Overview of my research in the past 32 years: A review

Research is the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts to reach new conclusions. It thus, involves the process of reviewing the past with the view to getting insights to proffer solutions to immediate or future problems, and has been a strong tool for development in all spheres of life. In agriculture also, research farms the basis for unravelling production, biotic and processing constraints with the attainment of expected output. The sojourn in the research on whip smut of sugar cane, rice blast and diseases and pests of other economically important crops in Nigeria for the past three decades has also produced several improved varieties of these crops as well as their husbandry practices. As a plant pathologist, my research has been in the capacity of complementing the plant breeder who depends on the screened genotypes of sugar cane and rice for resistant traits against noxious pathogens like Magnaporthe grisea and Sporisorium scitamineum, causal agents of rice blast and sugar cane whip smut respectively. Other research has centred on virus diseases of soyabean, cowpea, lima bean and the management of Meloidogyne incognita on tomato with extracts of Jatropha curcas. Specific management strategies have also been developed on sugar cane, rice and other biotic stresses of cowpea and soyabean. Information on crop husbandry, crop protection, seed pathology, processing, food and nutrition are also provided. This paper highlights some of the research done by the author so far in his 32 years' of productive research.