parameters Agricultural

The management and utilization of agricultural waste have gained prominence as a sustainable approach to addressing environmental challenges and enhancing educational practices. This study assesses the level of utilization of agricultural waste by secondary school teachers in Ovia North East Local Government Area, Edo State, Nigeria, focusing on its integration into agricultural science education. Agricultural waste, including crop residues, animal manure, and agro-industrial by-products, holds significant potential as a cost-effective teaching resource to foster experiential learning, creativity, and sustainability awareness among students. However, its adoption in Nigerian secondary schools remains underexplored. This research examines teachers’ awareness of agricultural aste utilization, identifies the types of waste commonly used in teaching, nvestigates the hallenges hindering effective application, and proposes strategies to enhance its use. A descriptive survey design was employed, targeting 100 AgriculturalScience teachers selected through stratified random sampling from public and privateschools in urban and rural settings. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed with descriptive statistics via SPSS software. The findings confirm that a well-validated and reliable questionnaire enhances data accuracy, making it a valuable tool for research on agricultural waste utilization in educational settings. Findings reveal high awareness mong teachers but moderate incorporation into teaching practices, constrained by inadequate training, limited resources, and insufficient waste access. The study recommends integrating waste management into the curriculum, providing teacher training, and establishing school-based waste programs to bridge these gaps. y leveraging agricultural waste, secondary schools can promote environmental stewardship, practical education, and entrepreneurial skills, aligning with Nigeria’s sustainability and vocational education goals. This research fills a critical gap in localized studies on agricultural waste utilization in education within Ovia North East

The use of pest control techniques in Agriculture have proven to be highly effective in addressing food insecurity and agricultural production issues. This study was conducted to compare growth and evaluate the yield of sweet potato under three different pest control techniques in relation to exposure to insect herbivory.These pest control techniques include physical exclusion, chemical exclusion and those without exclusion (no control). Sweet potato plants excluded physically were completely screened from herbivory using a net house, those excluded chemically were sprayed weekly with 0.01% Lambda-cyhalothrin and those without exclusion were fully exposed to herbivory. Stem length, number of leaves, number of runners, percentage herbivory and number of damaged leaves were parameters used to compare growth while tuber count, heaviest tuber and average tuber weight were used to evaluate yield. Sweet potatoes physically excluded significantly (p < 0.05) gave highest growth rates and this was evidently seen in their stem length, number of leaves and runners. Plants subjected to chemical exclusion and those without exclusion statistically had higher mean values in terms of yield than those physically excluded. However, the difference in yield from the three treatments did not vary significantly (p > 0.05) in tuber count (H2 = 2.34, p > 0.05), heaviest tuber (F2 = 1.67, p > 0.05) and average tuber weight (H2 = 4.24, p > 0.05). Sweet potatoes allocate more resources on growth when completely screened off from insect herbivory as seen by those physically excluded but this is was not enough to warrant improved yield.