Solanum aethiopicum L. is indigenous to Africa and constitutes an important vegetable. Morpho-agronomic traits were used to study diversity among 44 accessions of S. aethiopicum groups to identify traits of high discriminatory ability and donor parents with specific or multiple traits for introgression and utilization in breeding programmes. Field experiments were conducted from 2008 to 2010. The principal component (PC) analysis of morpho-agronomic data indicated high discriminatory ability for fruit calyx length, fruit length and leaf length. On PC1, fruit length showed positive and significant correlation coefficients with leaf length, fruit calyx length and width. An independent association was recorded among fruit width, fruits per infructescence and seed yield (t/ha). Ordination (biplot) and grouping (dendrogram) revealed genetic variation and relatedness, phenotypic plasticity and geographical heterogeneity among the accessions within and among the clusters. Members of cluster 1 (group ‘c’) are a promising donor parent for multiple traits (earliness and fruit length), and members of group ‘b’ are superior for fruits per plant, fruits per infructescence and fruit infructescence per plant. Hybridization among distant clusters would provide an opportunity for bringing together gene constellations of diverse background. Earliness and fruit length were highly variable among the S. aethiopicum groups. The results are important for the breeding and selection of this crop.
Seven Solanum species (eggplants) were investigated for molecular diversity. Besides its widespread cultivation, nutritional and economic importance, its genome has not been extensively researched. 39 Solanum accessions, a landrace and tomato variety (LBR 48) were molecularly analyzed by simple sequence repeat (SSR) marker technique. A dendrogram was obtained based on the Jaccard's coefficient of similarity and unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) clustering. A total of 417 alleles were amplified with the number of alleles ranging from 5 (EM 141) to 38 (EM 120 b). Polymorphism was fairly high (0.05 to 0.92) among SSR markers with high number of repeats. Findings indicate that entries originating from different parts of the world did not form a distinct cluster, and there was no association between SSR marker pattern and geographical origin. SSR markers indicated a strong genetic affinity among S. viarum, S. melongena and S. aethiopicum Aculeatum group. Genetic relatedness between S. dasyphyllum and S. macrocarpon and between S. aethiopicum and S. macrocarpon are important for breeding. SSR markers assayed were informative for phylogenetic analysis; and have the potential to serve as perfect markers for studying variation. For plant breeders, close genetic relationships detected provide an avenue for introgression of high yielding and resistant genes into commercial and farmers' varieties.
Fruit length and width, fruits per cluster and fruit clusters per plant are components of fruit yield in fruit vegetable. Inheritance studies in scarlet eggplant is limited due to inadequate research, and Solanum aethiopicum in an underutilized crop.The objectives of this study were to evaluate inheritance and genetic action, heritability and heterosis for fruit length and diameter, fruits per cluster and fruit cluster per plant in Solanum aethiopicum Gilo and Shum groups. Six generations (P1, P2, F1, F2, BC1 and BC2) from intra species hybridization were evaluated in a compact family block design with six blocks in three replications. Significant scaling and joint scaling tests for fruits clusters per plant and fruits per clusters indicated inadequacy of additive-dominance model. Additive gene action was important for fruit length and fruit clusters per plant, while dominance gene action moderates inheritance of fruit diameter and fruits per cluster. With dominance gene, hybrid breeding is worthwhile to undertake. The opposite signs of dominance and dominance by dominance digenic interaction for fruit clusters per plant showed a duplicate type of epistasis. Positive heterosis for Absolute Mid Parent Heterosis and Relative Mid Parent Heterosis implied sufficient divergence for fruit length and a platform for genetic improvement. High narrow sense heritability for traits predicts a better effectiveness of selection.
Between 2008 and 2009, constraints in cowpea cultivation and adoption of inorganic insecticides in insect pest management were investigated among cowpea producers in Mubi zone of Adamawa State. Structured questionnaires were used to source for information from 611 respondents, who were randomly selected. The Chi-square test, Likert scale test and logistic regression method were used to analyze the data set. Preference was high for using inorganic insecticides, spraying time and regime and seed treatment. Production constrains in the study area were insect pests attack and diseases and high cost of inorganic insecticides. The use of insecticides (100%) and practice of spraying regime (99%) were high. High adoption rate as found for use of inorganic insecticides and spraying regime were traceable to awareness that non use of insecticides at the appropriate time will account for low seed yield and crop failure. Adoption of inorganic insecticides was related to age (β = 0.09, P<0.01), educational attainment (β = 0.98, P<0.05), membership of socio-cultural organization (β = 1.27, P<0.01), land preparation methods (β =-1.40, P<0.001) and consideration for the dealers during purchase of inorganic insecticides (β = 0.92, P<0.001). Similarly, adoption was high for practice of spraying regime for inorganic insecticides. Misuse of inorganic insecticides was prevalent among farmers in Mubi zone. The study recommends introduction and promotion of resistant varieties biopesticides and other environmentally safe and less injurious insect pests' management techniques.
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