Participatory On-Farm Evaluation of Improved Groundnut Genotypes in the Guinea Savannah Agro-Ecological Zone of Ghana

Abstract

The on-farm mother–baby trial experimental approach was employed to evaluate the performance of elite groundnut genotypes on farmers’ fields in the Guinea savannah agroecology of Ghana in the 2020 and 2021 cropping seasons. Analysis of the data from the mother trial revealed significant (p < 0.05) genotypic differences for the traits measured over the two years. The genotype ICGV-IS 13842 reached physiological maturity in 88 days and was identified as the genotype with the shortest maturity period. However, in terms of pod yield and its associated components, genotype ICGV-IS 13864 emerged as the best from the mother trial. During farmer evaluation of the materials, genotype ICGV-IS 13979 was selected as the most preferred in addition to genotypes ICGV-IS 13864 and ICGV-IS 131090. The genotypes ICGV-IS 13864 and ICGV-IS 131090 were observed to combine both high pod yield and high haulm yield. These two traits were identified as very important by the farmers who participated in the study as the haulms serve as fodder for their animals and fetch additional household income when sold with the pods harvested. The preference for genotype ICGV-IS 13842, an early maturing genotype, can be seen as an indication of farmers responding to the changing growing season due to erratic rainfall. However, if genotypes ICGV-IS 13864 and ICGV-IS 131090 are combined with some water management practices in the future, they could potentially withstand the changing growing season. Economic analysis showed that the improved genotypes had a greater net return on investment and higher cost–benefit ratio ranging from 2.74 to 4.84 across both years.