Growth and Yield Variance and Heritability Estimates among Some Local and Improved Varieties of Bambara Groundnut (Vigna subterranean L. Verdc)

Abstract

The current investigation demonstrated that all the seeds taken into consideration generally had different varietal characteristics with the exception of several growth characteristics, notably the stem girth where the improved varieties outperformed the local Bambara nuts. The local Bambara nut varieties (Jan Iri) had the highest parameters measured compared to others. The huge variation in yield component recorded for this variety made the promise it displayed astounding. Due to the importance of the genotype-by-environment interaction on the expression of all the examined characters, the phenotypic coefficients of variation for each character were all more significant than the genotypic coefficients of variation. Three examined features, including number of pods per plant, number of pods per plot, and number of seeds per plot, all had high heritability estimates (84.96, 99.24, and 99.35, respectively). The quantity of seeds produced by each plant and the dried weight of each plot were moderately recorded at 32.48 and 38.63, respectively. Number of pods per plot (140.01) and number of seeds per plot (176.83) both showed strong genetic advance and with high heritability also. However, fresh weight per plot (109.12) revealed low heredity along with high genetic advance. Looking at the number of seeds per plant, the number of pods per plant, and the number of seeds per plant, a substantial positive association was found.