Zambia Agribusiness Society

Many products and supplements are available on the market for athletes to increase their performance and optimize their post-training recovery. Of these, beet juice is more and more popular among endurance athletes, but is it really effective? Beet, a Nitrate Concentrate Beet is a vegetable rich in nitrates, a chemical element naturally found in certain foods such as celery, spinach and carrots. After the ingestion of nitrates in the form of beet juice or powder, they are converted in the body into nitrites and then nitric oxide. It is this latter molecule that is responsible for the effects of beetroot on physical performance. Nitric oxide helps lower blood pressure through its vasodilator effect that dilates blood vessels, blood flow more easily and muscles work better during exercise. In addition, muscles need less oxygen to perform the same effort in the presence of nitric oxide, which makes them more efficient and reduces oxygen consumption during exercise. Each br...

What is heat stress? Heat stress can be defined as a condition caused by high temperatures especially when combined with high relative humidity and low air speed. It occurs because the birds’ core body temperature increases to fatal temperatures because of poor heat loss and limited coping means. What are the immediate signs of heat stress in poultry? Panting and laboured breathing. Pale combs and wattles. Birds lifting wings away from the body, and squatting closer to the ground. Lethargy, a general lack of energy and enthusiasm. Seizures, convulsions and staggering. Thirst increases due to the huge loss of electrolytes, wet droppings/ diarrhoea may also be more visible. What effect does heat stress have on poultry? Heat stress in poultry can be a serious threat to the birds overall productivity. The following resultant effects may be felt; A drop in production and in extreme cases an increase in mortality rates in a flock. Reduced growth rates, because the birds...

We are facing a climate emergency on this planet. There is now no escaping it. As world leaders and businesses try to work out ways of reducing their impact, the argument about who should be responsible for making the changes continue. The fact of the matter is that there are seven billion people in the world, all of them will have some impact on the environment, whether directly, or through choices made as a consumer. There are lots of ways that we can all minimize our impact on the environment, and we should be doing as much as we possibly can. This is not someone else’s problem, and it shouldn’t be down to others to fix it for us.  Everyone should be doing their bit  by looking at their own lives and looking at changes that they can personally make. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle A reduction in the amount that you consume will make a considerable difference. This may mean not buying items just because they are cheap, or because you can. If buying more means throwing things ...

Right and Wrong. Good and Bad. Choices. Food is essential for our survival as human beings. The  Food and Agriculture Organization  of the United Nations says that society needs to provide its people with the means to obtain food. In our modern society, farmers are responsible for ensuring that enough food is produced to feed all humans. This leads to the enhanced well-being of citizens and that by eliminating hunger and malnutrition we improve human health. But the production of food to feed people cannot be the only consideration. Natural resources and the natural world should also be valued and a balance should be struck. These somewhat opposing forces (agriculture for the betterment of humans and protection of the natural world) necessitate the making of choices. Farmers make choices everyday about how to produce that food. Government workers make choices everyday about regulating food production. Researchers make choices about the science they conduct to advance agric...

Think about all of the things you interact with day-to-day. Everything we use, eat, wear, and interact with originated from one of two places; a farm or the natural world. We have found out lots of cool ways to reconstruct materials that were farmed or mined into the things we recognize as final products, but we need to be aware that all of these materials originate from planet Earth. For this reason and others, it is always a good idea to use and reuse everything we can. In agriculture, many by-products are given important and useful purposes. Read through to learn more about a few ways agriculture saves money and resources by using by-products! 1. Dried distillers grains Ethanol is primarily produced using corn. Ethanol is created by converting the starches in the corn kernel into sugars and then alcohol (ethanol). The rest of the corn kernel solids cannot be converted into ethanol, and are therefore by-products. This material, called dried distillers grains or DDGs, is a commo...

After new-born piglets are born, soak the navel of each piglet in an iodine solution to prevent inflammation (omalitis). The piglets should also be aided by putting them onto the udder of their mother. They need to suck from the colostrum (first milk) which helps in fighting impending diseases. Young piglets tend to be anaemic (have a shortage of iron in their blood) because there is less iron in the sow’s milk, and wouldn’t meet the iron needs of the piglets. Piglets suffering from anaemia become pale and their growth rate drops. How to Prevent Anaemia in a Piggery 1.     You can prevent anaemia by putting clean compost or iron-rich soil (red, yellow or brown soil) at the corner of the pen every day. When the piglets eat some of the soil, they will be able to supplement the iron deficient in their mother’s milk. 2.     You can also give the piglets iron injection (Iron D) at the age of 1 to 3 days. Some important operations carried out on piglets...

Last summer my time was spent walking the corn and soybean fields of Southeast Iowa searching for weeds and pests that did not belong in the field. But why was I needed as a crop scout? Farmers’ livelihoods depend on their crops. Weeds and pests can easily overtake the field if not carefully controlled. It was my responsibility as a crop scout to identify the weeds and other possible concerns in the field and inform the farmer. So what are  crop scouts  looking for in the field? First they look for any abnormalities in the plant. When plants are off-coloured, chewed, stunted or dead, that could indicate issues that the farmer needs to be aware of. The causes could be soil, pest, or nutrient related, but it is important to determine the cause of the problem so it can be solved quickly. The purpose of scouting is to give a representative assessment of the entire field. While scouting, it is important to look at multiple areas of the field. It depends on the size of the ...