Cameroon
July 31, 2008
Source: Plant Breeding News,
Edition 192
by Aboubakar Hamasselbe,
Agricultural institute of Research for Development of Cameroon
 In
North Cameroon, groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is a staple food
crop that ranks third only to cotton and cereals (sorghum,
millet and maize) in terms of total land area cultivated.
In order to increase groundnut production in the region, the
breeding programme based at Maroua Regional Centre of
Agricultural Research has released more than ten improved
varieties since 1982. Of these improved cultivars, only five
varieties are maintained for breeder seed production using low
income obtained from the sale of foundation seeds.
These varieties were evaluated in 2007 for varietal purity,
shelling percentage and 100 seed weight at the Institute of
Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD) farm, Maroua in
North Cameroon.
Each variety was grown in a 10 m x 5 m plot size. At harvest,
two samples of 1 kg of dried pods per variety were collected and
analysed in the groundnut section laboratory.
- Varietal purity: this character varied from 52.4% for JL 24 to
97.3% for 28-206, indicating large range of variation in the
varieties tested.
- Shelling percentage: the variety 28-206 showed the least
shelling percentage (15.0%) while JL 24 had the highest (72.4%).
- 100 seed weight: this character ranged from 34.4 g for
K3237-80 to 51.1 g for JL 24.
The results suggest that pedigree selection could be required to
improve varietal purity of the breeder varieties tested for
which the satisfactory limit of varietal purity is 100%. In
addition, agronomic practices could be improved to increase
shelling percentage and 100 seed weight of the varieties.
In short term, it is not possible to undertake these suggestions
due to the lack of research funding since the end of the
Groundnut Germplasm Project (GGP) in 2001.
|
|
