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Twenty-five accessions of okra collected from different parts of Ghana were evaluated for their horticultural and agronomic attributes in the major and minor cropping seasons of 2008 at the crop and soil sciences experimental field, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Kumasi, Ghana, using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications. The objectives of the experiment were to investigate the horticultural characteristics and performance of all the okra entries. Data collected included fruit and leaf characteristics; Days to first flowering, first flowering node, first fruit-producing node, fresh fruit weight, fruit length at maturity, fruit width, maximum plant height, number of internode, number of seeds per fruit, number of total fruits per plant, seed yield, 100 seed weight. The accessions KNUST/SL1/07Nkrumahene, DA/08/02Dikaba and GH 5787Asontem, GH6102Fetri and 'Asontem' showed number of days from sowing to first-flowering at between 44.00 and 48.00 days, first flowering and fruiting nodes at between 5.00 and 6.00th nodes, days to 50% emergence at 8 days after sowing, the average number to total fruits per plant at 60.00 to 145.00 fruits and green immature fruit colour. The results showed that most of the okra displayed symptoms of okra mosaic virus (OMV) and okra leaf curl virus (OLCV). Fruit size varied among the entries. A correlation of the characters with the total fruit production showed that plant height, days to flowering and nodulation, fruit yield and seed yield recorded positive and significant associations, which generally mean that they influenced fruit production or yield. Specific accessions; KNUST/SL1/07Nkrumahene, DA/08/02Dikaba and GH 5787Asontem, GH6102Fetri and 'Asontem', identified in this study, could be passed on to breeders for utilization in the okra improvement programmes in Ghana.

Drought is the most important abiotic limitation to groundnut yields across the world, and the Northern Regions of Ghana. The study estimated the heritability and genetic variability of selected parents of groundnut for drought tolerance traits to aid in their effective selection and utilization. The North Carolina II mating design was adopted while the variance component method was used to estimate heritabilities in the narrow and broad sense as well. Chlorophyll content (greenness of leaves) was recorded at 60 and 80 DAP. The objective was to measure the chlorophyll content and hence the drought tolerance performance of the entries. Mean squares caused by differences among crosses was partitioned into difference due to male parents and female parents, which was attributed to general combining ability (GCA), as well as difference due to male x female interaction, which was attributed to specific combining ability (SCA). Narrow Sense Heritability from the variance components for different traits varied under both water regimes, ranging from 12.2% to 95.7%. The most heritable traits were: dry biomass weight (95.7%), days to 50% flowering (91.0%), seed yield (90.0%), plant height at harvest (76.0%), SCMR 60 DAP (71.7%), days to maturity (67.0%) and SCMR 80 DAP (66.0%). Pod yield (12.3%) and harvest index (12.2%) exhibited low narrow sense heritabilities. Additive gene effects largely controlled the inheritance of pod, seed and biomass yields. Positive association between most yield and yield components as well as higher heritabilities shows that selection for higher yield and maturity is conceivable in improving groundnuts.

Drought is one of the most essential and critical abiotic restraints to groundnut production and yields in the Northern Region of Ghana. A field experiment was conducted to assess selected landrace and improved groundnut genotypes for agronomic performance in the 2017 and 2018 minor seasons. Groundnut genotypes were treated under normal irrigation (W/W) and water-stressed (W/S) conditions. A Randomized Completely Block Design (RCBD) with four replications was adopted. Total experimental area was 23.4m x 2.4 m with a planting distance of 40 cm x 20 cm for both environments. Data collected include; days to 50% emergence and flowering, plant height at maturity (cm), growth appearance, days to maturity, number of pods/plot, number of seeds/plot, pod weight (g), seed weight (g), fresh and dry biomass weights (g), SPAD chlorophyll meter reading at 60 and 80 days after planting, harvest index (HI) and drought tolerance index (DTI). The data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using GenStat, version 12.0, Exploratory Analysis, descriptive Statistics (mean comparison of plant characteristics by varieties at 5% level using Tukey's groups) was conducted; Correlation Analysis and Multivariate Analyses were performed Oppong-Sekyere et al.; JEAI, 40(1): 1-25, 2019; Article no.JEAI.50461 2 using the Wilk's Lambda to test for significant difference at 5% and 1% levels respectively. Means were separated using S.E.D. of means at 95% confidence level. Results from the growth features indicated a higher percentage of the groundnut varieties sprouted earlier under well-watered conditions. There was no significant difference among the groundnuts regarding the numbers of days to flowering. The groundnuts took approximately 104 days after planting to mature under both water conditions. Chlorophyll content and distribution in the groundnut leaves was high the wellwatered plants. The chlorophyll content among the groundnut crops showed no significant difference between the chlorophyll content at 60-days after planting and 80-days after planting under the water-stressed condition. However, chlorophyll content of leaves at the 60-days after planting was 2.94 lower than that under 80 days after planting. Maturity and flowering (0.768), as well as plant height and seed yield (0.501) were highly significantly and highly positively correlated. The seed characteristics were also highly, significantly and positively correlated with the pod characteristics of the crop. The biomass measure also correlated with the pod and seed traits. Groundnuts genotypes under well-watered environment generally performed better in terms of yield than those under water-stressed environment. Original Research Article

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