Yield Responses of Selected Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Cultivars at Two Locations for Adoption in the Southern Guinea Savannah of Nigeria

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science (IJRIAS) | Volume VI, Issue VIII, August 2021|ISSN 2454-6194

Yield Responses of Selected Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Cultivars at Two Locations for Adoption in the Southern Guinea Savannah of Nigeria

¹Msaakpa, T. S., ¹Dennis, I., ^1,2*Shaahu A. and Iyorkyaa N¹.
¹Department of Plant Breeding and Seed Science, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi.
²Soybean Research Programme, National Cereals Research Institute, Badeggi, Niger State, Nigeria*
*Corresponding

Abstract: Field studies were conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm, University of Agriculture Makurdi, and National Cereals Research Institute (NCRI) Substation, Yandev during 2017 and 2018 cropping seasons. The objective was to identify the location and cultivar with optimum yield response for adoption. The experiments were laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The cultivars evaluated included Borno Red, Dan-Bomboyo, Ebunaigbaji, Ijiwanda, Samnut-16, Samnut 21, and Samnut 22. Yield components viz, number of mature and immature pods, haulm weight, 100 seed weight, length of primary branches, number of secondary branches, weight of 100 mature pods and seeds from 100 mature pods, shelling percentage and seed yield were recorded. Results showed that Samnut 21 x Makurdi location interaction gave significantly higher number of mature pods ( 44.0 ), number of secondary branches ( 29 ) and number of immature pods ( 45.00 ). One hundred ( 100 ) seed weight was highest ( 67.00 g ) under Samnut 22 x Makurdi interaction followed by Samnut 21 x Makurdi interaction ( 66.20 g). Ebunaigbaji at Makurdi recorded significantly longer branches ( 47.00 cm). Samnut 16 x Yandev and Samnut 22 x Yandev interactions produced significantly higher seed yields of 1646.00 kg/ha and 1102.00 kg/ha respectively. For Makurdi farmers interested in fodder, Ebunaigbaji at Makurdi with longer primary branches and Samnut 21 at Makurdi with higher number of secondary branches gave better results. The environmental conditions at Yandev were more favourable to the seed production of Samnut 16 followed by Samnut 22.

Keywords: Ground nut, cultivars, yield, and locations

I.INTRODUCTION

Groundnut ( Arachis hypogaea L. ) is a leguminous crop which belongs to the family Fabaceae ( Gregory et al., 1973 ).Cultivated groundnut originated from South Africa (Naidu et al., 2006). Groundnut is the 13th most important food crop and 4th most important oil seed crop of the world ( Kees, 2011). It is grown in 23.95 million hectares with a total production of 36.45 million metric tons and average yield of 1520 kg/ha in 2009 (FAO,2006). Major groundnut producing countries are China, 40%; India, 16.4%; Nigeria, 8.2%; USA, 5.9% and Indonesia, 4.1%. Biotic and abiotic factors are major production constraints of groundnut in Nigeria and elsewhere.
Groundnut is a cash grain legume grown for its high quality digestible oil and protein-rich seeds (Kamara et al., 2010). Groundnut seeds contain 40-50% fat, 20-50% protein and 10-20% carbohydrate. The seeds are also nutritional source of vitamins E, niacin, folacin, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, iron, riboflavin, thiamine and potassium ( Asibuo et al., 2008).Groundnut seeds are consumed directly in raw, roasted or boiled form, oil extracted from kernels is used as culinary oil, animal feed and industrial raw material (oil cakes and fertilizer). These multiple uses of the crop make it an excellent cash crop for domestic markets as well as for foreign trade in several developing and developed countries (Kees, 2011).

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