for uterotonic contractile purposes
- Authors: Smit, Inge
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Traditional medicine -- South Africa Traditional medicine -- Lesotho
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/15232 , vital:40256
- Description: Background One of the leading cause of maternal mortality globally is postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), which mainly occur in developing countries. By identifying traditional medicinal plants that is used by Traditional birth attendants we can analysis the plants for cyclotides which contain uterotonic properties and a wide variety of other properties. The indigenous knowledge of traditional medicinal plants need to be preserved and scientifically proven to ensure future drug development and continued use of these plants. Cyclotides can be used as a backbone to develop novel drugs in that cyclotides are very stable proteins. Methods: Ten plants were identified that are commonly used to prevent or treat postpartum haemorrhage. The plant samples were collected, prepared and dried in South Africa. The plants were analysed in Austria. The plants underwent extraction of one gram of each plant was analysed using: Matrix-Assisted Laser desorption Ionization time-of-flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS); Tandem Mass Spectrometry and Analysis by High-performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Results None of the ten plants analysed showed the presence of cyclotides. It is important to report negative results, because it informs the academic fraternity and could be entered in a global data base of results. The plants analysed is known to be used by Traditional Birth Attendants for the treatment or prevention of postpartum haemorrhage. Conclusion All the plants analysed are commonly used to prevent and treat PPH. The fact that no cyclotides were found do not dispute the practical use of these plants to prevent and treat PPH. There continue to be a gap in what uterotonic properties these plants contain and should be further investigated.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Smit, Inge
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Traditional medicine -- South Africa Traditional medicine -- Lesotho
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/15232 , vital:40256
- Description: Background One of the leading cause of maternal mortality globally is postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), which mainly occur in developing countries. By identifying traditional medicinal plants that is used by Traditional birth attendants we can analysis the plants for cyclotides which contain uterotonic properties and a wide variety of other properties. The indigenous knowledge of traditional medicinal plants need to be preserved and scientifically proven to ensure future drug development and continued use of these plants. Cyclotides can be used as a backbone to develop novel drugs in that cyclotides are very stable proteins. Methods: Ten plants were identified that are commonly used to prevent or treat postpartum haemorrhage. The plant samples were collected, prepared and dried in South Africa. The plants were analysed in Austria. The plants underwent extraction of one gram of each plant was analysed using: Matrix-Assisted Laser desorption Ionization time-of-flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS); Tandem Mass Spectrometry and Analysis by High-performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Results None of the ten plants analysed showed the presence of cyclotides. It is important to report negative results, because it informs the academic fraternity and could be entered in a global data base of results. The plants analysed is known to be used by Traditional Birth Attendants for the treatment or prevention of postpartum haemorrhage. Conclusion All the plants analysed are commonly used to prevent and treat PPH. The fact that no cyclotides were found do not dispute the practical use of these plants to prevent and treat PPH. There continue to be a gap in what uterotonic properties these plants contain and should be further investigated.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Assessment of rangeland condition and evaluation of farmers' perception in Njwaxa and Mbizana communal rangelands of the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Ngcofe, Odwa Armstrong
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Rangelands -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Land tenure -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/13259 , vital:39627
- Description: This study was conducted to determine of rangeland condition in terms of botanical composition, soil nutrient composition, and also to evaluate farmers’ perception on rangeland condition and degradation in two communal villages Njwaxa and Mbizana in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa in 2014. A Structured questionnaire consisting of close and open-ended questions was used to investigate farmers’ perceptions on range condition, land degradation, and their causes. Fifty households with livestock were randomly selected in two communal areas of Middledrift (i.e. Njwaxa and Mbizana). Respondents of 21 years and above were selected. For assessment of range condition three homogeneous vegetation units (HVU) were demarcated in all study sites, namely slope; valley and toplands were demarcated and sub-divided into four 100m x 50m replicates. In each replicate, four 100m transects were laid parallel to each other 25m apart 1m2 quadrant was systematically located four times along each transect for herbaceous vegetation and soil sampling. The step point method was employed to determine herbaceous species composition and basal cover. A 400m2 belt transect was used to determine woody vegetation composition, density and tree equivalents in each HVU. The germination method was employed for soil seed bank composition and plant density. The soil micro and macro nutrients (N, P, K OC, Ca, Mg, Zn, Cu and Mn) and pH were also analyzed The majority of the respondents were between the ages of 51-60 years. Most of the farmers had more cattle (38percent) than goats (32percent) and sheep (30percent). Livestock numbers were perceived to have declined over the previous 20 years by the majority of respondents (96percent). The respondents indicated that their rangelands were mainly used for browsing (1.37), fire wood (2.01), building and fencing (2.63) and medical purposes (3.66). All the respondents indicated that their rangelands were highly degraded. Sheet erosion (50percent) was perceived to be the major type of soil erosion indicator mentioned by the farmers, followed by gully erosion (29percent) and rill erosion (21percent). The rangeland was dominated by Increaser II (pioneer) (63.2 percent) grass species followed by Decreaser (mesophytes) species (26.3percent). Digitaria eriantha in the valley (53.5 percent) was significantly higher (p<0.05) than both in the top (10.5percent) and sloppy areas (33.5percent) at Njwaxa communal rangeland, the abundance of D. eriantha was significantly higher (p<0.05) than top and valley in Mbizana communal rangeland. The results showed that soil seed banks were dominated by perennials, followed by annuals and biennial species being least abundant. The dominant forb Jamebrittenia c.f. albanesis was significantly higher (p<0.05) in both slopes (6.65percent) and toplands (7.34percent) than in the valley (3.15). The second most dominant species Puesdognaphalium undulata was significantly higher (p<0.05) in topland areas (6percent) than in valley bottom (3.8percent) and sloppy areas (4.3percent). The results of soil nutrients revealed no significant differences (p>0.05) in the concentration of OC, Ca, and Mg between the communities and seasons. Phosphorus (P) was significantly higher (p<0.05) in winter (concentrations) in most of the sites, except the top sites of Mbizana where summer concentration of P was significantly higher than winter. Potassium (K) was significantly higher (p<0.05) in summer than in winter in most of the HVUs, except the topland areas of Njwaxa and Mbizana sloppy areas where there were no significant differences (p>0.05) in the concentration of K. Soil pH did not display any significant differences (p>0.05) between communities and sites. The mean soil pH recorded in this study was 5.4 implying the soils of Njwaxa and Mbizana communities were acidic. It is evident that communal farmers are well aware of their rangeland condition, changes occurring in their rangelands, their causes and are capable of suggesting some solutions in controlling the declining condition of the rangelands. This study has shown the importance of engaging farmers’ inputs in range assessment since those are people bearing the consequences of rangeland degradation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Ngcofe, Odwa Armstrong
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Rangelands -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Land tenure -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/13259 , vital:39627
- Description: This study was conducted to determine of rangeland condition in terms of botanical composition, soil nutrient composition, and also to evaluate farmers’ perception on rangeland condition and degradation in two communal villages Njwaxa and Mbizana in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa in 2014. A Structured questionnaire consisting of close and open-ended questions was used to investigate farmers’ perceptions on range condition, land degradation, and their causes. Fifty households with livestock were randomly selected in two communal areas of Middledrift (i.e. Njwaxa and Mbizana). Respondents of 21 years and above were selected. For assessment of range condition three homogeneous vegetation units (HVU) were demarcated in all study sites, namely slope; valley and toplands were demarcated and sub-divided into four 100m x 50m replicates. In each replicate, four 100m transects were laid parallel to each other 25m apart 1m2 quadrant was systematically located four times along each transect for herbaceous vegetation and soil sampling. The step point method was employed to determine herbaceous species composition and basal cover. A 400m2 belt transect was used to determine woody vegetation composition, density and tree equivalents in each HVU. The germination method was employed for soil seed bank composition and plant density. The soil micro and macro nutrients (N, P, K OC, Ca, Mg, Zn, Cu and Mn) and pH were also analyzed The majority of the respondents were between the ages of 51-60 years. Most of the farmers had more cattle (38percent) than goats (32percent) and sheep (30percent). Livestock numbers were perceived to have declined over the previous 20 years by the majority of respondents (96percent). The respondents indicated that their rangelands were mainly used for browsing (1.37), fire wood (2.01), building and fencing (2.63) and medical purposes (3.66). All the respondents indicated that their rangelands were highly degraded. Sheet erosion (50percent) was perceived to be the major type of soil erosion indicator mentioned by the farmers, followed by gully erosion (29percent) and rill erosion (21percent). The rangeland was dominated by Increaser II (pioneer) (63.2 percent) grass species followed by Decreaser (mesophytes) species (26.3percent). Digitaria eriantha in the valley (53.5 percent) was significantly higher (p<0.05) than both in the top (10.5percent) and sloppy areas (33.5percent) at Njwaxa communal rangeland, the abundance of D. eriantha was significantly higher (p<0.05) than top and valley in Mbizana communal rangeland. The results showed that soil seed banks were dominated by perennials, followed by annuals and biennial species being least abundant. The dominant forb Jamebrittenia c.f. albanesis was significantly higher (p<0.05) in both slopes (6.65percent) and toplands (7.34percent) than in the valley (3.15). The second most dominant species Puesdognaphalium undulata was significantly higher (p<0.05) in topland areas (6percent) than in valley bottom (3.8percent) and sloppy areas (4.3percent). The results of soil nutrients revealed no significant differences (p>0.05) in the concentration of OC, Ca, and Mg between the communities and seasons. Phosphorus (P) was significantly higher (p<0.05) in winter (concentrations) in most of the sites, except the top sites of Mbizana where summer concentration of P was significantly higher than winter. Potassium (K) was significantly higher (p<0.05) in summer than in winter in most of the HVUs, except the topland areas of Njwaxa and Mbizana sloppy areas where there were no significant differences (p>0.05) in the concentration of K. Soil pH did not display any significant differences (p>0.05) between communities and sites. The mean soil pH recorded in this study was 5.4 implying the soils of Njwaxa and Mbizana communities were acidic. It is evident that communal farmers are well aware of their rangeland condition, changes occurring in their rangelands, their causes and are capable of suggesting some solutions in controlling the declining condition of the rangelands. This study has shown the importance of engaging farmers’ inputs in range assessment since those are people bearing the consequences of rangeland degradation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Characterisation of selected municipal organic waste for energy conversion through gasification
- Authors: Ngubelanga, Nolitha
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Biomass gasification Sewage -- Purification Biomass energy Renewable energy sources
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11020 , vital:36682
- Description: Biomass gasification has become a study of great interest over the years and plant biomass with cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin found to be an ideal resource for conversion into heat and power through thermochemical processes such as gasification. The inadequate supply of the energy in the country has become critical with the national energy provider struggling to meet the energy demands of the ever growing population of South Africa. The depletion of natural resources and the unstable prices as well as the cost of transporting the fuels together with the environmental effects of burning fossil fuels are contributing factors to the energy crisis. Alternative sources of energy that are locally available, sustainable, and environmentally friendly are presently in demand as municipal organic wastes has been considered a source of renewable energy with gasification deemed one of the leading edge technologies to harness the energy. This research only studied the characteristics and kinetics of selected municipal organic waste including decaying wood, tomatoes, onions, cabbage, butternut and bones. The research did not involve the gasification process because of expenses associated with gasification processes, however, this has been considered as future studies under the conditions of available resources to carry out the actual gasification experiments. The characteristics of selected municipal organic wastes for energy conversion through gasification were actually investigated in this study and the implication of the value of each property interpreted in relation to gasification with specific reference to information available in the literature. Proximate analysis conducted on the wastes indicate that the physical properties in terms of the weight percentages of moisture, volatile matter fixed carbon and ash contents of the wastes vary considerably, especially with regards to the last three properties. The reason for this wide variation was attributed to the source of the wastes and the standard of living of the people vi in the area where the wastes were collected. However, the values obtained for these properties are within limits for the wastes to be adequately used as feedstocks in a gasification process, except for their content of ash, which was significantly high in all of the wastes for the aforementioned reasons. The ultimate analysis of the wastes as determined using the Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy gave the percentage composition of the chemical elements present in the wastes, which suggest that carbon is the chief elemental constituent of the wastes. The highest carbon content of about 47% was recorded for bone due again to the reasons previously adduced. According to McKendry, 2002, the high carbon content of the wastes implies increased calorific value as well as increased gas production during gasification. A number of ash–forming elements were also found in the wastes, which included magnesium and potassium in low concentrations that does not pose any technical challenges during gasification, although their concentration may increase under high temperature gasification, which may equally result to some catalytic effect that would contribute to the overall gasification efficiency (Anukam et al., 2016). Calorific value analysis also suggests that the wastes contain reasonable amount of energy that can be converted to useful energy through gasification. Although, variation in calorific value was also noted, the highest calorific value of about 18 MJ/kg was recoded for bones, which correlates its data on the highest carbon content of all wastes. However, the data on the calorific value of the wastes suggests that the wastes are well suited for gasification by virtue of their calorific value. FTIR analysis revealed the major functional groups present in the internal structure of the wastes. The common functional groups observed were the OH group found in the band around 3600–3400cm-1 for most of the wastes; the C–H stretching band at 2970-2780 cm-1; and the C–O as well as the C–O–C observed in the region of 1740–1710 cm-1 and 1250-1220 cm-1 for all samples, respectively. Most functional group in the internal structures of gasification feedstocks function to facilitate faster vii rates of reaction and consequently faster rates of gasification that contributes to optimum efficiency under any conditions of gasification (Anukam et al., 2016). While thermogravimetric analysis established thermal parameters that are likely to have positive influence on the gasification of the wastes, kinetic investigation revealed two parameters that may also impact on the gasification of the wastes. These are activation energy and pre–exponential factor, which were found to be in good agreement with the values obtained in the literature even though variation in these parameters was noted. The values obtained for activation energy and pre–exponential factor using the Kissinger method of kinetic analysis showed a far less value for these two parameters when compared to commonly used feedstocks like wood and coal. This was a reason attributed to the chemical characteristics of the wastes, mainly their lower content of carbon compared to these two (wood and coal) commonly used fuels.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Ngubelanga, Nolitha
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Biomass gasification Sewage -- Purification Biomass energy Renewable energy sources
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11020 , vital:36682
- Description: Biomass gasification has become a study of great interest over the years and plant biomass with cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin found to be an ideal resource for conversion into heat and power through thermochemical processes such as gasification. The inadequate supply of the energy in the country has become critical with the national energy provider struggling to meet the energy demands of the ever growing population of South Africa. The depletion of natural resources and the unstable prices as well as the cost of transporting the fuels together with the environmental effects of burning fossil fuels are contributing factors to the energy crisis. Alternative sources of energy that are locally available, sustainable, and environmentally friendly are presently in demand as municipal organic wastes has been considered a source of renewable energy with gasification deemed one of the leading edge technologies to harness the energy. This research only studied the characteristics and kinetics of selected municipal organic waste including decaying wood, tomatoes, onions, cabbage, butternut and bones. The research did not involve the gasification process because of expenses associated with gasification processes, however, this has been considered as future studies under the conditions of available resources to carry out the actual gasification experiments. The characteristics of selected municipal organic wastes for energy conversion through gasification were actually investigated in this study and the implication of the value of each property interpreted in relation to gasification with specific reference to information available in the literature. Proximate analysis conducted on the wastes indicate that the physical properties in terms of the weight percentages of moisture, volatile matter fixed carbon and ash contents of the wastes vary considerably, especially with regards to the last three properties. The reason for this wide variation was attributed to the source of the wastes and the standard of living of the people vi in the area where the wastes were collected. However, the values obtained for these properties are within limits for the wastes to be adequately used as feedstocks in a gasification process, except for their content of ash, which was significantly high in all of the wastes for the aforementioned reasons. The ultimate analysis of the wastes as determined using the Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy gave the percentage composition of the chemical elements present in the wastes, which suggest that carbon is the chief elemental constituent of the wastes. The highest carbon content of about 47% was recorded for bone due again to the reasons previously adduced. According to McKendry, 2002, the high carbon content of the wastes implies increased calorific value as well as increased gas production during gasification. A number of ash–forming elements were also found in the wastes, which included magnesium and potassium in low concentrations that does not pose any technical challenges during gasification, although their concentration may increase under high temperature gasification, which may equally result to some catalytic effect that would contribute to the overall gasification efficiency (Anukam et al., 2016). Calorific value analysis also suggests that the wastes contain reasonable amount of energy that can be converted to useful energy through gasification. Although, variation in calorific value was also noted, the highest calorific value of about 18 MJ/kg was recoded for bones, which correlates its data on the highest carbon content of all wastes. However, the data on the calorific value of the wastes suggests that the wastes are well suited for gasification by virtue of their calorific value. FTIR analysis revealed the major functional groups present in the internal structure of the wastes. The common functional groups observed were the OH group found in the band around 3600–3400cm-1 for most of the wastes; the C–H stretching band at 2970-2780 cm-1; and the C–O as well as the C–O–C observed in the region of 1740–1710 cm-1 and 1250-1220 cm-1 for all samples, respectively. Most functional group in the internal structures of gasification feedstocks function to facilitate faster vii rates of reaction and consequently faster rates of gasification that contributes to optimum efficiency under any conditions of gasification (Anukam et al., 2016). While thermogravimetric analysis established thermal parameters that are likely to have positive influence on the gasification of the wastes, kinetic investigation revealed two parameters that may also impact on the gasification of the wastes. These are activation energy and pre–exponential factor, which were found to be in good agreement with the values obtained in the literature even though variation in these parameters was noted. The values obtained for activation energy and pre–exponential factor using the Kissinger method of kinetic analysis showed a far less value for these two parameters when compared to commonly used feedstocks like wood and coal. This was a reason attributed to the chemical characteristics of the wastes, mainly their lower content of carbon compared to these two (wood and coal) commonly used fuels.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Characterization of various garden grass species for energy conversion in a down draft biomass gasifier
- Authors: Mkosi, Lungisa
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Biomass energy Greenhouse gases Renewable energy sources
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/5817 , vital:29399
- Description: Energy plays a vital role in socio-economic development and raising living standards of human beings. The overreliance on fossil fuels results in the depletion of fossil fuels as well as environmental pollution from the green-house gases that result from the use of fossil fuels. Biomass feedstock are able to ameliorate this situation by utilizing the CO2 that has been used by plants during photosynthesis. This study investigated the suitability of the three garden grass species (Chloris gayana, Cynodon dactylon and Pennisetum clandestum) as biomass feedstock for gasification purposes. The three garden grass species were collected at the Alice Campus of the University of Fort Hare. These grass species were characterized using elemental analyser (CHNS), FT-IR, EDX and TGA. The Activation energy (Ea) of the three grass species were 48.22 kJ/mol for P. clandestum, 36.8 kJ/mol for C. gayana and 258 kJ/mol for C. dactylon. Of the three grass species, C. gayana had the lowest Activation energy of 36.8 kJ/mol and also had the highest maximum efficiency of 69 percent compared to 65.3 percent for P. clandestum and 63.5 percent for C. dactylon. Actual gasification was not carried out but the results on maximum efficiency were obtained from computer simulation of gasification.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Mkosi, Lungisa
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Biomass energy Greenhouse gases Renewable energy sources
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/5817 , vital:29399
- Description: Energy plays a vital role in socio-economic development and raising living standards of human beings. The overreliance on fossil fuels results in the depletion of fossil fuels as well as environmental pollution from the green-house gases that result from the use of fossil fuels. Biomass feedstock are able to ameliorate this situation by utilizing the CO2 that has been used by plants during photosynthesis. This study investigated the suitability of the three garden grass species (Chloris gayana, Cynodon dactylon and Pennisetum clandestum) as biomass feedstock for gasification purposes. The three garden grass species were collected at the Alice Campus of the University of Fort Hare. These grass species were characterized using elemental analyser (CHNS), FT-IR, EDX and TGA. The Activation energy (Ea) of the three grass species were 48.22 kJ/mol for P. clandestum, 36.8 kJ/mol for C. gayana and 258 kJ/mol for C. dactylon. Of the three grass species, C. gayana had the lowest Activation energy of 36.8 kJ/mol and also had the highest maximum efficiency of 69 percent compared to 65.3 percent for P. clandestum and 63.5 percent for C. dactylon. Actual gasification was not carried out but the results on maximum efficiency were obtained from computer simulation of gasification.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Comparative analysis of characteristics of the various sugarcane bagasse types in terms of gasification
- Authors: Kula, Mpumezo
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Bagasse Sugarcane -- Breeding Coal gasification
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/13392 , vital:39656
- Description: The insight that the fossil fuel reserves are limited, together with concerns over security of supply (i.e. the oil crises), initiated the first raise of interest in biomass and all other renewable energy forms. However, the concern grew that global warming and the resulting climate change were enhanced by carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions resulting from fossil fuel consumption. Meanwhile, biomass energy is thought to account for 14–15percent of total world energy consumption. Hence, the exploitation and utilization of biomass energy are effective and necessary for relieving the pressures caused by environmental pollution and fossil fuel shortage (Lv et al., 2010). Recently, extensive research aimed at converting biomass to useful energy have been carried out, especially pyrolysis and gasification, which are particularly suitable for the effective and efficient utilization of biomass. Sugarcane bagasse is the main byproduct of sugarcane mill, ready available at the production site so that it may be a suitable raw material for the production of biofuels, chemicals, and electricity. Among the methods that have been previously studied, is this particular study we explore thermochemical process, gasification. The properties of sugarcane bagasse relevant to gasification are briefly reviewed. The compositions of the bagasse as a fuel are variable, especially with respect to inorganic constituents important to the critical problems of sintering, fouling and slagging. Alkali and alkaline earth metals, in combination with other fuel elements such as silica and sulfur, are responsible for many undesirable reactions in a gasifier system. The three sugarcane bagasse types namely washed, unwashed and the depithed sugarcane bagasse were subjected in different types of characterization to review and compare their characteristics for gasification. Ultimate analysis was used to determine the elemental compositions and this was helpful in estimating the energy input of the materials. Elemental compositions were determined with the CHNS analyzer which gave the percent compositions of each fuel in terms of Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Sulphur as well as Oxygen (by difference) and the SEM/EDX which gave the elemental composition of the materials as can be viewed from the EDX. The proximate analysis which is the physical characterization of the materials was carried out to preview the behavior of the sugarcane bagasse when subjected into high temperatures as the gasification process uses very high temperatures. These were determined by the TGA and the volatile matter content; fixed carbon content, moisture content and ash content were extrapolated from the resulting thermogram. SEM images for surface structures of the bagasse and FTIR for the structural functionality and bonding structures. The characterization of the bagasse was conducted to compare their gasification properties.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Kula, Mpumezo
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Bagasse Sugarcane -- Breeding Coal gasification
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/13392 , vital:39656
- Description: The insight that the fossil fuel reserves are limited, together with concerns over security of supply (i.e. the oil crises), initiated the first raise of interest in biomass and all other renewable energy forms. However, the concern grew that global warming and the resulting climate change were enhanced by carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions resulting from fossil fuel consumption. Meanwhile, biomass energy is thought to account for 14–15percent of total world energy consumption. Hence, the exploitation and utilization of biomass energy are effective and necessary for relieving the pressures caused by environmental pollution and fossil fuel shortage (Lv et al., 2010). Recently, extensive research aimed at converting biomass to useful energy have been carried out, especially pyrolysis and gasification, which are particularly suitable for the effective and efficient utilization of biomass. Sugarcane bagasse is the main byproduct of sugarcane mill, ready available at the production site so that it may be a suitable raw material for the production of biofuels, chemicals, and electricity. Among the methods that have been previously studied, is this particular study we explore thermochemical process, gasification. The properties of sugarcane bagasse relevant to gasification are briefly reviewed. The compositions of the bagasse as a fuel are variable, especially with respect to inorganic constituents important to the critical problems of sintering, fouling and slagging. Alkali and alkaline earth metals, in combination with other fuel elements such as silica and sulfur, are responsible for many undesirable reactions in a gasifier system. The three sugarcane bagasse types namely washed, unwashed and the depithed sugarcane bagasse were subjected in different types of characterization to review and compare their characteristics for gasification. Ultimate analysis was used to determine the elemental compositions and this was helpful in estimating the energy input of the materials. Elemental compositions were determined with the CHNS analyzer which gave the percent compositions of each fuel in terms of Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Sulphur as well as Oxygen (by difference) and the SEM/EDX which gave the elemental composition of the materials as can be viewed from the EDX. The proximate analysis which is the physical characterization of the materials was carried out to preview the behavior of the sugarcane bagasse when subjected into high temperatures as the gasification process uses very high temperatures. These were determined by the TGA and the volatile matter content; fixed carbon content, moisture content and ash content were extrapolated from the resulting thermogram. SEM images for surface structures of the bagasse and FTIR for the structural functionality and bonding structures. The characterization of the bagasse was conducted to compare their gasification properties.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Consumer perceptions and microbial quality of meat sold in the informal markets of Nkonkobe and Buffalo City municipalities in the Eastern province, South Africa
- Authors: Mazizi, Bulelani Elvis
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Meat -- Quality -- South Africa --Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/15365 , vital:40401
- Description: The main objective of the study was to determine consumer perceptions and microbial quality of meat sold in the informal markets found in Nkonkobe and Buffalo City Municipalities in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. To determine consumer perceptions of the quality of the meat and meat products sold in the informal markets in Nkonkobe and Buffalo City Municipalities, a survey was conducted. A total of 160 consumers from two municipalities in the Eastern Cape (EC) Province of South Africa was randomly sampled and interviewed. A questionnaire was used to gather information about consumer perceptions of meat and meat products sold in the informal markets regarding their knowledge about safety, food-borne diseases, hygiene, and the quality of the meat among others. The study showed that Alice Town has a larger (66.25percent) proportion of consumers with knowledge about foodborne diseases while King Williams’s Town had a larger proportion (48.75percent) of respondents who had no knowledge about Food-borne diseases. However, a large proportion of consumers in King Williams’s Town considered vendor (82.5percent) and environmental hygiene (93.75percent) than in Alice Town. Consumers (83.75percent) in King Williams’s Town viewed the meat from street vendors to be of low quality while a small proportion (18.75percent) of consumers in Alice Town viewed it as the meat of good quality. Alice had a large proportion (61.25percent) of consumers, which had knowledge of the meat safety law than King Williams’s Town. More consumers from King Williams’s Town (31.25percent) agreed that government plays a role while Alice had a small proportion (26.25percent) which disagreed. The results also showed that consumer perceptions about the safety of meat and meat products are focused more on hygiene, neglecting other important aspects such as vending infrastructure. However, most consumers do not have enough knowledge concerning meat safety. The second study determined the microbial quality of meat sold by street vendors based in Alice and Kind Williams Town in the Eastern Cape Province South Africa. A total of 48 fresh and uncooked meat samples (beef, pork, and mutton), 48 surface contact plates and 40 water samples was collected from 4 street vendors from each town for microbial analysis (n=48). After collection, all samples were subjected to Aerobic plate count (APC), Salmonella spp, Staphylococcus aureus (Staph) and Escherichia coli (E. coli). The results revealed that Salmonella spp tested negative across all the meat samples used in the study. However, no significant differences were found in the microbial quality of meat sold by street vendors in Alice and King Williams town. Furthermore, there were no significant differences (P>0.05) between the APC of raw beef (4.8 Log CFU/g), mutton (3.7 Log CFU/g) and pork (2.8 Log CFU/g) and also the cooked beef (1.5 Log CFU/g), mutton (1.3 Log CFU/g) and pork (1.9 Log CFU/g) samples. A similar trend was observed in the values of Staphylococcus aureus (Staph) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) counts in raw and cooked meat samples. However, a positive correlation between Aerobic plate counts (APC) and Staphylococcus aureus (Staph) (P<0.001) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) (P<0.01) was found in the study. It can, therefore, be concluded that there were no differences in the microbial counts of raw and cooked meat sold in the informal markets of Nkonkobe and Buffalo City Municipalities in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Mazizi, Bulelani Elvis
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Meat -- Quality -- South Africa --Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/15365 , vital:40401
- Description: The main objective of the study was to determine consumer perceptions and microbial quality of meat sold in the informal markets found in Nkonkobe and Buffalo City Municipalities in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. To determine consumer perceptions of the quality of the meat and meat products sold in the informal markets in Nkonkobe and Buffalo City Municipalities, a survey was conducted. A total of 160 consumers from two municipalities in the Eastern Cape (EC) Province of South Africa was randomly sampled and interviewed. A questionnaire was used to gather information about consumer perceptions of meat and meat products sold in the informal markets regarding their knowledge about safety, food-borne diseases, hygiene, and the quality of the meat among others. The study showed that Alice Town has a larger (66.25percent) proportion of consumers with knowledge about foodborne diseases while King Williams’s Town had a larger proportion (48.75percent) of respondents who had no knowledge about Food-borne diseases. However, a large proportion of consumers in King Williams’s Town considered vendor (82.5percent) and environmental hygiene (93.75percent) than in Alice Town. Consumers (83.75percent) in King Williams’s Town viewed the meat from street vendors to be of low quality while a small proportion (18.75percent) of consumers in Alice Town viewed it as the meat of good quality. Alice had a large proportion (61.25percent) of consumers, which had knowledge of the meat safety law than King Williams’s Town. More consumers from King Williams’s Town (31.25percent) agreed that government plays a role while Alice had a small proportion (26.25percent) which disagreed. The results also showed that consumer perceptions about the safety of meat and meat products are focused more on hygiene, neglecting other important aspects such as vending infrastructure. However, most consumers do not have enough knowledge concerning meat safety. The second study determined the microbial quality of meat sold by street vendors based in Alice and Kind Williams Town in the Eastern Cape Province South Africa. A total of 48 fresh and uncooked meat samples (beef, pork, and mutton), 48 surface contact plates and 40 water samples was collected from 4 street vendors from each town for microbial analysis (n=48). After collection, all samples were subjected to Aerobic plate count (APC), Salmonella spp, Staphylococcus aureus (Staph) and Escherichia coli (E. coli). The results revealed that Salmonella spp tested negative across all the meat samples used in the study. However, no significant differences were found in the microbial quality of meat sold by street vendors in Alice and King Williams town. Furthermore, there were no significant differences (P>0.05) between the APC of raw beef (4.8 Log CFU/g), mutton (3.7 Log CFU/g) and pork (2.8 Log CFU/g) and also the cooked beef (1.5 Log CFU/g), mutton (1.3 Log CFU/g) and pork (1.9 Log CFU/g) samples. A similar trend was observed in the values of Staphylococcus aureus (Staph) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) counts in raw and cooked meat samples. However, a positive correlation between Aerobic plate counts (APC) and Staphylococcus aureus (Staph) (P<0.001) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) (P<0.01) was found in the study. It can, therefore, be concluded that there were no differences in the microbial counts of raw and cooked meat sold in the informal markets of Nkonkobe and Buffalo City Municipalities in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Development of part-of-speech tagger for Xhosa
- Authors: Delman, Xolani
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Computational linguistics -- Methodology Natural language processing (Computer science) Linguistic models
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11872 , vital:39114
- Description: Part-of-Speech (POS) tagging is a process of assigning an appropriate part of speech or lexical category to each word in a given sentence of a particular natural language. Natural languages are languages that human beings use to communicate with one another be it Xhosa, Zulu, English etc. POS tagging plays a huge and important role in natural language processing applications. The main applications of POS tagging include machine translation, parsing, text chunking, spell checkiXhosa (sometimes referred to as isiXhosa) is one of the eleven official languages of South Africa and is spoken by over 8 million South Africans. The language is mainly spoken in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces of the country. It is the second most widely spoken native language in South Africa after Zulu (sometimes called isiZulu). Although the number of speakers might seem to be high, Xhosa is considerably under-resourced. There are very few publications in Xhosa, very few books have been published in the language and also the domains that use the language as a medium of instruction are very limited. However, the language is finding momentum nowadays. An Oxford approved Xhosa dictionary has been developed recently, and Xhosa newspapers that did not exist in the recent past are now published. Text from previously mentioned sources can then be combined to formulate a larger text that can be used to train the tagger. This work aims to develop an effective POS tagger for Xhosa. g and grammar. This thesis presents/describes the work that needed to be done to produce an automatic POS tagger for Xhosa. A tagset consisting of 36 POS tags/labels for the language were used for this purpose. These are listed. A total of 5000 words were manually tagged/labelled for the purpose of training the tagger. Another 3000 words were used for testing the tagger and these were disjoint from the manually tagged training data. The open source Stanford CoreNLP toolkit was used to create the tagger. The toolkit implements a Maximum Entropy machine learning model which was applied in the development of the tagger presented in this thesis. The thesis describes the implementation and testing processes of the model in detail. The results show that the development of the Xhosa POS tagging model was successful. This model managed to obtain a tagging accuracy of 87.71 percent.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Delman, Xolani
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Computational linguistics -- Methodology Natural language processing (Computer science) Linguistic models
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11872 , vital:39114
- Description: Part-of-Speech (POS) tagging is a process of assigning an appropriate part of speech or lexical category to each word in a given sentence of a particular natural language. Natural languages are languages that human beings use to communicate with one another be it Xhosa, Zulu, English etc. POS tagging plays a huge and important role in natural language processing applications. The main applications of POS tagging include machine translation, parsing, text chunking, spell checkiXhosa (sometimes referred to as isiXhosa) is one of the eleven official languages of South Africa and is spoken by over 8 million South Africans. The language is mainly spoken in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces of the country. It is the second most widely spoken native language in South Africa after Zulu (sometimes called isiZulu). Although the number of speakers might seem to be high, Xhosa is considerably under-resourced. There are very few publications in Xhosa, very few books have been published in the language and also the domains that use the language as a medium of instruction are very limited. However, the language is finding momentum nowadays. An Oxford approved Xhosa dictionary has been developed recently, and Xhosa newspapers that did not exist in the recent past are now published. Text from previously mentioned sources can then be combined to formulate a larger text that can be used to train the tagger. This work aims to develop an effective POS tagger for Xhosa. g and grammar. This thesis presents/describes the work that needed to be done to produce an automatic POS tagger for Xhosa. A tagset consisting of 36 POS tags/labels for the language were used for this purpose. These are listed. A total of 5000 words were manually tagged/labelled for the purpose of training the tagger. Another 3000 words were used for testing the tagger and these were disjoint from the manually tagged training data. The open source Stanford CoreNLP toolkit was used to create the tagger. The toolkit implements a Maximum Entropy machine learning model which was applied in the development of the tagger presented in this thesis. The thesis describes the implementation and testing processes of the model in detail. The results show that the development of the Xhosa POS tagging model was successful. This model managed to obtain a tagging accuracy of 87.71 percent.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Distribution of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in irrigation water, drinking water troughs, dairy wastewater and rectal swabs from three dairy farms in Amathole district municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Myataza, Asive https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5483-122X
- Authors: Myataza, Asive https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5483-122X
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Escherichia coli O157:H7 , Irrigation water
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/24150 , vital:62397
- Description: Escherichia coli belongs to the genus Escherichia which has five species, including E. hermanii, E. fergusonii, E. vulneris, E. blattae and E. coli (Willshaw et al., 2001). Some E. coli strains are pathogenic, and such strains are differentiated into different pathotypes based on the virulence factors they possess, mechanisms of pathogenesis, clinical manifestation and serotyping of their somatic, flagella and capsule (O, H and K) antigens; while some are nonpathogenic (Dikobe et al., 2011). These strains have been grouped into major pathotypes namely: enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC), enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC), diffusely adherent E. coli (DAEC), enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) and neonatal meningitis E.coli (NMEC) (Willshaw et al., 2001; Villegas-sepulveda et al., 2003; Kaper et al., 2004; Bugarel et al., 2011). Members of EPEC pathotype are Shiga-toxin producing (STEC) organisms, with E. coli O157:H7 serotype being recognized as the most frequent STEC serotype linked to diseases in human (Barkocy-Gallagher et al., 2001; Coombes et al., 2011; Dikobe et al., 2011; Jacob et al., 2013). E. coli O157:H7 is the major cause of haemorrhagic diarrhoea and haemolytic uremic syndrome (UHS) in humans, due to the production of Shiga-toxins that are similar to Shigella toxins (Villegas-sepulveda et al., 2003; Ngwa et al., 2013). These toxins are coded by genes which allow them to penetrate small intestines of human and animals (Chern et al., 2011). Dairy products and cattle are the major reservoirs of haemorrhagic E. coli O157: H7 (Elder et al., 2000; Elmali et al., 2005; Ayaz et al., 2014). Haemorrhagic E. coli O157:H7 is carried mostly in the gastrointestinal tracts of cows and other ruminants (Gun et al., 2003)and it is transmitted through ingestion of contaminated food and water, or through direct and indirect contact with infected cows and other ruminants and/or via a person to person transmission (Lahti et al., 2003). Almost 70percent of countries in the world use poorly treated water for irrigation; this is inclusive of developing countries, which lack well developed means of adequate water treatment due to unavailable financial resources (Gerba et al., 2011). Most communities in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa are rural with poor water supply with majority of them relying on ground and surface waters that are impacted by insufficiently treated municipal water (which may harbour many pathogens) for domestic purposes (Ateba et al., 2008). Cows may contaminate drinking, recreational and irrigation waters with faecal matters or through direct contact with water (Solomon et al., 2002; Chern et al., 2011). A number of countries with water shortage tend to use insufficiently treated water for irrigation, leading to further contamination of irrigated crops (Fatoki et al., 2001). This has all resulted to elevated levels of E. coli O157:H7 related disease outbreaks and deaths of humans (Olsen et al., 2002). , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2016
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Myataza, Asive https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5483-122X
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Escherichia coli O157:H7 , Irrigation water
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/24150 , vital:62397
- Description: Escherichia coli belongs to the genus Escherichia which has five species, including E. hermanii, E. fergusonii, E. vulneris, E. blattae and E. coli (Willshaw et al., 2001). Some E. coli strains are pathogenic, and such strains are differentiated into different pathotypes based on the virulence factors they possess, mechanisms of pathogenesis, clinical manifestation and serotyping of their somatic, flagella and capsule (O, H and K) antigens; while some are nonpathogenic (Dikobe et al., 2011). These strains have been grouped into major pathotypes namely: enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC), enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC), diffusely adherent E. coli (DAEC), enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) and neonatal meningitis E.coli (NMEC) (Willshaw et al., 2001; Villegas-sepulveda et al., 2003; Kaper et al., 2004; Bugarel et al., 2011). Members of EPEC pathotype are Shiga-toxin producing (STEC) organisms, with E. coli O157:H7 serotype being recognized as the most frequent STEC serotype linked to diseases in human (Barkocy-Gallagher et al., 2001; Coombes et al., 2011; Dikobe et al., 2011; Jacob et al., 2013). E. coli O157:H7 is the major cause of haemorrhagic diarrhoea and haemolytic uremic syndrome (UHS) in humans, due to the production of Shiga-toxins that are similar to Shigella toxins (Villegas-sepulveda et al., 2003; Ngwa et al., 2013). These toxins are coded by genes which allow them to penetrate small intestines of human and animals (Chern et al., 2011). Dairy products and cattle are the major reservoirs of haemorrhagic E. coli O157: H7 (Elder et al., 2000; Elmali et al., 2005; Ayaz et al., 2014). Haemorrhagic E. coli O157:H7 is carried mostly in the gastrointestinal tracts of cows and other ruminants (Gun et al., 2003)and it is transmitted through ingestion of contaminated food and water, or through direct and indirect contact with infected cows and other ruminants and/or via a person to person transmission (Lahti et al., 2003). Almost 70percent of countries in the world use poorly treated water for irrigation; this is inclusive of developing countries, which lack well developed means of adequate water treatment due to unavailable financial resources (Gerba et al., 2011). Most communities in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa are rural with poor water supply with majority of them relying on ground and surface waters that are impacted by insufficiently treated municipal water (which may harbour many pathogens) for domestic purposes (Ateba et al., 2008). Cows may contaminate drinking, recreational and irrigation waters with faecal matters or through direct contact with water (Solomon et al., 2002; Chern et al., 2011). A number of countries with water shortage tend to use insufficiently treated water for irrigation, leading to further contamination of irrigated crops (Fatoki et al., 2001). This has all resulted to elevated levels of E. coli O157:H7 related disease outbreaks and deaths of humans (Olsen et al., 2002). , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2016
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Diversity and distribution of lepidopteran stem borers and their wild host plants in Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, South Africa
- Authors: Kokwana, Bongiwe
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Stem borers--South Africa Pests--South Africa Grain--Diseases--South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , Entomology
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11729 , vital:39101
- Description: Lepidopteran stem borers are infamous among cereal crops and sugarcane growers because of their pests status in these crops. Lepidopteran stem borers often infest cereal crops such as maize (Zea mays L.), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.), pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.), sugarcane (Saccharum spp.). However, in natural habitats, the stem borers feed on a wide variety of wild host plants species in the Poaceae, Cyperaceae and Typhaceae families. Some wild host plants in close approximation of cultivated fields act as reservoirs for stem borers during the absence of cultivated crops. Understanding of the diversity of the stem borers, their host plants and their interactions was very important in development of management strategies for the stem borer populations. For an example, grasses such as Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach.) and Sudan grass(Sorghum vulgare var. Sudanense (Piper) Hitchc.) act as trap plants whereas other grasses such as Molasses grass (Melinis minutiflora P. Beauv.) and legume silverleaf (Desmodium uncinatum (Jacq.) DC.) act as repellents to stem borer moths. In South Africa, studies on the diversity and distribution of lepidopteran stem borers in wild habitats are limited. Previous studies concentrated on diversity, abundance, and distribution of stem borers and their natural enemies on cultivated crops because of the economic importance of cultivated crops. In view of the foregoing, this study was conducted to investigate the diversity and distribution of lepidopteran stem borers and their host plants in wild habitats in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces of South Africa and to generate mtDNA COI sequences of the stem borer species in natural habitats. These sequences can be accessed in databases and assist in identification of previously unknown stem borers in cultivated crops. Therefore this study contributes to development of monitoring and early identification tool of the stem borer movements between host plants assemblages. Surveys were conducted in Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, South Africa during the rainy season of 2014 and 2015 in 38 localities to catalogue the diversity of lepidopteran stem borers in wild host plants. The sites visited belonged to five vegetation types: grassland, the Indian Ocean coastal belt, savanna, forest, and wetlands. A total of 237 lepidopteran stem borers was collected during study yielding 21 species that belonged to Noctuidae (Acrapex sp. 89, Acrapex sp. 90, Acrapex sp. 92, Acrapex sp., Acrapex minima, New genus NG11), Sesamia calamistis Hampson, Sesamia sp., Sesamia natalensis Le rü sp. nov., Sesamia nov sp. 4, Sesamia nov sp.36, Conicofrontia bipartita Hampson, Conicofrontia sesamoides Hampson, Conicofrontia diamensa Hampson, Pirateolea piscator Fletcher , Sciomesa mesophaea Aurivillius), Crambidae(Chilo partellus Swinhoe and Calamotropha paludella Hibner) Pyralidae (Phycitiinae sp. 1 and Phycitiinae sp. 2) and Tortricidae were recorded from 20 wild host plant species. Stem borer wild host plants species were Cymbopogon dieterlenii Stapf ex Schweick.,Cymbopogon nardus (L.) Rendle, Cymbopogon pospischilii (K. Schum.) C.E. Hubb., Digitaria macroglossa Henrad, Eriochloa meyeriana (Nees) Pilg.,Eriochloa fatmensis (Hochst. &Steud.) Clayton, Imperata cylindrica (L.) Raeusch., Miscanthus capensis (Nees) Andersson, Paspalum urvillei Steud., Panicum maximumJacq., Pennisetum purpureum Schumach., Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. Ex Steud.,Rottboellia cochinchinensis (Lour.) Clayton, Setaria homonyma (Steud.) Chiov.,Sorghum arundinaceum (Desv.) Stapf.,Cyperus divesDelile, Cyperu sdistans Pursh, Cyperus fastigiatus Rottb., Cyperus sexangularis Nees and Typha latifolia (L.).The diversity of stem borer species varied among vegetation types, host plants, and altitude. Morphological identification of specimens from these surveys indicated a high diversity of stem borer species in the Noctuidae family, followed by Pyralidae, Crambidae, and Tortricidae respectively. Of all the stem borers collected in the two provinces, noctuid species were most abundant in all vegetation types from low to high altitudes representing 62.45percent, whereas pyralids, crambids, and tortricids made up 26.58percent, 9.28percent, and 1.69percent respectively. The diversity and distribution of stem borers were affected by latitude. KwaZulu-Natal had higher latitudes ranging between -28.37717˚ and -31.07800˚ and had higher diversity, distribution and the of stem borers host plants, while Western Cape Province had lower diversity and distribution at latitudes ranging between -34.00280˚ and -34.05343˚. Morphological identification of stem borers was complemented with the mtDNA cytochrome oxidase I gene (COI) to investigate evolutionary relationships between the stem borer species collected in this study. Of the 12 sequences searched from the databases and the Genebank only five sequences were identified to species level; UFH024 was identified as Sciomesa mesophaea, the other four were identified as Conicofrontia sesamoides, Conicofrontia bipartita; and the first ever record of Calamotropha paludella in South Africa and Pirateolea piscator. Five sequences; UFH026, UFH028, UFH029, UFH030, UFH032 were only identified to order.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Kokwana, Bongiwe
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Stem borers--South Africa Pests--South Africa Grain--Diseases--South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , Entomology
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11729 , vital:39101
- Description: Lepidopteran stem borers are infamous among cereal crops and sugarcane growers because of their pests status in these crops. Lepidopteran stem borers often infest cereal crops such as maize (Zea mays L.), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.), pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.), sugarcane (Saccharum spp.). However, in natural habitats, the stem borers feed on a wide variety of wild host plants species in the Poaceae, Cyperaceae and Typhaceae families. Some wild host plants in close approximation of cultivated fields act as reservoirs for stem borers during the absence of cultivated crops. Understanding of the diversity of the stem borers, their host plants and their interactions was very important in development of management strategies for the stem borer populations. For an example, grasses such as Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach.) and Sudan grass(Sorghum vulgare var. Sudanense (Piper) Hitchc.) act as trap plants whereas other grasses such as Molasses grass (Melinis minutiflora P. Beauv.) and legume silverleaf (Desmodium uncinatum (Jacq.) DC.) act as repellents to stem borer moths. In South Africa, studies on the diversity and distribution of lepidopteran stem borers in wild habitats are limited. Previous studies concentrated on diversity, abundance, and distribution of stem borers and their natural enemies on cultivated crops because of the economic importance of cultivated crops. In view of the foregoing, this study was conducted to investigate the diversity and distribution of lepidopteran stem borers and their host plants in wild habitats in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces of South Africa and to generate mtDNA COI sequences of the stem borer species in natural habitats. These sequences can be accessed in databases and assist in identification of previously unknown stem borers in cultivated crops. Therefore this study contributes to development of monitoring and early identification tool of the stem borer movements between host plants assemblages. Surveys were conducted in Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, South Africa during the rainy season of 2014 and 2015 in 38 localities to catalogue the diversity of lepidopteran stem borers in wild host plants. The sites visited belonged to five vegetation types: grassland, the Indian Ocean coastal belt, savanna, forest, and wetlands. A total of 237 lepidopteran stem borers was collected during study yielding 21 species that belonged to Noctuidae (Acrapex sp. 89, Acrapex sp. 90, Acrapex sp. 92, Acrapex sp., Acrapex minima, New genus NG11), Sesamia calamistis Hampson, Sesamia sp., Sesamia natalensis Le rü sp. nov., Sesamia nov sp. 4, Sesamia nov sp.36, Conicofrontia bipartita Hampson, Conicofrontia sesamoides Hampson, Conicofrontia diamensa Hampson, Pirateolea piscator Fletcher , Sciomesa mesophaea Aurivillius), Crambidae(Chilo partellus Swinhoe and Calamotropha paludella Hibner) Pyralidae (Phycitiinae sp. 1 and Phycitiinae sp. 2) and Tortricidae were recorded from 20 wild host plant species. Stem borer wild host plants species were Cymbopogon dieterlenii Stapf ex Schweick.,Cymbopogon nardus (L.) Rendle, Cymbopogon pospischilii (K. Schum.) C.E. Hubb., Digitaria macroglossa Henrad, Eriochloa meyeriana (Nees) Pilg.,Eriochloa fatmensis (Hochst. &Steud.) Clayton, Imperata cylindrica (L.) Raeusch., Miscanthus capensis (Nees) Andersson, Paspalum urvillei Steud., Panicum maximumJacq., Pennisetum purpureum Schumach., Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. Ex Steud.,Rottboellia cochinchinensis (Lour.) Clayton, Setaria homonyma (Steud.) Chiov.,Sorghum arundinaceum (Desv.) Stapf.,Cyperus divesDelile, Cyperu sdistans Pursh, Cyperus fastigiatus Rottb., Cyperus sexangularis Nees and Typha latifolia (L.).The diversity of stem borer species varied among vegetation types, host plants, and altitude. Morphological identification of specimens from these surveys indicated a high diversity of stem borer species in the Noctuidae family, followed by Pyralidae, Crambidae, and Tortricidae respectively. Of all the stem borers collected in the two provinces, noctuid species were most abundant in all vegetation types from low to high altitudes representing 62.45percent, whereas pyralids, crambids, and tortricids made up 26.58percent, 9.28percent, and 1.69percent respectively. The diversity and distribution of stem borers were affected by latitude. KwaZulu-Natal had higher latitudes ranging between -28.37717˚ and -31.07800˚ and had higher diversity, distribution and the of stem borers host plants, while Western Cape Province had lower diversity and distribution at latitudes ranging between -34.00280˚ and -34.05343˚. Morphological identification of stem borers was complemented with the mtDNA cytochrome oxidase I gene (COI) to investigate evolutionary relationships between the stem borer species collected in this study. Of the 12 sequences searched from the databases and the Genebank only five sequences were identified to species level; UFH024 was identified as Sciomesa mesophaea, the other four were identified as Conicofrontia sesamoides, Conicofrontia bipartita; and the first ever record of Calamotropha paludella in South Africa and Pirateolea piscator. Five sequences; UFH026, UFH028, UFH029, UFH030, UFH032 were only identified to order.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Dynamic service orchestration in heterogeneous internet of things environments
- Authors: Chindenga, Edmore
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Internet of things
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/8001 , vital:31457
- Description: Internet of Things (IoT) presents a dynamic global revolution in the Internet where physical and virtual “things” will communicate and share information. As the number of devices increases, there is a need for a plug-and–interoperate approach of deploying “things” to the existing network with less or no human need for configuration. The plug-and-interoperate approach allows heterogeneous “things” to seamlessly interoperate, interact and exchange information and subsequently share services. Services are represented as functionalities that are offered by the “things”. Service orchestration provides an approach to integration and interoperability that decouples applications from each other, enhancing capabilities to centrally manage and monitor components. This work investigated requirements for semantic interoperability and exposed current challenges in IoT interoperability as a means of facilitating services orchestration in IoT. The research proposes a platform that allows heterogeneous devices to collaborate thereby enabling dynamic service orchestration. The platform provides a common framework for representing semantics allowing for a consistent information exchange format. The information is stored and presented in an ontology thereby preserving semantics and making the information comprehensible to machines allowing for automated addressing, tracking and discovery as well as information representation, storage, and exchange. Process mining techniques were used to discover service orchestrations. Process mining techniques enabled the analysis of runtime behavior of service orchestrations and the semantic breakdown of the service request and creation in real time. This enabled the research to draw observations that led to conclusions presented in this work. The research noted that the use of semantic technologies facilitates interoperability in heterogeneous devices and can be implemented as a means to bypass challenges presented by differences in IoT “things”.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Chindenga, Edmore
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Internet of things
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/8001 , vital:31457
- Description: Internet of Things (IoT) presents a dynamic global revolution in the Internet where physical and virtual “things” will communicate and share information. As the number of devices increases, there is a need for a plug-and–interoperate approach of deploying “things” to the existing network with less or no human need for configuration. The plug-and-interoperate approach allows heterogeneous “things” to seamlessly interoperate, interact and exchange information and subsequently share services. Services are represented as functionalities that are offered by the “things”. Service orchestration provides an approach to integration and interoperability that decouples applications from each other, enhancing capabilities to centrally manage and monitor components. This work investigated requirements for semantic interoperability and exposed current challenges in IoT interoperability as a means of facilitating services orchestration in IoT. The research proposes a platform that allows heterogeneous devices to collaborate thereby enabling dynamic service orchestration. The platform provides a common framework for representing semantics allowing for a consistent information exchange format. The information is stored and presented in an ontology thereby preserving semantics and making the information comprehensible to machines allowing for automated addressing, tracking and discovery as well as information representation, storage, and exchange. Process mining techniques were used to discover service orchestrations. Process mining techniques enabled the analysis of runtime behavior of service orchestrations and the semantic breakdown of the service request and creation in real time. This enabled the research to draw observations that led to conclusions presented in this work. The research noted that the use of semantic technologies facilitates interoperability in heterogeneous devices and can be implemented as a means to bypass challenges presented by differences in IoT “things”.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Effect of Moringa oleifera leaf meal on growth performance, faecal ammonia emissions, carcass characteristics and the quality of meat from broiler chickens
- Authors: Mxunyelwa, Avela,
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Moringa oleifera Meat -- Quality Broilers (Chickens)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/15034 , vital:40154
- Description: The objective of the study was to determine growth performance, faecal ammonia gas emission, carcass characteristics and physico-chemical meat traits from broilers fed one of the four dietary treatments, containing 0percent, 1percent, 3percent or 5percent Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MOLM) (T1, T2, T3, and T4, respectively). Dietary treatments were formulated to be isonitrogenous and isocaloric for a starter (0-14 days), grower (15-21days) and finisher (22-35 days). A total of 160 day old Cobb 500 broiler chickens, initially weighing an average of 45g were randomly allocated to each of the dietary treatments, each with four replicates, in 16 pens. Feed and water were offered ad libitum. Feed intakes (FI), average daily gain (ADG), body weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion efficiency (FCE) were measured weekly. At the end of the feeding trial, the feed was withdrawn from the birds for 12 hours with water available ad libitum and the birds were slaughtered using standard abattoir procedures. The breast muscle of each carcass was sampled for meat quality analysis. Organ and carcass weights differences were measured. Birds fed with T1 had the highest FI. Birds fed with T4 had the best FCE at day 14, 21 and 35. At day 7 and 35, there were no significant differences in FCE in all the treatments. At 0 to 35 days, faecal ammonia emission decreased (P<0.05) as MOLM concentration and age of birds increased. Moringa fed broilers had the highest body weights in all the periods despite the incorporation level in the diet. The results showed that inclusion of MOLM had a significant effect (P<0.05) on the heart, neck, and head weights but had no significant effect on liver, gizzard, intestine and feet. Broilers fed with T1 had heavier heart, neck and head weights compared to MOLM fed broilers. In terms of carcass traits, MOLM had a significant effect (P<0.05) on wings and thighs but had no significant effect (P>0.05) on breast and drumsticks. Moringa oleifera leaf meal had a significant effect on carcass weights, control diet had heavier weights (1185g ± 28.96) compared to chickens fed with MOLM diets (1121g±28.96, 1070g ± 28.96, 1030g± 28.96). Broilers fed with MOLM had higher values of lightness (L*) and (b*) values (P<0.05) at 45 minutes and 24 hours and no difference was observed in redness (a*) at 45 minutes and 24 hours. The L* values dropped at 24 hours for all the treatments and MOLM fed broilers had the lowest values (46.59 ± 0.76,46 ± 0.76,49 ± 0.76) compared to the control diet (50 ± 0.76). The pH levels were comparable after 24 hours; T2 had the highest pH values (5.95 ± 0.024) compared to other treatments (5.90 ± 0.024, 5.75 ± 0.024, 5.73 ± 0.024). The results of this study demonstrated that even though the FI was reduced in MOLM fed broilers, they efficiently consumed and used nutrients, as a result MOLM fed birds had higher weights and low ammonia concentration throughout the experiment, which may improve the house environment without affecting the quality of meat.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Mxunyelwa, Avela,
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Moringa oleifera Meat -- Quality Broilers (Chickens)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/15034 , vital:40154
- Description: The objective of the study was to determine growth performance, faecal ammonia gas emission, carcass characteristics and physico-chemical meat traits from broilers fed one of the four dietary treatments, containing 0percent, 1percent, 3percent or 5percent Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MOLM) (T1, T2, T3, and T4, respectively). Dietary treatments were formulated to be isonitrogenous and isocaloric for a starter (0-14 days), grower (15-21days) and finisher (22-35 days). A total of 160 day old Cobb 500 broiler chickens, initially weighing an average of 45g were randomly allocated to each of the dietary treatments, each with four replicates, in 16 pens. Feed and water were offered ad libitum. Feed intakes (FI), average daily gain (ADG), body weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion efficiency (FCE) were measured weekly. At the end of the feeding trial, the feed was withdrawn from the birds for 12 hours with water available ad libitum and the birds were slaughtered using standard abattoir procedures. The breast muscle of each carcass was sampled for meat quality analysis. Organ and carcass weights differences were measured. Birds fed with T1 had the highest FI. Birds fed with T4 had the best FCE at day 14, 21 and 35. At day 7 and 35, there were no significant differences in FCE in all the treatments. At 0 to 35 days, faecal ammonia emission decreased (P<0.05) as MOLM concentration and age of birds increased. Moringa fed broilers had the highest body weights in all the periods despite the incorporation level in the diet. The results showed that inclusion of MOLM had a significant effect (P<0.05) on the heart, neck, and head weights but had no significant effect on liver, gizzard, intestine and feet. Broilers fed with T1 had heavier heart, neck and head weights compared to MOLM fed broilers. In terms of carcass traits, MOLM had a significant effect (P<0.05) on wings and thighs but had no significant effect (P>0.05) on breast and drumsticks. Moringa oleifera leaf meal had a significant effect on carcass weights, control diet had heavier weights (1185g ± 28.96) compared to chickens fed with MOLM diets (1121g±28.96, 1070g ± 28.96, 1030g± 28.96). Broilers fed with MOLM had higher values of lightness (L*) and (b*) values (P<0.05) at 45 minutes and 24 hours and no difference was observed in redness (a*) at 45 minutes and 24 hours. The L* values dropped at 24 hours for all the treatments and MOLM fed broilers had the lowest values (46.59 ± 0.76,46 ± 0.76,49 ± 0.76) compared to the control diet (50 ± 0.76). The pH levels were comparable after 24 hours; T2 had the highest pH values (5.95 ± 0.024) compared to other treatments (5.90 ± 0.024, 5.75 ± 0.024, 5.73 ± 0.024). The results of this study demonstrated that even though the FI was reduced in MOLM fed broilers, they efficiently consumed and used nutrients, as a result MOLM fed birds had higher weights and low ammonia concentration throughout the experiment, which may improve the house environment without affecting the quality of meat.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Effect of phosphorus application on dry matter yield and nutrient content of Mucuna Pruriens (L) in Alice
- Authors: Tshwati, Nolubabalo
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Legumes Phosphorus Fertilizers
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/12326 , vital:39253
- Description: The use of herbaceous legumes such as Mucuna (Mucuna pruriens) can assist to recapitalize soil fertility depletion and improve livestock productivity in the small holder farming sector of South Africa. The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of phosphorus fertilizer application (0, 20, 40 and 60 kg P/ha) on the dry matter yield and nutritive value of Mucuna pruriens. The study was conducted at University of Fort Hare Research farm in Alice, South Africa. The research design was a randomized complete block design with three replicates per treatment. Data collection included biomass production and nutrient content of Mucuna pruriens. The forage legume was harvested at flowering stage of growth and analysed for chemical composition. The results showed that with the application of 60 kg P/ha Mucuna had the highest (P < 0.05) fresh and dry matter yield of 19.58 kg/ha and 5.41 kg/ha, respectively compared to other treatments. However, all the other treatments differed from one another. Similarly, the fresh stem and leaf fractions yield and their dry matter yields showed the same trend with application of 60 kg P/ha having the greatest yield compared to the other treatments. Nevertheless, all the treatments differed (P<0.05) from one another with P0 having the least yields. The leaf to stem ratio did not show any significant (P>0.05) difference among all the treatments ranging from 1.44 to 1.62 in fresh forage and ranging from 1.31 to 1.50 in the dry forage. In terms of dry matter content, the control treatment had the highest dry matter content of 37.78percent, however, all the other treatments did not differ significantly (P < 0.05) from each other. There was no significant effect of P application (P > 0.05) in terms of ash, EE, ADF, CP, Ca, Mg, K, Na, P, Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe of the whole plant forage among the treatments. The application of 40 kg P/ha fertilizer significantly (P < 0.05) increased the NDF (51.16percent) of the whole plant of Mucuna compared to the other treatments which did not differ (p>0.05) among themselves. Within the stem fraction there were no significant (P > 0.05) differences among the treatments for the ash, EE, ADF, NDF, and CP, hemicellulose, Ca, Mg, K, P, Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe contents. However, the application of 40 kg P/ha fertilizer significantly (P < 0.05) increased the Na (0.05percent) content of the Mucuna stem fraction. In the leaf fraction of Mucuna there was no significant (P > 0.05) differences in terms of ash, EE, ADF, NDF, CP, hemicellulose, Ca, K, P, Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe among the treatments. However, the application of 20 kg P/ha fertilizer significantly (P < 0.05) increased the Mg (0.52percent) of the Mucuna leaves compared to the other treatments. Therefore the study has shown that increase in P application (60 kg P/ha) has no major effect in the nutrient content of Mucuna. Furthermore, it is recommended that Mucuna can be grown as a protein supplement, based on the CP content values that were recorded in this study and to provide maintenance requirements for ruminants. It was therefore concluded that phosphorus fertilization particularly 60 kg P/ha is necessary and required for optimum growth of Mucuna pruriens in order to increase forage yield. Based on the nutrient content result it was concluded that there was no effect of P fertilizer application levels on the nutrient content of Mucuna pruriens in Alice.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Tshwati, Nolubabalo
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Legumes Phosphorus Fertilizers
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/12326 , vital:39253
- Description: The use of herbaceous legumes such as Mucuna (Mucuna pruriens) can assist to recapitalize soil fertility depletion and improve livestock productivity in the small holder farming sector of South Africa. The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of phosphorus fertilizer application (0, 20, 40 and 60 kg P/ha) on the dry matter yield and nutritive value of Mucuna pruriens. The study was conducted at University of Fort Hare Research farm in Alice, South Africa. The research design was a randomized complete block design with three replicates per treatment. Data collection included biomass production and nutrient content of Mucuna pruriens. The forage legume was harvested at flowering stage of growth and analysed for chemical composition. The results showed that with the application of 60 kg P/ha Mucuna had the highest (P < 0.05) fresh and dry matter yield of 19.58 kg/ha and 5.41 kg/ha, respectively compared to other treatments. However, all the other treatments differed from one another. Similarly, the fresh stem and leaf fractions yield and their dry matter yields showed the same trend with application of 60 kg P/ha having the greatest yield compared to the other treatments. Nevertheless, all the treatments differed (P<0.05) from one another with P0 having the least yields. The leaf to stem ratio did not show any significant (P>0.05) difference among all the treatments ranging from 1.44 to 1.62 in fresh forage and ranging from 1.31 to 1.50 in the dry forage. In terms of dry matter content, the control treatment had the highest dry matter content of 37.78percent, however, all the other treatments did not differ significantly (P < 0.05) from each other. There was no significant effect of P application (P > 0.05) in terms of ash, EE, ADF, CP, Ca, Mg, K, Na, P, Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe of the whole plant forage among the treatments. The application of 40 kg P/ha fertilizer significantly (P < 0.05) increased the NDF (51.16percent) of the whole plant of Mucuna compared to the other treatments which did not differ (p>0.05) among themselves. Within the stem fraction there were no significant (P > 0.05) differences among the treatments for the ash, EE, ADF, NDF, and CP, hemicellulose, Ca, Mg, K, P, Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe contents. However, the application of 40 kg P/ha fertilizer significantly (P < 0.05) increased the Na (0.05percent) content of the Mucuna stem fraction. In the leaf fraction of Mucuna there was no significant (P > 0.05) differences in terms of ash, EE, ADF, NDF, CP, hemicellulose, Ca, K, P, Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe among the treatments. However, the application of 20 kg P/ha fertilizer significantly (P < 0.05) increased the Mg (0.52percent) of the Mucuna leaves compared to the other treatments. Therefore the study has shown that increase in P application (60 kg P/ha) has no major effect in the nutrient content of Mucuna. Furthermore, it is recommended that Mucuna can be grown as a protein supplement, based on the CP content values that were recorded in this study and to provide maintenance requirements for ruminants. It was therefore concluded that phosphorus fertilization particularly 60 kg P/ha is necessary and required for optimum growth of Mucuna pruriens in order to increase forage yield. Based on the nutrient content result it was concluded that there was no effect of P fertilizer application levels on the nutrient content of Mucuna pruriens in Alice.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016