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Global Research Journal of Agricultural and Biological Sciences Vol.3(4) pp.360–369 October 2012.
Available online http://www.globalresearchjournals.org/?a=journal&id=grjabs
Copyright ©2012 Global Research Journals
Full length Research.
Variation in pod yield characters and heritability estimates in some accessions of Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.
P.M Jonah1, B. Aliyu2 , A.M Kadams2 and G.G Jibung3
1Department of Crop Science, Adamawa State University, PMB 25 Mubi, Nigeria.
2Department of crop production and Horticulture, Federal University of Technology, Yola Adamawa State, Nigeria.
3Department of Agricultural Technology, Plateau State College of Agriculture, Garkawa, Plateau State, Nigeria.
Corresponding author’s E-mail: peterjonah2005@yahoo.com.
Abstract
Variation in pod and seed yield among twelve accessions of Bambara groundnut was investigated in 2004 and 2005 cropping seasons. The mean performance revealed that BG7004AS despite its recorded low number of pods per plant, had the highest 100 seed weight, pod width, pod length, seed width and seed length, followed by BG7002AS, BG7009BS and BG70010AS, which had the best yield and yield component attributes, indicating their suitability for hybridization. The analysis of variance revealed significant differences (p<0.05) among the cultivars for most of the characters evaluated. The genotypic coefficient of variation ranged from 3.29 for plant height at 8 weeks after sowing to 26.15 for 100 seed weight, while the phenotypic coefficient of variation ranged from 4.93 for shelling percentage to 26.56 for 100 seed weight. Furthermore, estimates of genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation as well broad sense heritability were also high for characters such as pod number per plant, pod yield per plant, seed yield per plant, seed length and seed yield per hectare in 2004 relative 2005. Seed length, pod length and pod width recorded 100% broad sense heritability estimates and high genetic advance, indicating that these characters are under additive genetic control and selection for improvement will be worthwhile and may rapidly contribute to increased seed yield in bambara groundnut cultivars.
Keywords: Variation, heritability, genetic advance, genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation and seed yield.