Increasing the low potato productivity due to declining soil fertility in Kenya requires an understanding of fertility status and potato response to site-specific fertilizer formulations. This study was conducted in central Kenya highland; Meru and Nyandarua regions with the objectives as follows: i) identify limiting nutrients to potato production ii) determine response to the addition of the limiting nutrients, and iii) evaluate the effect of potato fertilizer blend(s) on yield of the potato crop. Soil and potato nutrient content were determined using inductively coupled plasmaoptical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) procedures and grouped into adequacy levels. Leaf area index (LAI) and aboveground biomass were determined during flowering and tuber bulking growth stages from the experimental trial. Tuber yields were determined during the bulking stage and at full maturity. Harvest index and nutrient use efficiency were estimated for the experimental trials. Cluster and factor analyses were performed on survey data while generalized linear models were used for data from the field trials using R software version 2.2.3. Means were separated using Tukey’s Honest Significant Difference (HSD) at (p ≤ 0.05). Pearson correlation and linear regression analyses were applied to determine the relationship between the measured variables. Soils from both Meru and Nyandarua with nutrient contents below critical levels constituted 66% and 20% for N, 46% and 85% for P, 67% and 31% for S, 9% and 51% for Cu, and 87% and 80% for B respectively. Subsequently, low tissue nutrient concentrations were observed for N, P, K, and S elements. A reduction in potato yields was observed when specific nutrients were omitted as follows; 9 t ha-1 when N was omitted and 3 t ha-1 when P was omitted. DAP fertilizer exerted the most significant effect on potato haulm (16 g plant-1 ) on the variety Sherekea. The effect was also observed on potato yield in which 29.2 t ha-1 was recorded with DAP, and a yield of 26.6 t ha-1 with the application of new Mavuno on variety Sherekea. A significant positive interaction (P <0.05) between fertilizer type and soil type was observed. Fertilizers had a significant effect on the agronomic efficiency of N (AEN), P (AEP), and K (AEK). These results show that N, P, K, S and B are the nutrients limiting potato productivity in central Kenya and their fortification would depend on specific soil nutrient requirements and associated applications.

Dairy production in East Africa is dominated by the smallholder production system, characterized by suboptimal milk production attributed to poor nutrition. Grain-based concentrates can be used to cover the energy and protein deficits arising from forage feeding in rain-fed systems, but this strategy is constrained by grain competition with human and monogastric animals such as poultry, making these feeds very expensive. Sweet potato can serve both as a source of human food (tuber) and animal feed (vines). The objectives of this study were; 1) to determine the effect of harvesting regime on DM yield and nutrient content of sweet potato variety SPK 013, Kenspot 1 and SPK 117, 2) to determine the effect of amount of molasses and storage period on silage quality of sweet potato vines from the three sweet potato varieties, 3) to assess effect of supplementing lactating dairy cows on Napier grass basal diet with sweet potato vine silage on dry matter intake, milk production, milk composition, 4) assessing the economic benefit of feeding sweet potato vines silage as an alternative protein supplement. The biomass yield of three new orange-fleshed dual-purpose sweet potato varieties were assessed under different harvesting regimes. The three varieties were chosen because they were newly introduced into the market as dual-purpose varieties. The vines were harvested either at intermediate stage (75 days) and again at final stage (150 days) (INT) or at final stage only (150 days) (FIN). Of the three varieties tested, Cultivar SPK013 yielded the most vine in both treatments (7.3 and 5.6 t DM/ha for INT (75 and150 days) and FIN respectively) and tuber at FIN (2 t DM/ha), but lowest tuber yield at INT (0.8 t DM/ha. The intermediate harvesting increased vine yield for all varieties (3.6 vs 2.3, 7.3 vs 5.6 and 5.0 vs 4.2 for INT vs FIN for variety Kenspot1, SPK013 and SOK117 respectively). For cultivar SPK013, intermediate harvesting resulted in a 58% decline in tuber yield (2.0 t DM/ha to 0.8t DM/ha) (p<0.05). Vines from the three varieties were mixed with three amounts of molasses (0, 20 and 40g of molasses/ Kg of vines), and ensiled for 7, 14, 21, 28 and 56 days. The pH and CP content of the silage were monitored. The pH of 0% molasses amount was the highest (4.56) but had the lowest CP (16.25%). Ensilage period significantly affected the quality of silage with CP decreasing from 19.54 to 15.62% at 56d of storage. From the study, molasses amount of 20g per Kg of vines was recommended for both short term and long-term storage. The efficacy of sweet potato vine silage plus wheat bran (SPVSWB) as a low-cost supplement compared to grain-based commercial dairy concentrate (CDC) was assessed. Multiparous Holstein–Friesian cattle (n = 12) were fed on a basal diet of Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum cv. South Africa) ad libitum, plus a fixed amount of either SPVSWB or CDC, (the ration formulated to be both iso-nitrogenous and iso-caloric) during late (LL) and early (EL) lactation. Daily milk yield was not significantly different (p>0.05) between SPVSWB and CDC groups during both LL (6.2 vs 7.5 L/day) and EL (14.2 vs 16.0 L/day). However, the lower cost of production for SPVSWB (23.2 vs 48.7 KES/Kg DM) resulted in margins on milk income over feed (per cow per day) being greater for SPVSWB in both periods (LL: 71 vs 14.5; and EL: 426 vs 400 KES/day). Despite SPVSWB eliciting lower milk production (LL 6.2 and EL14.2 L/day) than CDC (LL7.5 and EL 16.0 L/day), SPVSWB is a cost-effective, accessible alternative to grain-based supplementation in small-holder dairy-farming systems of Kenya. The study recommended 2% inclusion of molasses when making sweet potato vine silage. The silage can be fed in combination with other by-products, for moderate milk production which will result to a lower cost of supplementation compared conventional grain-based supplementation.

Agricultural application of sewage sludge is an effective disposal method as it is beneficial to agricultural productivity. However, there is need to regularly monitor levels of heavy metals in sludge. Such monitoring is currently lacking in our sewage treatment plants-thereby, leading to informal use of sewage sludge in agriculture and lack of quality control. Furthermore, there is an absence of locally available technologies for heavy metal removal. Conventional processes for heavy metal removal such as chemical precipitation and membrane filtration are too expensive, require technologically advanced systems, are difficult to maintain, require a lot of expertise and are therefore not locally accessible. Heavy metals have adverse effects on human life when consumed. There is therefore need to come up with affordable, innovative technologies that can be locally used to remove heavy metals from sewage sludge used in agriculture. This study used phytoextraction, a phytoremediation process in which certain plants have the ability to absorb toxic contaminants from a soil matrix, to remove heavy metals from sewage sludge. The objective was to investigate the potential of heavy metal phytoextraction in sewage sludge using sunflower. The sewage sludge was obtained from Dandora and Kariobangi Wastewater Treatment Plants. The experimental set up was in three sets. The first containing soil and Kariobangi sewage sludge mix in the ratio 1:1. The second containing soil and Dandora sewage sludge mix in the ratio 1:1. The third set contained 100% soil which served as the control experiment. Sunflowers were grown in each of the sets and heavy metal levels were monitored in the plant roots, shoots and soil sludge mixes for a period of four months using atomic absorption spectroscopy. After the four months, cadmium levels in the sewage sludge were reduced by 84%, manganese by 91%, copper by 85%, lead by 89% and zinc by 84%. The stated heavy metals were all brought down to levels acceptable for garden soil. This proved that sunflower phytoextraction is a technology that can be assimilated in wastewater treatment plants to ensure safe agricultural use of sewage sludge.

This study analyses the effect of number of slits on a diverging conical ring insert when symmetrically cut out on the curved surface to generate multi longitudinal vortices in an incompressible fluid flow on a cylindrical tube. This is a passive augmentation technique aimed at achieving heat transfer enhancement. The insert disrupts flow creating a mixture between core and near wall fluid into a swirl flow with a pressure drop and friction characteristic generating higher heat transfer enhancement than that attained by either laminar or turbulent fluid flows achieved in a tube of equal diameter using other augmentation techniques. In this research work hot water is used as the test fluid in a simulation to establish the pressure drop and temperature variation along a tube of inner diameter 0.05 m and 8 m long with a diverging conical ring insert placed at a fixed distance from the entrance where uniform fluid velocity is attained to avoid the pipe entrance effect. Using a conical ring insert with inlet diameter of 0.036 m and an outlet diameter of 0.05 m giving a pitch ratio of 0.72, when the fluid flows into the pipe inlet region at a pressure P0=110,000 Pa and temperature T0 = 370 K. Analysis of the results shows a positive coefficient of heat transfer and thermal performance factor when comparing an insert with no slit and those with one, two and three slits. The highest rate of heat transfer enhancement is 423.38 attained when two multi – longitudinal vortex pairs are formed by a diverging conical ring insert with two slits on opposite sides of the curved surface.

Chrome tanning is the most popular form of tannage worldwide due to the superior quality and versatility of the resultant leather compared to all other leather tanning materials. However, waste emanating from the production of chrome-tanned leather causes enormous disposal problems to human health and the environment due to the toxicity of chromium particularly in its hexavalent oxidation state. Besides, efforts to treat this type of leather waste either for chromium recovery, or for obtaining chrome-free collagen, have not been entirely successful for a number of reasons as investigated in this thesis. Thus, the current study assessed the amount of chrome leather waste generated by six selected tanneries operating in Kenya and mode of disposal of the waste. The assessment of leather waste generated in the six selected tanneries was done through a survey in which semi-structured questionnaires and key informant interviews were used as the instruments of data collection. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data collected in this study, and the analysis showed that 1,443,000kg of chromium-containing leather waste was generated by the 6 selected tanneries within a period of one month. This analysis further showed that out of the total amount of various types of leather solid wastes generated within one month in the selected tanneries, which was 2,112,560kg, 68.3% of this amount was actually chrometanned leather waste. The study also, established that the common methods of disposal of leather solid wastes at that time were; landfilling, open ground dumping and or incineration. In addition, the study developed a new eco-friendly and cost-effective method for dechroming leather waste and modified the waste to enable its utilization as a slow-release organic fertilizer. The new method involved detanning, chromium extraction and complexation of the remaining traces of chromium with potassium oxalate. The method was able to extract up to 99.9% of chromium from the waste in 24 hours. The dechromed waste was subjected to mild phosphoric xviii acid hydrolysis to enhance controlled breakdown of peptide bonds in collagen to facilitate release of nitrogen and other nutrients, making them available for plant use. The collagen hydrolysate was modified further to make it more useful as a slow-release nitrogen fertilizer by treating it with 99% epichlorohydrin (EPICH). The modified collagen had 44% N, 21% P (as P2O5), 0.1% K (as K2O), 0.2% Mg, and 1.8% Ca, 27.0% TOC and C:N ratio of 0.61. The slowrelease organic fertilizer was formulated using modified collagen and ground maize cobs as filler material. The maize cob based filler material was found to have high carbon to nitrogen ratio (C:N) with the following nutrient composition: 2.8% N, 14.04% P (as P2O5), 0.3% K (as K2O), 7.5% Mg, and 1.6% Ca, 38.12% TOC and C:N ratio of 13.61. The high C:N ratio contributed to the slow release of organic nitrogen into the soil in form of nutrients by slowing down the decomposition of the organic fertilizer to enable the release of nutrients at a rate that matches plant requirements. Besides, the filler contributed to the nutrient content of the new fertilizer. This study also, assessed the N mineralization rate of the new fertilizer formulation in a laboratory soil incubation experiment to determine the rate at which inorganic nitrogen is obtained by decomposition of organic matter and degradation of organic nitrogenous compounds in the organic fertilizer, making it bioavailable for use by plants following fertilizer application to the soil. The highest mineralization rate of organic N into NO3-N was observed during the 12th week, and the one of organic N into NH4 + -N was observed during the 16th week of incubation. Results of single application of the new fertilizer formulation during planting (under greenhouse fertilizer trials) were subjected to ANOVA using Genstat 14th edition at 95% confidence interval (CI), and indicated that growth and productivity (yield) of kale and capsicum were comparable with the use of DAP and CAN conventional fertilizers during planting and top-dressing time, respectively. Application of the new fertilizer in growth and productivity of maize did not show xix favourable results. However, use of different rates of this new fertilizer showed a significant difference (P < 0.05) on mean height of the maize stalk and chlorophyll content. The new fertilizer formulation (if applied at optimal rates), as found out in this study, was significantly better than DAP and CAN conventional fertilizers, particularly in terms of increasing chlorophyll content and number of leaves per capsicum plant. However, mean fruit yield and whole plant biomass for the capsicum crop under various fertilizer treatments did not show any significant difference (P > 0.05). The optimal rate of application for the new fertilizer formulation was 1238.50kg/ha fertilizer blended with 530.79kg/ha filler in enhancing growth and productivity of capsicum, while the optimal application rate of the new fertilizer toe enhance growth and productivity of kale was either 884.64kg/ha fertilizer blended with 884.64kg/ha filler or 1769.28kg/ha fertilizer without filler. The study concluded that chrome leather waste can efficiently be dechromed using the new method described in this study and the resulting chrome free waste can be modified using 99% EPICH to make a useful organic fertilizer. Large-scale production of the new organic fertilizer will reduce disposal to the environment of chrome leather waste that usually causes environmental pollution. The study recommends up-scaling and optimization of the new leather wastes dechroming and collagen modification methods described in this study for large-scale decontamination of chrome leather waste and commercial production of the new slow-release organic fertilizer. In addition, the study recommends addition of potassium rich supplements to the organic fertilizer to boost its potassium levels, as well as test the suitability of the new fertilizer for use to grow various other types of crops.

Groundwater pollution is becoming a major concern worldwide. The impact of polluted groundwater resources is three-fold: artificial water scarcity, human health problem and an impediment to economic development. Mid River Njoro catchment has experienced numerous human settlements and intensive agricultural activities over the years, threatening the quality of water from wells and boreholes. This study assessed the groundwater quality, the land-use types and the vulnerability of groundwater resources to surface pollution within Mid River Njoro catchment, Kenya, using a modified DRASTIC model in a GIS environment. Groundwater samples were collected from boreholes and analyzed for pH, temperature, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, ammonia, and total phosphorus to calculate the Groundwater Quality Index (GQI). The land-use map was prepared from a high-resolution Google earth satellite imagery of 2015. The vulnerability zones developed using parameters such as depth to water table, net recharge, aquifer media, topography, impact of vadose zones, hydraulic conductivity and land use types. Validation nitrate values were compared to the calculated DRASTIC index to assess the efficacy of the modified DRASTIC model. From the results, the GQI range from 68.38 to 70.92, suggesting fairly good groundwater quality. The major land-use types identified include agricultural land, built-up areas, forests and agroforestry areas. The agricultural land dominated the study area, followed by built-up areas, forests and agroforestry areas. The study area is characterized by three vulnerability zones: very low (6.1%), low (87.4%) and moderate (6.5%). The validation results obtained from Pearson’s correlation (0.49) and chisquare values (5.01), revealed a positive relationship between the modified DRASTIC index and nitrate values.

Pastoralists all over the world are faced with a myriad of challenges, chief of them being recurrent droughts, diminishing grazing land owing to land tenure and land use changes, and conflicts over scarce resources, which are exacerbated by climate change to undermine their livelihoods. They have however evolved various strategies of coping and adapting to the changes around them. The most common and contemporary pastoralists’ responses to these changes include diversification of livelihoods and migration to urban and peri-urban areas to seek opportunities, especially following loss of their herds to drought. Such migration is normally accompanied by shifts in general lifestyle of pastoralist households, and specifically livelihood activities. This calls for a better understanding of the socio-cultural and economic shifts that occur among pastoral households upon migration to urban areas, as well as the drivers of the choice of economic activities among the migrant households. This study was carried out in Isiolo county of Kenya to determine factors that influence the choice of current households' livelihood activities in the urban and peri-urban areas of Isiolo town, and to analyze community perceptions on socio-ecological changes and social cultural impacts of rural-urban migration among pastoral households in the study area. A total of one hundred and ninety-one household interviews, six focus group discussions and 12 key informant interviews were conducted to gather data in Wabera and Bulla Pesa wards within the urban, and Burat and Ngaremara wards in the peri-urban areas of Isiolo town. The results show that the main source of livelihood of households before migration was livestock keeping and casual labor, while upon migration to urban and peri-urban areas, they ventured into small businesses and wage employment. The main reasons for households’ migration to urban areas were to seek opportunities for wage employment and trade. Households in urban areas mainly engaged in wage employment and operating retail shops, while those in the peri-urban areas engaged in casual labor, with majority of the population being unemployed. The results of the multinomial logit model indicated that the main determinants of the choice of livelihood activities by households were the level of education of household heads and re-settlement location (urban vis a vis peri-urban) following migration. Results also show that the households perceived changes over time in their climate, environment, and socioeconomics upon migration to urban areas. Majority of the respondents reported that upon migration to urban centers, pastoral households undergo several socio-cultural transformations such as increased involvement of women in leadership, incomegenerating activities, and engagement in responsibilities that are traditionally male-dominated. Whereas migration to urban areas and urbanization, in general, presents diverse livelihood opportunities and improved access to social services and amenities to pastoral households, it has trade-offs associated with erosion of socio-cultural values, loss of social capital, and exposure to the high cost of living in the urban and peri-urban areas. This calls for policies and interventions at the county level that are cognizant of pastoral household special needs as they increasingly migrate to urban and peri-urban areas

Floods are the most common and widespread climate-related hazard in the Lake Victoria region. However, significant delays in ground data availability have made it unfeasible to use traditional flood forecasting systems. Satellite rainfall estimates have been identified as readily and economically available data that can be used as input to run hydrologic models and produce flood-warning systems. The aim of the study therefore is develop a simple and locally viable alternative approach to circumvent the absence of reliable ground measurements by using satellite rainfall estimates for forecasting and management of floods in the study area. The satellite-derived rainfall estimates (RFE) were first evaluated using historical rainfall data for the Nyando basin corresponding to the locations of 35 gauging stations in the basin for the period 1995 to 2005. A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the basin was used to generate the drainage patterns of the basin. The land cover of the study area and the digital soil map are incorporated in the system. The study applies daily driven satellite-derived rainfall and the pixel based Curve Number method for spatially distributed hydrologic streamflow modelling and flood forecasting. Rainfall–runoff relationships results of the area obtained in a spatial scale are then tested on their capabilities as a flood early-warning system by comparing them with historical streamflow. The approach was further tested using RFE for the period 2006 to 2012. The results for comparisons at daily accumulations of RFE with observed rain gauge data are not satisfactory but they performed reasonably well in detecting the occurrence of rainfall. The products show significant results for 10-day accumulation where regression analysis yielded on average, a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.78. While graphical plots of daily-observed stream flow against simulated streamflow show a poor agreement.

Nutritioneducationisoneoftheimportantcomponentsofantenatalcare.Itisawidelyused strategy to improve nutritional knowledge of pregnant women seeking ante natal care more so in governmentrunhealthcarefacilities. A lot of studies to assess the level of nutritional knowledge on pregnant women attending antenatal care in government health facilities have been done but little data exists on the antenatal care situation at Mbagathi hospital given that it’s one of the key government run level five hospital facility in Nairobi County that serves a population of about 3.1 million urban dwellers. The broad objective of this study was to determine the nutritional knowledge and dietary practices of pregnant women receiving nutrition education while attending antenatal care at Mbagathi hospital Nairobi county. The study used a descriptive cross-sectional study design for collection and analysis of data and. Total of 195 pregnant women receiving nutrition education while attending antenatal care in Mbagathi hospital Antenatal clinic were recruited into the study through systematic sampling. The study, using a semi structured questionnaire, assessed the level of nutritional knowledge and dietary practices of attendees of ante natal clinic. Anthropometric measurement of the Middle-upper arm Circumference (MUAC) was used to assess the nutrition status of the women. The study used Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 software for data entry and analysis. Descriptive statistics (mean, median, frequency and standard deviation) described the background characteristics of the study sample while inferential statistics, (P-Value of <0.05 at 95% confidence interval), were employed to determine associations and relationships between two or more variables. Majority (69%) of the participants were within the age category of between 21- 30 years and the mean age was 27 (±=5.38) years. Over three quarters (79%) were married while 21% were not. Slightly below half of the women, 43%, had attained secondary education 17% had primary education while 9% had University education. Slightly over a third (35%) were housewives, 31% self-employed and 12% were salaried workers. The mean household size was 3.18 (±=1.47) Over 50% of the respondents were in their third trimester of pregnancy, 34% in the second and 7% in the first trimester. Only 39% had made between three and four antenatal visits, with the mean number of visits was 3.7. Nearly all (94%) participants had blood pressure readings taken, 71% had a concurrent illness (colds and flus, urinary tract infections, Malaria), 8% had a diagnosis of High Blood Pressure, 4% had gestational diabetes while 2% had iron deficiency anemia. On assessment of nutritional knowledge, 84% displayed adequate levels of nutrition knowledge with regards to aspects of nutrition during pregnancy like variety of foods; amount of food during pregnancy; energy sources; micronutrient supplement for pregnant women, necessity for supplementation and duration; micronutrients, iron and calcium and consequences of deficiency during pregnancy while 13% had poor knowledge score. The level of nutritional knowledge was strongly associated with the number of antenatal care visits attended (p=0.03), nutrition status (p=0.018) and the mean dietary diversity score (p=0.03) of the participants. Assessment of dietary diversity showed that having consumed at least five food groups, 63% met the minimum dietary diversity score for women. There was a significant association between household size and dietary diversity score (p=0.033). Majority (65%) of pregnant women from household sizes of 1 to 4 members displayed adequate dietary diversity. However, there was no association between dietary diversity with education status, marital status, occupation and level of income. Nutrition status was assessed by taking the reading of the middle upper arm circumference (MUAC) using an adult MUAC tape. The respondents had MUAC measurement of ranging from 22.8cm to over 30cm, with 62% of the pregnant women had normal nutritional status with a MUAC reading of between 22.8-30.7cm, 27% of the women were obese with a MUAC readings of >30cm while 11% with MUAC reading of <22 cm were underweight. From the research findings, pregnant women who receive nutrition education while attending antenatal care ante natal care at Level 5 hospitals in Kenya have adequate maternal nutrition knowledge and dietary diversity score. The more the number of ante natal visits a pregnant woman makes, the higher the level of nutritional knowledge. This study recommends that the Government of Kenya, Ministry of Health and partners should continuously and consistently create more awareness of the existence of antenatal care service and its benefits to pregnant women. Health workers at antenatal clinics should also pay particular attention to underweight and overweight pregnant women since they have poor nutrition knowledge the health workers should go an extra mile to find out why they are unable to make the right food choices

The tanning industry utilizes chrome salts for tanning despite them being considered environmental pollutants. Vegetable tanning is considered to be a greener alternative to chrome tanning with mimosa extract being the most commonly used. The presence of inadequate acacia trees in Kenya for mimosa production means that the country majorly relies on imports which results in an increase in their prices leading to an increase in cost of production. This study was formulated to determine the viability of coffee pulp as a source for vegetable tannins. Twelve samples were collected from Yadini coffee factory in four different days. The tannin content was quantitatively determined by the hide powder method. The quality of the leathers was determined by carrying physical tests on tanned goatskins according to IUP methods. A statistical t test was used for comparison of coffea arabica pulp and mimosa tannin content and physical properties of resultant leathers. It was established that C. arabica pulp had a tannin content of 5.04% and a tanning strength of 2.26 compared to mimosa extract with a tanning content of 64% and a tanning strength of 2.82 with the two tannins being of the condensed type. This showed that there was a significant difference (p<0.05) between the tannin content and tanning strength of mimosa and C. arabica tannins. The physical characteristics of C. arabica pulp tanned leather was 14.72±2.22N/mm2 and →19.09±1.60N/mm2 tensile strength, 62oC shrinkage temperature, 48.00±14.15 N/mm, →38.12±3.13N/mm tear strength, grain crack and grain burst of 4.52±0.31mm and 5.93±0.28mm respectively and a change in colour at 100000 flexes for flex endurance. Mimosa tanned leather had 24.19±2.25N/mm2 and →27.20±3.26N/mm2 tensile strength, 83oC shrinkage temperature, 75.97±8.68N/mm, →→72.08±8.19N/mm tear strength, grain crack and grain burst of 7.47±0.09mm and 8.25±0.15mm respectively. There was no damage at 100000 flexes for flex endurance. The t test used for comparison showed that there was a significant difference (p<0.001) for tensile strength, tear strength, shrinkage temperature, ball burst and flex endurance. The study concluded that the tanning strength of coffee pulp was more than the minimum 1.5 recommended for vegetable tanning materials. The physical properties exceeded the minimum recommended limits although they were less comparable to mimosa tanned leather. It was recommended that further research to be conducted on the penetration of C. arabica pulp tannins in the pelt as the coffee tannins in their natural form did not penetrate making their use in tanning in this state difficult.