No abstract

Selection as the most practical and economical way of improving yield in an extreme autogamous crop was carried out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications, with thirty three accessions of Bambara groundnut {Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc}. Qualitative characters displayed a reasonable range of variation except for eye pattern, seed shape, pod texture and growth habit. The result on the analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant differences (p0.05) for all traits except for plant height, number of leaves per plant and seed length that were statistically insignificant. The principal component analysis result revealed that eight components (Eigen values ≥ 1) accounted for 78.36 % of the phenotypic variance, and quantitative traits revealed more phenotypic variation among the accessions Pearson’s correlation coefficient showed that petiole length (r= 0.64), vigour index (r= 0.49), seed length (r=0.53), canopy width (r=0.38), and internode length (0.58). had a high positive correlation with seed yield. Ranking of the accessions based on significantly strong correlated traits with yield using the rank summation index (RSI) method, and the selection of the best top 5% of the entries identified accessions TVSU 1688 and 1638 with RSI scores of 31 and 43 respectively as the best high yielding Bambara groundnut lines. Correspondingly, accessions TVSU 1688 and 1638 had the highest mean seed yield per plant of 1150.5g and 720.8g respectively in the 3-year field evaluation; which further confirmed the precision of the ranking and selection result. Invariably these two accessions were inherently high yielding Bambara groundnut accessions.

The selection of pepper genotypes for high yield could be exploited together with high nutritional content and considerable secondary metabolite level. The present study was aimed at evaluating the nutrient and anti-nutrient compositions of ten genotypes of pepper through laboratory assessment. According to the nutrients analyzed, total carotenoid content ranged from 6 - 34 mg / 100 g, β -carotene from 4 – 7 mg / 100 g and ascorbic acid from 83 - 100 mg/ 100g. Most parameters evaluated varied significantly. Moisture content ranged from 84.2% to 77.4%, ash content from 1.5% to 0.8%, protein from 7.5% to 4.6%, fat from 2.7% to 1.8% and fiber from 11.7% to 6.2%. Results also showed that mineral content had the following range: Na with 0.31 – 0.82 mg/ 100 g, K with 24.50 – 40.70 mg/ 100 g, Zn with 21.11 – 26.31 mg/ 100 g, Fe with 0.41 – 0.65 mg/ 100 g and Ca with 5.96 – 121.98 mg/ 100 g. The antinutrients analyzed were also found to be present in varied concentrations across the pepper genotypes. All the genotypes evaluated had values to supply sufficient vitamin A and β– carotene for daily recommendations. 

<p>Morphological field evaluation to characterize the phenotypical features of 33 Bambara groundnut accessions was carried out at the Teaching and Research Farm of Department of Crop Science and Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State; Nigeria. Qualitative morphological descriptors showed a varying degree of variation across the Bambara groundnut collections evaluated. In relation to other descriptors, ground colour of eye displayed the highest range of variation, while eye pattern of the accessions recorded the least discriminating feature. The accessions were resolved into five groups based on similarities on morphological characters and not on geographical place of origin.</p><p><span><br /></span></p>

Bambara groundnut is a valuable leguminous crop with many landraces. A study was carried out to establish genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationship, among 33 Bambara groundnut accessions based on simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The nine microsatellite markers amplified a total of 27 alleles with a mean of 6.00 alleles per locus. Marker P 36 had the highest number of polymorphic bands while makers P131 and P68 were monomorphic. Genetic distance among the accessions based on Jaccard’s similarity coefficient ranged from 0.84 to 1.00. Cluster analysis resolved the accessions into five major groups with subgroups. Each group had a combination of distinct accessions from different geographical origin. A substantial level of intra-accession polymorphism was obtained among the evaluated collection of Bambara groundnut. The significant genetic diversity observed can support the selection of appropriate parental genotypes for the improvement of Bambara groundnut through various breeding programmes.