The objective of the study was to determine the effect of climate-smart integrated fertilizer management on proximate qualities and lycopene contents of three watermelon (Citrullus lanatus)varieties grown in sandy loam soil. The experiment was conducted at the experimental farm of the Department of Agricultural Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka between the months of Augustto October 2017cropping season. The experiment was laid out in a split-plot design, with three replications, three main plots (Citrullus lanatus varieties (Sugar baby, Koalack and Charleston grey))and six sub-plots (fertilization treatments). Climate-smart integrated fertilizer considered was combination of Goat manure (GM) and Nitrogen Phosphorus PotassiumNPK15: 15: 15 fertilizer which is regarded as most nutrient-rich fertilizer with climate change mitigation and adaptation potential. The study found that the pH of the watermelon varieties were statistically similar and that Charleston grey treated with 50 kg ha-1NPK + 15 t ha-1GM had the highest interactive effect on pH value which was statistically similar with 100 kg ha-1NPK + 10 t ha-1GM treatment. It was discovered that Koalack variety had the highest moisture contents when treated with 100 kg ha-1NPK + 10 t ha-1GM, crude protein content when treated with 150 kg ha-1NPK + 5 t ha-1GM, crude fibre content when treated with 20 t ha-1GM, ether extract and total soluble solid contents when treated with 50 kg ha-1NPK + 15 t ha-1GM. For the lycopene content, it was found that Sugar baby variety had the highest mean value (0.61g/100g) when compared with Charleston grey and Koalack varieties. Sugar baby variety treated with 20t/ha-1GM had highest (0.89g/100g) interactive effect when compared with other varieties and fertilizer treatments. In conclusion, the proximate qualities and lycopene contents of the three varieties increased with the increase in the amount of GM contents of the fertilizer combinations in sandy loam soil. Climate-smart integrated fertilizer improves the proximate qualities of Koalack variety and the lycopene contents of Sugar baby variety more than in other varieties grown in the same sandy loam soil. Therefore, climate-smart integrated fertilizer is recommended for the production of the identified Citrullus lanatus varieties as a nutrition sensitive production strategy in sandy loam soils by farmers in study area.
Sodium Azide (SA)-induced mutagenic variability was studied on four tomato varieties namely Roma vf, Roma savannah, Tropimech and Tima. The SA concentrations used were 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5% and 0.7%, with 0.0% as control to determine the percentage emergence and growth parameters of the tomato varieties. The plant seeds were pretreated with the various concentrations of the mutagen before planting. The seedlings were raised in the nursery and transplanted after 30 days of planting into the field in polythene bags filled with 70g of a mixture of soil and farm yard manure. The experiment was carried out in randomised complete block design with three replicates. Increase in SA concentration caused a remarkable decrease in the percentage emergence and all other growth parameters evaluated. The effect of the interaction between variety and SA concentration revealed that the interaction was not significantly different from the control at P≤0.05 on the number of leaves, number of branches and leaf length, but the difference was significant for plant height. Formation of two stems was observed at 0.3% Sodium Azide for Roma vf. variety. The 0.1% and 0.3% concentrations of Sodium Azide seem to be promising treatments under the experimental conditions and thus could be used to induce variations for tomato crop improvement. Tima and Roma savannah performed better and were resistant to the mutagen than other varieties, hence they can be recommended as good varieties for further breeding purposes; also Sodium Azide could be a good mutagen for the improvement of tomato plants. Keywords: Tomato, growth characters, mutagenic, Sodium Azide, morphological variability.
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