Browsing by Author "Mwale, Saul Eric"

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    Determinants of postnatal care service utilization among mothers of Mangochi district, Malawi: a community-based crosssectional study
    (BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 2021) Sagawa, Jonas; Kabagenyi, Allen; Turyasingura, Godwin; Mwale, Saul Eric
    Postnatal care (PNC) service is a neglected yet an essential service that can reduce maternal, neonatal and infant morbidity and mortality rates in low and middle-income countries. In Malawi, maternal and infant mortality rates remain high despite numerous efforts by the government and its partners to improve maternal health service coverage across the country. This study examined the determinants of PNC utilization among mothers in Mangochi District, Malawi. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 600 mothers who gave birth in the past 2 years preceding January 1–31; 2016. A multistage sampling technique was employed to select respondents from nine randomly selected villages in Mangochi district. A transcribed semi-structured questionnaire was pretested, modified and used to collect data on socio-demographic characteristics and maternal related factors. Data was coded in EpiData version 3.1 and analysed in Stata version 12. A multivariable logistic regression adjusted for confounding factors was used to identify predictors of PNC utilization using odds ratio with 95% confidence interval and p-value of 0.05. Results: The study revealed that the prevalence of PNC service utilization was 84.8%. Mother’s and partner’s secondary education level and above (AOR = 2.42, CI: 1.97–6.04; AOR = 1.45, CI: 1.25–2.49), partner’s occupation in civil service and business (AOR = 3.17, CI: 1.25, 8.01; AOR =3.39, CI:1.40–8.18), household income of at least MK50, 000 (AOR = 14.41, CI: 5.90–35.16), joint decision making (AOR = 2.27, CI: 1.13, 4.57), knowledge of the available PNC services (AOR = 4.06, CI: 2.22–7.41), knowledge of at least one postpartum danger sign (AOR = 4.00, CI: 2.09, 7.50), health facility delivery of last pregnancy (AOR = 6.88, CI: 3.35, 14.14) positively associated with PNC service utilization. Conclusion: The rate of PNC service utilization among mothers was 85%. The uptake of PNC services among mothers was mainly influenced by mother and partner education level, occupation status of the partner, household income, decision making power, knowledge of available PNC services, knowledge of at least one postpartum danger signs, and place of delivery. Therefore, PNC awareness campaigns, training and economic empowerment programs targeting mothers who delivered at home with primary education background and low economic status are needed.
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    Estimates of combining ability and heritability in cowpea genotypes under drought stress and nonstress conditions in Uganda
    (Journal of Plant Breeding and Crop Science, 2017) Mwale, Saul Eric; Ochwo Ssemakula, Mildred; Sadik, Kassim; Alladassi, Boris; Rubaihayo, Patrick; Gibson, Paul; Singini, Wales; Edema, Richard
    Cowpea is an important source of food and income for small scale farmers in Uganda. Production is, however, affected by both biotic and abiotic stresses. Drought stress has recently emerged as a serious concern due to the effects of climate change. This study was therefore undertaken to estimate the general and specific combining ability effects of parents and crosses as well as estimate the heritability of delayed leaf senescence, seed yield and its components under drought stress. Five drought tolerant genotypes were crossed with four drought sensitive genotypes in a North Carolina II mating design. The study revealed that drought tolerance is conditioned by both additive and non-additive genetic effects with the predominance of non-additive genetic effects for seed yield, 100 seed weight and number of pods per plant. Delayed leaf senescence was however, controlled by additive genetic effects, implying that progenies performance could be predicted from parents General Combining Ability (GCA) effects. The cultivars SECOW 5T, IT93K-452-1 and IT98K-205-8 were good combiners for drought tolerance. The F2 families: SECOW 3B x IT98K-205-8, SECOW 5T x IT98K-205-8, SECOW 4W x IT98K- 205-8 and SECOW 1T x IT98K-205-8 had positive Specific Combining Ability(SCA) effects in seed yield, number of pods per plant and 100 seed weight, implying that they performed better than what was predicted by their parents GCA effect. As such, they are promising cross combinations that can be advanced for later generation selection.
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    Inheritance of resistance to brown spot disease in upland rice in Uganda
    (Journal of Plant Breeding and Crop Science, 2017) Mwendo, Marco Martin; Ochwo-Ssemakula, Mildred; Mwale, Saul Eric; Lamo, Jimmy; Gibson, Paul; Edema, Richard
    Brown spot disease caused by Bipolaris oryzae [Breda de Haan (Shoem.)] is one of the most important diseases affecting rice (Oryza sativa L.) worldwide. Host plant resistance is considered an effective, cheap and environment friendly means of managing this disease. Nine rice genotypes with varying resistance levels were crossed in a full diallel mating design including reciprocals and parents. Parents, reciprocals and F2 progenies were evaluated in an alpha lattice design in the screen house and field trials at the National Crops Resources Research Institute in Uganda in 2013-2014. The objectives of the study were to determine the mode of inheritance for resistance to brown spot disease and characterize segregation patterns of specific F2 progenies. Significant (P ≤0.001) variation for brown spot resistance occurred among the tested genotypes. The general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) effects of brown spot disease scores were both significantly different (P≤0.001), indicating that both additive and non-additive genetic effects were present. There was, however, a predominance of non-additive genetic effects in the genetic control of brown spot resistance as shown by low estimates of baker’s ratio (0.29) and narrow sense coefficient of genetic determination (0.24), implying that progeny performance could not be predicted from parents GCA effects as it was better only in specific crossing combinations. Segregation patterns also indicated that resistance to brown spot was controlled by one or two dominant genes. The reciprocal effects for the crosses were significantly different (P ≤ 0.05), suggesting that cytoplasmic genetic effects modified the expression of resistance. Care should, therefore, be taken when selecting female parents during hybridization. Family-based breeding programs would also be effective for improving resistance to brown spot in rice varieties adapted to Uganda.
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    Response of Cowpea Genotypes to Drought Stress in Uganda
    (American Journal of Plant Sciences, 2017) Mwale, Saul Eric; Ochwo-Ssemakula, Mildred; Sadik, Kassim; Achola, Esther; Okul, Valentor; Gibson, Paul; Edema, Richard; Singini, Wales; Rubaihayo, Patrick
    Moisture stress is a challenge to cowpea production in the drought prone areas of eastern and north eastern Uganda, with yield losses of up to 50% reported. Genotypes grown by farmers are not drought tolerant. This study was therefore, undertaken at Makerere University Agricultural Research Institute Kabanyolo to identify cowpea genotypes tolerant to drought. Thirty cowpea accessions comprising of Ugandan landraces and released varieties, Brazilian lines, Makerere University breeding lines, elite IITA germplasm and seven IITA drought tolerant lines as checks were screened for drought tolerance at vegetative and reproductive stages. The experiment was designed as a 2 × 37 factorial and laid out in a split-plot arrangement, 37 genotypes of cowpea at two soil moisture stress levels (T1, no stress and T2, severe stress) with all factorial combinations replicated two times in a screen house. The genotypes showed considerable variability in tolerance to drought. Genotypes were significantly different for chlorophyll content (P ≤ 0.01), efficiency of photosystem II (P ≤ 0.05), non-photochemical quenching (P ≤ 0.05), recovery (P ≤ 0.01), delayed leaf senescence (P ≤ 0.01), grain yield (P ≤ 0.01), 100 seed weight (P ≤ 0.05), number of pods per plant and number of seeds per pod (P ≤ 0.001). There was a highly significant positive correlation between chlorophyll content and efficiency of photosystem II (r = 0.75, P ≤ 0.001) implying that chlorophyll content and efficiency of photosystem II could be used as efficient reference indicators in the selection of drought tolerant genotypes. Genotypes SECOW 5T, SECOW 3B, SECOW 4W, WC 30 and MU 24 C gave relatively high yields under stress and no stress conditions, maintained above mean chlorophyll content, efficiency of photosystem II and had good recovery scores from stress and thus were tolerant to drought stress induced at both vegetative and reproductive stages.