Stella Owusu-Nketia

University of Ghana | Legon · Department of Crop Science

Grafting techniques have been successfully adopted to improve resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, increase yields, fruit quality and study systemic signaling in plants. This technique has not been fully explored in cassava and there is currently no standardized grafting method for this species published especially in Africa. This is the firs...

Compost residue enriches soil health with the potential to enhance plant metabolism and hormonal balance, but has not yet been studied. A study was performed to determine how prevailing compost residue induces tomato (Solanum lycopersicum ‘Scotia’) plant morpho-physiology, phytohormones, and secondary metabolites. Plants were grown in soils with a...

Tel.: 1 +63444560285 and 2 +819041945546 Rainfed lowland (RFL) fields generally experience soil moisture fluctuations (SMF) and have a hardpan layer that impedes deep rooting during episodes of drought. The development of root systems in response to SMF and the ability of roots to elongate through the hardpan when it becomes relatively soft during...

Botanical gardens represent well-tended, often protected areas purposely kept to display diversity of plant species for purposes such as food, medicine, research, plant conservation, and recreation. Such conserved establishments, whether formal or informal, have played significant roles in sustainable development of the environment and the lives of...

Cocoa is a valuable perennial cash crop providing livelihood to millions of people around the world. Despite being classified as a tropical crop, it is a shade-loving plant. Since sufficient amount of shading is required to achieve a high survival rate of cocoa seedlings during early field establishment, farmers are being encouraged to intercrop co...

Tomato production in Africa has increased due to increased population, rising consumer demands for nutritious and healthy food and potential use of improved technologies. Demand-led' plant breeding puts producers and consumers at the heart of research and development involving stakeholders even before the research starts. These 'stakeholders' are n...

Although agriculture is the driving force of Ghana's economy, accounting for one third of GDP and employing more than half of the workforce, Ghana is still far from achieving food security due to serious challenges facing the sector. If agriculture is to fulfill its promise of achieving food and nutrition security in Ghana by 2030, it must take dra...

Greenhouse vegetable cultivation offers one of the optimistic approaches to ensuring sustainable food and nutrition security in the tropics. Although greenhouse vegetable production is known to be costly, this system of production is gaining popularity and contributes to sustainable tomato production with improved fruit quality and productivity, wh...

Vegetable plays a key role in food and nutrition security in Ghana as the country’s food system shifts from food quantity to diet quality and health benefits. This chapter looks at the role vegetables play in the diets of humans in ensuring food and nutrition security. Traditional locally available underutilized vegetable crops as well as exotic ve...

Tomato is an important vegetable in Ghanaian diet and contributes enormously in livelihood improvement. Tomato production is threatened by a high prevalence of biotic and abiotic stresses as well as increased postharvest losses and poor agronomic practices, thereby resulting in massive importation of tomato and its products to meet the local demand...

Soil moisture fluctuation (SMF) stress due to erratic rainfall in rainfed lowland (RFL) rice ecosystems negatively affect production. Under such condition, root plasticity is one of the key traits that play important roles for plant adaptation. This study aimed to evaluate root plasticity expression and its functional roles in water uptake, dry mat...

In rainfed lowland rice ecosystem, rice plants are often exposed to alternating recurrences of waterlogging and drought due to erratic rainfall. Such soil moisture fluctuation (SMF) which is completely different from simple or progressive drought could be stressful for plant growth, thereby causing reduction in yield. Root plasticity is one of the...

Rainfed lowland rice fields are characterized by soil moisture fluctuations (SMF) and the presence of hardpan that impedes deep rooting and thus limits water extraction from deep soil layer during the periods of drought. In this study, we used rootboxes with three layers; shallow layer, artificial hardpan, and deep and wet layer below the hardpan,...

This study was carried out to evaluate the response of chicken manure (CM) as a substrate supplement for sucker multiplication and its effect on varietal differences in two subgroups of plantain (Apantu, a False Horn and Apem, a French plantain), using well-developed sword suckers. The research was laid out in a 2 x 2 factorial randomized complete...

Abstract: Getting enough planting materials for a year round production has been one of the major problems in plantain production in Ghana. Plantain suckers multiplication is a new technology to solve the problem of low planting materials. The planting-material-type may have effect on the ability of a sucker to give enough plantain plantlets. This...