Maize is a major staple food and source of income for over 90% of the population in South Sudan however, average yield is very low (0.5-0.9 t/ha). Little research has been done on maize improvement in the country and farmers mainly depend on local and unimproved cultivars. Identification and release of adapted and high yielding hybrids may elevate average maize yield (t/ha) among the resource-poor farmers in the country. Improved maize hybrids from the region have not been tested under South Sudanese environments.
Objective
s of the study were to: (i) determine genotype by environment interactions among some regional maize genotypes; (ii) estimate genetic components and heritability for yield performances; and (iii) identify high yielding maize hybrids adapted to agroecologies of South Sudan. At least 48 maize genotypes including elite hybrids and open-pollinated varieties (OPV) adapted across sub-Saharan Africa and two local cultivars collected from local farmers in South Sudan were evaluated across five locations within greenbelt and ironstone plateau agro-ecologies over three years (2013-2015). Experiments were set up in a 12 × 4 alpha lattice design with 2 replications. Standard agronomic practices were followed and data recorded on yield traits and resistance to major diseases. Across locations and years analysis revealed significant differences among genotypes due to genotype and genotype × environment interactions (
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Climate change has imposed greater challenge on cowpea production in the savannah ecology of West Africa sub-region in the recent time, however, development of varieties that combined resilience (stability) and precocity with high seed yield would be a sustainable approach to mitigate this problem. To this end, nine advanced breeding lines were evaluated along with two commercial varieties across three locations in guinea savannah ecology, using a randomized complete block design of three replications. Results obtained for seed yield and yield components indicate that the eleven cowpeas exhibited substantial variability for all plant traits studied and implications discussed. Additive Main Effect and Multiplicative Interaction (AMMI) analysis however revealed that the variations recorded were substantially attributable to genotypic component (70–80%) and less of environment (0.7–7.0%), a measure of phenotypic stability of these cowpea lines. However, seed yield and yield components vary significantly across the three locations, which further emphasize the important role of soil and climatic variables to cowpea production. In this study, two varieties (IT07K-299-6 and IT11K-61-82) consistently combined high seed yield (> 2 tons/ha) with precocity across the three locations, and could be multiplied for distribution to farmers as short-term intervention for yield increase. Reduced seed viability of these varieties reflects seed storage challenge in cowpea farming. In addition to significant contributions of some yield components to seed yield, there was evidence of strong association between precocity and high yield, and its implication for cowpea improvement discussed.
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Eight advanced breeding lines of cowpea [
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