Genotype by environment interaction in groundnut genotypes for yield and other agronomic traits in two locations in Ghana
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Date
2015-11-02
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Abstract
Groundnut productivity in Ghana is generally low when compared to yields obtained in
developed countries. The low yields can be partly attributed to unstable rainfall patterns,
pest and disease infestation, and the low yielding varieties cultivated by farmers. Over the
past years, a number of improved disease resistant cultivars have been released to boost
local production. These improved varieties are however late maturing, and as such
adoption rate among small-holder farmers is very low. To address the problem, 39
improved hybrid lines were developed from crosses between three farmers‟ preferred
early maturing but low yielding varieties and two improved varieties, which are high
yielding and late maturing. The development of improved lines which are both high
yielding and early maturing is considered the most viable solution. The objective of the
study was to evaluate 49 groundnut genotypes for yield and stability performances and to
identify high yielding early maturing genotypes with superior agronomic performances.
Forty-nine groundnut genotypes (39 improved lines and 10 checks) were evaluated at two
locations (Fumesua and Ejura), representing two agro-ecological zones of Ghana during
the major and minor cropping seasons of 2014. The trial was laid out in Lattice Square
(7x7) Design with three replications per location. Significant variations (p<0.05) were
observed among genotypes and highly significant variations (p<0.01) between locations,
and their interaction with genotypes for pod yield. The combined mean square analysis
for pod yield revealed that location main effects accounted for 97.22% of the total
variation; while genotypes and genotype by environment interaction accounted for 0.58%
and 0.61% of the total variation, respectively. Positive correlations were observed
between pod yield and the following traits: pod yield per plant, number of pods per plant,
100-pod weight, shelling percentage, number of seeds per pod, and number of branches
per plant. CRG-AP x AZ-14-13 emerged as the second highest performer across locations
and the best genotype among the improved hybrid lines. The genotype is early maturing,
a trait preferred by groundnut farmers in Ghana; and was also identified as the ideal
genotype in terms of stability and yield performance. Overall, ten improved lines were
selected based on both yield performance and early maturity, ranging from 89.0 to 92.0
days to maturity
Description
A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences,
Faculty of Agriculture, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, In
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Master Of Philosophy
In
Agronomy (Plant Breeding), 2015