East African highland bananas and enset belong to the genera Musa and Ensete (Ensete ventricosum), respectively. The root, corm and shoot growth of field-established enset and East African highland banana cultivars was assessed. Banana and wild enset plants were assessed in Uganda, while domesticated enset plants were assessed in Ethiopia. Growth traits of the enset and banana mats in Uganda were recorded at flower emergence of the banana plant crop, while enset plants in Ethiopia were assessed at 4 and 5 years after planting. The results obtained in Uganda indicate that enset had a significantly (P<0.05) shorter and thicker pseudostem compared to banana. In addition, enset had a larger root system with thicker cord roots. Results further showed that young enset plants had a significantly lower shoot-root ratio compared to the bananas. The shoot-root ratio in enset is, however, clone dependent and increases with an increase in age. The results also showed that root density in enset sharply decreases with increasing soil depth. Par ailleurs, enset a un plus grand système fondamental avec les racines de corde plus épaisses. Les résultats poussés ont montré que ces jeunes plantes d'enset ont une grande proportion des rejetons en comparaison avec celle des bananes. La proportion des rejetons de enset est cependant un clone dépendant des augmentations de l'âge. Les résultats ont montré aussi que la densité des racines de enset diminue avec l'augmentation de la profondeur du sol.

Productivity of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in Uganda is less than 30% of the yield of improved varieties grown on research stations. This yield gap has been attributed mainly to low soil fertility and susceptibility of local varieties saved by farmers to pest and disease infestations. This study evaluated the impact of four improved varieties and soil fertility improvement on bean yields on small-landholder farms in three agro-ecological zones in Uganda. Yields of common bean on-farm without fertilization were on average 523 kg/ha. Enhancing soil fertility on-farm with cattle manure (10 t/ha), P (60 kg/ha), or manure (5 t/ha) + P (30 kg/ha) led to average yields of 631, 615, and 659 kg/ha, respectively. On average, improved varieties produced more yield than the local farmer-saved variety, with or without soil fertility improvement. Improved variety K131 yielded 807 kg/ha, on average, in response to manure application, which was 54% greater than the yield of the local variety. P intensification up to 180 kg/ha per season, however, did not increase bean yields significantly at any of three research stations. These results confirm the yield advantage of growing improved varieties on small-landholder farms. The combination of improved genetics and fertility intensification alone, however, did not eliminate the yield gap between on-farm and potential bean yields.

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