Samuel Ohikhena Agele

Federal University of Technology

Samuel Ohikhena Agele is a professor and lead researcher in the Plant Physiology and Ecology Group, Department of Crop, Soil and Pest Management, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. His research interests include plant physiology and ecology, agricultural climatology, agricultural water management, conservation agriculture, food security, bioreclamation, and plant domestication. His work is at the frontiers of agriculture and the environment and his major contributions to science are in the study of agriculture and interface with global change. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and has engaged in debates concerning how more severe droughts, as a consequence of climate change, can accelerate tree mortality.

1books edited

4chapters authored

Latest work with IntechOpen by Samuel Ohikhena Agele

Cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) is a sacred tree and noble resource from South America. The Mayans and other early civilizations in Central America used cacao beans as tokens, which were subsequently transported to Europe to nurture monarchies and elites. Based on the discovery of cacao’s commercial potential and attributes, new cocoa plantations were established in other parts of the world, including Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. Thus, cocoa has become an important cash crop in Africa, Central and South America, and Asia, where it is a major foreign exchange earner, industrial raw material, support for livelihood, and ecosystem services provision. Based on its global importance, there has been an increased need for the expansion of cultivation to meet the rising demand for cacao beans. Global environmental change, including climate change, variability, and weather extremes, has established new environmental boundaries with implications for area suitability for cocoa production and sustainability. Efforts to unlock the potentials of the established environmental boundaries may be built on the development and adoption of agrotechnological practices and integration of climate resilience for harnessing opportunities and potentials of the new environment, and thus, extension of the frontiers of cacao cultivation to meet the increasing global demand for cocoa beans. This book, “Shifting Frontiers of Theobroma Cacao - Opportunities and Challenges for Production” presents a comprehensive perspective of the interactions of changing environmental conditions, cocoa production, and sustainability. The book illuminates the challenges climate change presents for cocoa production and sustainability. It provides insights into the need for cocoa actors within the cocoa sector to strengthen climate mitigation and resilience building and to come to grips with the realities, magnitude, and inevitable persistence of climate challenges to cocoa production and sustainability.

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Shifting Frontiers of Theobroma Cacao

Edited by Samuel Ohikhena Agele

Chapters authored

Cacao Growth and Development Under Different Nursery and Field Conditions

By Idowu Babadele Famuwagun and Samuel Ohi Agele

Experiments were conducted between 2004 and 2018 to examine cacao growth, development, establishment and yield under varying experimental conditions comprised of seed mucilage handling before sowing, sowing methods and its effects on seedling growth and development, timing of mycorrhizal inoculation on root and shoot growth and development and effects of shade and dry season drip irrigation on growth and yield of field-grown cacao. Results show that cleaning cacao seed mucilage before sowing enhanced sprouting rate and percent germination. The use of manure mixed with sawdust and loamy soil aided excellent seed germination, seedling vigor and root development. Inoculating cacao seeds with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) at point of sowing and early stages in the nursery aided root development and enhanced field establishment and survival during the dry season. Dense shade retarded cacao growth and development during the rainy season, while no shade enhances optimum growth and canopy development. The use of drip irrigation strategies in young cacao plantations increased seedling survival from less than 45% under no irrigation to above 95% at the end of the second dry season. This showed that irrigation during dry season can significantly enhance cacao establishment and survival.

Part of the book: Theobroma Cacao

Oil Palm-Based Cropping Systems of the Humid Tropics: Addressing Production Sustainability, Resource Efficiency, Food Security and Livelihood Challenges

By Samuel O. Agele, Friday E. Charles, Appolonia E. Obi and Ademola I. Agbona

The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq), is a crop of tremendous food, nutrition and economic importance in the tropics. Weather variability and extremes profoundly impact the establishment, survival and productivity of oil palm on the field. Alleys of palm trees in plantation are cropped with arables during early years following field establishment. Studies were conducted at the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research, Benin City, Nigeria. Oil palm seedlings responded to shading, irrigation and AMF inoculation via enhanced water use efficiency, growth vigor and reduced seedling mortality in the nursery during dry season. Age of oil palm and intercrops of Cassava, Maize and Pepper affected mixture productivity and competitive functions in alleys of 2 to 6 years old oil palm fields. Fertilizers (inorganic/organic) promoted agronomic and physiological efficiencies of N use by alley species. Sole crops had higher N use efficiency compared with the intercrops across the fertilizers.

Part of the book: Elaeis guineensis

Critical Dry Spell Prediction in Rain-Fed Maize Crop Using Artificial Neural Network in Nigeria

By Nnadozie Okonkwo Nnoli, Ahmed Balogun, Jerome Omotosho and Samuel Agele

Prediction of yearly mid-growing season first and second critical dry spells using artificial neural networks (ANN) for enhanced maize yield in nine stations in Nigeria is performed. The ANN model uses nine meteorological parameters to predict onset dates and lengths of the critical dry spells. The daily dataset is from 1971 to 2013 of which about 70% is used for training while 30% is for testing. Seven ANN models are developed for each station with a view to measuring their predictive ability by comparing predicted values with the observed ones. Prediction lead times for the two critical dry spell onset dates generally range from about 2 weeks to 2 months for the nine stations. Error range during testing for the onset dates and lengths of first and second critical dry spells is generally ±4 days. The root-mean-square error (RMSE), coefficient of determination, Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency, Wilmott\'s index of agreement, and RMSE observation standard deviation ratio range from 0.46 to 3.31, 0.58 to 0.93, 0.51 to 0.90, 0.82 to 0.95, and 0.30 to 0.69, respectively. These results show ANN capability of making the above reliable predictions for yearly supplementary irrigation planning, scheduling, and various other decision makings related to sustainable agricultural operations for improved rain-fed maize crop yield in Nigeria.

Part of the book: Maize Genetic Resources

Perspective Chapter: Microclimate, Plant Stress and Extension of Cacao Frontiers to Marginal Agroecologies of the Rainforest Tropics

By Samuel Ohikhena Agele, Olufemi Samuel Ibiremo and Oladitan Titilayo

Cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) is an important cash crop of the rainforest tropics where it is a major foreign exchange earner, industrial raw material, livelihood, and offer ecosystem services. The rainforest of the tropics is noted for high productivity potential for cacao, however, and its development prospects is beset with numerous challenges among which is the threat of climate change which is setting new ecological boundaries. The new regimes of climate are expected to affect the area suitable for agriculture, thus, crop species are bound to grow in areas where they were not previously grown and areas that were hitherto not suitable for their production. Nevertheless, the shifting environment conditions and associated marginal growing environment conditions (weather: (increasing warming and drought) and soil) may offer opportunities for extending crop frontiers beyond its current ecological boundaries. It is therefore necessary to develop strategies for alleviating constraints imposed by changing environmental conditions thus setting the agenda for climate smart adaptable and sustainable production systems. In addition, efforts to unlock the potentials of the new environmental boundaries for crops will benefit from knowledge, technologies and innovations and climate mitigation.

Part of the book: Shifting Frontiers of Theobroma Cacao

Samuel Ohikhena Agele

Latest work with IntechOpen by Samuel Ohikhena Agele

Shifting Frontiers of Theobroma Cacao

Chapters authored

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