Plant Canopy Width Research Articles

Evaluation of Bambara Groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc) Accessions for Growth, Phytochemical, and Proximate‐Related Traits for Improvement Program

Evaluation of Bambara Groundnut (<i>Vigna subterranea</i> (L.) Verdc) Accessions for Growth, Phytochemical, and Proximate‐Related Traits for Improvement Program

Epistasis and inheritance of yield contributing traits in Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.)

The generation mean analysis for yield contributing traits involving six generations (P1, P2, F1, F2, BC1P1 and BC1P2) was undertaken to study the nature and magnitude of gene effects in Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.). The significance of individual scaling test and three parameter genetic model revealed the existence of epistasis and indicated the importance of additive[d], dominance [h] and other three types of non-allelic gene interactions i.e. additive × additive [i], additive × dominance [j] and dominance × dominance [l] for five characters viz., plant height (cm), plant canopy width (cm), fruit length (cm), fruit width (cm) and fruit weight (g). The results suggested the presence of duplicate type of epistasis for most of the traits studied indicating that selection for improvement may be successful in later generations of segregating populations. In view of these results, the implementation of population improvement technique such as reciprocal recurrent selection will be more effective with high potential in Chilli.

Agro-Morphological Characterization of Sicilian Chili Pepper Accessions for Ornamental Purposes.

The species belonging to the genus Capsicum have been widely used as decorative vegetables, however only a few genotypes are available for this purpose. The goal of the present work was the agro-morphological characterization of several chili pepper accessions cultivated into different pot sizes (10, 14, 18 or 20 cm diameters). The agro-morphological characterization of 19 accessions was performed following IPGR (International Plant Genetic Resources Institute) descriptors: plant height (PH), plant canopy width (PCW), PH/PCW ratio, plant growth habit, plant visual quality, first flower emission, fruiting start, end of harvest, fruit number, fruit length, fruit width, fruit color at mature stage and fruit shape. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for all observed traits showed statistical significant differences among the genotypes tested. Results of the heat map complementarily secured the frequency of multiplicity highlighted from the ANOVA analysis. Furthermore, the present study pointed out that A33, A27, G1 and A1 chili pepper accessions achieved optimal performances in terms of plant visual quality, which is a crucial trait for ornamental purposes.

MORPHOTAXONOMIC RE-CLASSIFICATION OF C. ANNUUM VAR. ACCUMINATUM FINGERH AS C. FRUTESCENS VAR. ACCUMINATUM

The taxonomic identities of some Capsicum varieties are somewhat controversial. This study is aimed at using morphological characters to ascertain the Capsicum species to which variety accuminatum belongs. The study was conducted at the Experimental Plot of the Department of Pure and Applied Botany, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (Latitude: 7.214952; Longitude: 3.437090) using a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in 10 replicates. Quantitative and qualitative characters were evaluated through measurements and visual observation respectively. Data were analyzed using Statistical Analysis Systems version 9.2 and Duncan's Multiple Range Test was used to separate means at p ˂ 0.05. The reults revealed erect growth habit, lanceolate leaf shape, pendant flower position, white corolla colour, obtuse fruit shape at pedicel, elongated fruit shape, and pointed fruit shape at blossom end on variety accuminatum as characteristic features of C. frutescens. Plant canopy width 103.41±(4.30) cm, number of branches per plant 24.70±(0.15), days to flowering 73±(0.21), fruit length 11.69±(0.07) cm and fruit width 5.78±(0.05) cm in variety accuminatum are closer to mean values in C. frutescens. This study showed that variety accuminatum is morphologically and evolutionary related to C. frutescens. Therefore, re-naming of C. annuum var. accuminatum is hereby suggested and proposed to be C. frutescens var. accuminatum.&#x0D; &#x0D;

Evaluation of yield and other agronomic traits in pepper (Capsicum chinense Jacq.) under open-field conditions in the humid tropics

Sixty-eight pepper (Capsicum chinense Jacq.) accessions were evaluated for yield (measured as total number of fruits per plant and total fruit weight per plant) and 15 other traits under open-field conditions in two trials, one conducted in the dry (Trial-1) and the other in wet season (Trial-2) of 2014. Each trial was set in a randomized complete block design with three replications (20 plants per replicate) at The University of the West Indies Field Station, Mount Hope, Trinidad and Tobago. There were significant differences (p &lt; 0.01 to 0.001) among the accessions for all traits except plant height, plant canopy width in Trial-1, and early vigour in Trial-2. Total number of fruits per plants was weakly correlated (r = 0.37 in Trial-1, r = 0.45 in Trial-2; p &lt; 0.01 to 0.001) with total fruit weight per plant, but was strongly associated with number of fruits per plant in the first and second 5 pickings (r = 0.78 to 0.97, p &lt; 0.001) and moderately negatively correlated (r = -0.33 to -0.56, p &lt; 0.01 to 0.001) with fruit width and average fruit weight. Total fruit weight per plant was positively associated with fruit weight per plant in the first and second 5 pickings (r = 0.66 to 0.89, p &lt; 0.001), and negatively correlated (r = -0.41 to -0.69, p &lt; 0.001) with days to 50% flowering and fruiting. A comparison of linear regression lines showed that the relative ranking of the accessions over seasons did not change for days to 50% flowering and fruiting, fruit weight per plant in the second 5 pickings, total fruit weight per plant and fruit width. The implications of these results are discussed.

Evaluation of yield and other agronomic traits in pepper (Capsicum chinense Jacq.) under open-field conditions in the humid tropics

Sixty-eight pepper (Capsicum chinense Jacq.) accessions were evaluated for yield (measured as total number of fruits per plant and total fruit weight per plant) and 15 other traits under open-field conditions in two trials, one conducted in the dry (Trial-1) and the other in wet season (Trial-2) of 2014. Each trial was set in a randomized complete block design with three replications (20 plants per replicate) at The University of the West Indies Field Station, Mount Hope, Trinidad and Tobago. There were significant differences (p < 0.01 to 0.001) among the accessions for all traits except plant height, plant canopy width in Trial-1, and early vigour in Trial-2. Total number of fruits per plants was weakly correlated (r = 0.37 in Trial-1, r = 0.45 in Trial-2; p < 0.01 to 0.001) with total fruit weight per plant, but was strongly associated with number of fruits per plant in the first and second 5 pickings (r = 0.78 to 0.97, p < 0.001) and moderately negatively correlated (r = -0.33 to -0.56, p < 0.01 to 0.001) with fruit width and average fruit weight. Total fruit weight per plant was positively associated with fruit weight per plant in the first and second 5 pickings (r = 0.66 to 0.89, p < 0.001), and negatively correlated (r = -0.41 to -0.69, p < 0.001) with days to 50% flowering and fruiting. A comparison of linear regression lines showed that the relative ranking of the accessions over seasons did not change for days to 50% flowering and fruiting, fruit weight per plant in the second 5 pickings, total fruit weight per plant and fruit width. The implications of these results are discussed.

The Impact of Making Canal Blocking on Growth Red Chili Plant Production (Capsicum Annuum L.)

Increased chili production continues to meet the demand for chili in an area. This study aimed to determining the importance of the influence of making canal blocking on water availability to increase growth and production of red chili plants. This study used a survey method, the method consisted of several stages including determining the location of sampling taken by purposive sampling, namely deliberate sampling with the required sample requirements. The results obtained from interviews and filling out the questionnaire stated that the water source they found for their plant water needs was the water available on the canal. The canal which was around the land was a secondary and tertiary canal, while the primary canal was located quite far approximately 300-500 m which was located around the edge of the road. The result of the analysis showed that making canal blocking in an effort to increase the availability of water there was no significant difference in the parameters of flowering and harvest age. Making canal blocking could increase plant canopy width, plant height, fruit weight/plant weight and fruit weight/m2, and canal blocking could increase water availability for plants so as to increase production to 20 tons.ha−1.

Quantifying Variation in Soybean Due to Flood Using a Low-Cost 3D Imaging System.

Flood has an important effect on plant growth by affecting their physiologic and biochemical properties. Soybean is one of the main cultivated crops in the world and the United States is one of the largest soybean producers. However, soybean plant is sensitive to flood stress that may cause slow growth, low yield, small crop production and result in significant economic loss. Therefore, it is critical to develop soybean cultivars that are tolerant to flood. One of the current bottlenecks in developing new crop cultivars is slow and inaccurate plant phenotyping that limits the genetic gain. This study aimed to develop a low-cost 3D imaging system to quantify the variation in the growth and biomass of soybean due to flood at its early growth stages. Two cultivars of soybeans, i.e. flood tolerant and flood sensitive, were planted in plant pots in a controlled greenhouse. A low-cost 3D imaging system was developed to take measurements of plant architecture including plant height, plant canopy width, petiole length, and petiole angle. It was found that the measurement error of the 3D imaging system was 5.8% in length and 5.0% in angle, which was sufficiently accurate and useful in plant phenotyping. Collected data were used to monitor the development of soybean after flood treatment. Dry biomass of soybean plant was measured at the end of the vegetative stage (two months after emergence). Results show that four groups had a significant difference in plant height, plant canopy width, petiole length, and petiole angle. Flood stress at early stages of soybean accelerated the growth of the flood-resistant plants in height and the petiole angle, however, restrained the development in plant canopy width and the petiole length of flood-sensitive plants. The dry biomass of flood-sensitive plants was near two to three times lower than that of resistant plants at the end of the vegetative stage. The results indicate that the developed low-cost 3D imaging system has the potential for accurate measurements in plant architecture and dry biomass that may be used to improve the accuracy of plant phenotyping.

English

Drought is a serious climatic hazard to crop production, more especially when it occurs repeatedly. This created a need to identify repetitive drought tolerant varieties that recover following exposure to drought. Twenty accessions of Solanum aethiopicum Shum group were evaluated for their response to repeated drought exposure in a screen house at Uganda Christian University stressed and well-watered conditions in a split-plot arrangement. Data was collected on growth and yield parameters namely leaf area, plant canopy width, plant height, plant branching, fresh leaf weight, fresh shoot biomass, and harvest index. Exposure of plants to repetitive drought stress led to significant decrease in all evaluated growth parameters at p<0.001 except for plant branching. Similarly, yield parameters exhibited a highly significant difference among accessions and between water levels at p<0.001. Principal component analysis of growth rate traits showed that leaf area contributed to the highest variation for recovery from repetitive drought stress among accessions. The accessions that recovered best from drought stress include SAS108/2015, SAS163/P/2015, SAS183/G/2015, and SAS168/G/2015. For yield parameters, the accessions SAS137/2015, SAS148/2015, SAS108/P/2015, and SAS160/2015 had the highest dry shoot biomass. These findings indicate prospect for improvement of tolerance to repetitive drought stress in S. aethiopicum Shum group. Key words: African eggplant, leafy vegetable, drought tolerance, principal component analysis, growth response.

Kadife (Tagetes erecta) Bitkisinde Gün Uzunluğunun Büyüme ve Çiçeklenme Üzerine Etkisi

Fotoperiyodizm, mevsimlik çiçeklerde çiçeklenme zamanını kontrol etmek için kullanılabilecek bir özelliktir. Kadife, mutlak veya fakültatif kısa gün ve nötr gün çeşitleri içeren bir yazlık mevsimlik çiçek türüdür. Aşırı sıcak ve uzun günlerin yaşandığı yaz aylarında nötr gün çeşitlerinde bile çiçeklenmede gecikmeler yaşanmaktadır. Bu çalışmada iki farklı nötr gün kadife çeşidinde (Discovery Orange ve Discovery Yellow) fotoperyodik koşulların (kısa gün ve uzun gün) çiçeklenme ve bitki gelişimi özellikleri üzerine etkileri araştırılmıştır. Uzun gün koşulu (14 saat) olarak doğal gün uzunluğundan yararlanılmıştır. Kısa gün koşulu (8 saat) ise karartma yapılarak yapay olarak oluşturulmuştur. Bitkilerde ilk çiçek tomurcuğu oluşma süresi, ilk çiçek açma süresi, bitki taç yüksekliği, bitki taç genişliği, yan dal sayısı, çiçek sayısı, ana çiçek sapı uzunluğu, çiçek sapı kalınlığı, kök boğazı kalınlığı, gövde kalınlığı ve bitkisel kuru ağırlıklar (kök, yeşil aksam ve tüm bitki) incelenmiştir. Araştırma sonucunda kısa gün koşulunun, ilk tomurcuk oluşma ve ilk çiçek açma sürelerini azalttığı belirlenmiştir. Yapay olarak yaratılan kısa gün koşulu, uzun gün koşuluna göre çiçeklenme süresinde ‘Discovery Orange‘ çeşidinde 13 gün, ‘Discovery Yellow‘ çeşidinde ise 5 günlük bir erkencilik sağlamıştır.

Characterization of a pepper collection (Capsicum frutescens L.) from Brazil.

Germplasm banks are essential as sources of genetic variability for plant breeding programs. To characterize a Brazilian Capsicum frutescens collection, 21 malagueta and 5 Tabasco hot pepper accessions were evaluated under field and greenhouse conditions regarding morphological and molecular traits, as well as resistance to viruses. Morphological characterization was performed using 53 IPGRI (International Plant Genetic Resources Institute) descriptors, 15 vegetative, 13 inflorescence, 22 fruit, and 3 seed. Molecular characterization was carried out with 60 polymorphic markers from 29 RAPD primers. The incidence of major viruses infecting Capsicum spp, Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), Groundnut ringspot virus (GRSV), Potato virus Y (PVY), Pepper yellow mosaic virus (PepYMV), Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), and Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) was evaluated by ELISA. Based on the average genetic distance among genotypes, six groups were defined for the 53 IPGRI descriptors. When considering only 11 quantitative traits (five vegetative and six fruit), six groups were also determined, and the traits plant canopy width (56.05%) and days to fruiting (25.07%) most explained the genetic diversity among genotypes. Molecular analysis defined five groups of accessions with partial correspondence to the morphological characterization data. The incidence of viruses in field-grown plants varied among genotypes and according to virus species, from 5.6% (GRSV; CNPH 3286) to 100% (PMMoV; CNPH2871), and indicated some accessions as potential sources of virus resistance. These results demonstrate the genetic variability within the group of 26 hot pepper accessions, as well as virus-resistant genotypes that can be used in breeding programs.

Variation for Agro-Morphological Traits among Kabuli Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Genotypes

The objectives of this study were to evaluate genetic variation among kabuli chickpea genotypes and to determine the relationships among agronomic traits with seed yield. Field experiments were conducted during the long and short rain seasons of 2013 using alpha lattice design in triplicate. Data on agro-morphological traits were recorded using descriptors for chickpea and analysed using SAS 2013 and Genstat 2014. There were highly significant (p < 0.001) variations among genotypes and genotype by environment interactions for all studied traits. The top five high yielding genotypes were ICCV 05315, ICC 13461, ICCV 07313, ICC 13764 and ICCV 00302. Genotypes ranking for most agronomic traits varied across environments which indicated a crossover type of genotype by environment interactions. Evaluated genotypes were polymorphic for six qualitative traits. Seed yield ha -1 was positively and significantly (p < 0.05) correlated with biomass yield ha -1 , pods plant -1 , plant canopy width and secondary branches plant -1 . These characters could be used for indirect selection of high yielding genotypes. The first principal component explained 57% of the total variation and was associated with days to 50% flowering and podding, plant canopy width, plant height, number of primary and secondary branches plant -1 , days to 75% maturity, number of pods plant -1 and biomass yield ha -1 as positive contributors. The documented information on genetic variation and association of agronomic traits with seed yield can be exploited to devise suitable breeding strategies and chickpea germplasm conservation.

Characterization of core collection of lentil germplasm for phenology, morphology, seed and straw yields

Increasing and maintaining crop residues in predominantly cereal-based rotations of the US Pacific Northwest is critical to controlling soil erosion. The core collection of lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) germplasm comprising 287 accessions was evaluated for variation in phenological, morphological and growth parameters including seed yields and residue amounts over a two-year period under conventional tillage and no-till conditions. The objectives of this study were (i) assess lentil genetic variation in germplasm for variation in biomass production and seed yield, (ii) assess the relationship of phenological and morphological traits with biomass and seed yield and (iii) identify high biomass producing germplasm for use as parents in the breeding program. Days to flowering and days to maturity ranged from 31 to 78 and from 71 to 106 days, respectively. Time to flowering in terms of cumulative heat units was a more efficient measurement than days to flowering. Plant height and plant canopy width had a significant association with total biomass, seed yield and residue amounts. Total biomass ranged from 788–6389 kg ha−1 under conventional tillage, while the range under no-till conditions was 1045–6195 kg ha−1. Most of the lines with higher biomass also produced the highest seed yields and residue amounts. Overall, only one accession produced more residue than `Laird'. In the more favorable environment of 1997, six accessions exceeded the control cultivars, `Laird' and `Indianhead', for residue amounts, and seven and twenty-four accessions exceeded control cultivars, `Pardina' and `Brewer', for seed yield. Results indicated that plant height, canopy width at maturity and seed yield explained most of the variation in biomass and residue production. Large seeded germplasm consistently had a longer reproductive growth period than small seeded accessions and had 17%, 7% and 21% more biomass, seed yield and residue, respectively. Our data indicated significant variation in lentil germplasm for biomass, seed yield and residue amounts to warrant their use in the breeding program.