Evaluating the Stability and Adaptability of Bambara Groundnut (Vigna Subterranean (L.) Verd.) Landraces in Different Agro-Ecologies

Abstract

Bambara groundnut has been planted in Indonesia for hundreds of years. Researchers have evaluated where the Indonesian Bambara groundnut landraces were introduced from but no-one has evaluated the stability and adaptability of Bambara groundnut in Indonesia. Thirty-six landraces were planted in Indonesia, together with putative Indonesian × African hybrids and their offspring. These were assessed for their stability and adaptability by the methods of Finlay and Wilkinson (1963) and Eberhart and Russel (1985). Results from seven landraces are presented. The seven landraces were: 'LunT' from Sierra Leone; 'AHM753'; 'SB165A' and 'S19-3' from Namibia; 'DODR' from Tanzania; 'Uniswa Red' from Swaziland; 'DIPC' from Botswana; and the Indonesian landrace 'Gresik' as control. Thirty plants of each landrace were planted in a randomised block design with three replicates at Gresik, Bojonegoro and Jatikerto in Indonesia in November 2009. Each location had a different altitude, soil type and rainfall. Gresik is the main Bambara groundnut growing region in the East of Java, Indonesia. Prior to this experiment, farmers in Bojonogoro and Jatikerto were not familiar with this crop. Many traits were assessed based on the list of descriptors of Bambara groundnut issued by IPGRI, but in this report we present only the results of stability and adaptability analysis for 50% flowering, days to maturity, pod number per plant and the 100 seeds weight traits. Analysis of variance showed highly significant differences in all three locations and combined analysis of variance over sites (Gomez and Gomez, 1983) indicated that location, landraces and location × landraces interaction are substantially different (1%). Stability and adaptability parameters were obtained as the linear regression coefficient (bi) of the mean of all data observed and deviation from the regression analysis (S 2 di) with the hypothesis that bi=1 and S 2 di =0. The results indicated that almost all landraces observed were stable, but only three landraces revealed good adaptability in all three locations, namely 'SB165A', 'Uniswa Red' and 'DIPC'. Meanwhile 'LunT' and 'S19-3' are considered promising landraces because they are well adapted in two of the four variables used. This information could prove useful for breeding programmes.

Adoption of Bambara groundnut production and its effects on farmers welfare in Northern Ghana

“…Furthermore, Bambara groundnut is seen as being valuable in intercropping and crop rotation systems due to its nitrogen fixing ability. However, as an underutilised crop which has not been the subject of widespread formal breeding endeavour, it exists as a large number of landraces rather than varieties (Redjeki et al, 2011). The germplasm of the crop is characterised by significant genetic variability, reflected in considerable morphological and agronomic differences.…”

Symbiotic N nutrition, C assimilation, and plant water use efficiency in Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea L. Verdc) grown in farmers’ fields in South Africa, measured using 15N and 13C natural abundance

“…Nutritionally, the grain of Bambara groundnut is a complete meal with 14-24 % protein, 60 % carbohydrate, and 6-12 % oil (Brough and Azam-Ali 1992;Mahala and Mohammed 2010), components ideal for human health. Furthermore, the spread of its cultivation into new areas such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Papuan region of Southeast Asia (Ilyas and Sopian 2013;Redjeki et al 2013;Somta et al 2013) suggests that Bambara groundnut is a major food security crop in the world. Yet, little is known about its nodulation, N 2 fixation, microsymbiont biodiversity, plant water relations, and nutritional adaptation to different environments.…”

Variation of Phenotypic Traits in Twelve Bambara Groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.) Genotypes and Two F2 Bi-Parental Segregating Populations

“…All the other agronomic procedures, such as watering, weeding and spraying of pesticides were carried out as and when necessary. East Africa DodR Tanzania 1000 [28,29] Quantitative for short days, high 100-seed weight and yield [27,30] IITA-686 Tanzania 1000 [28,29] Quantitative for long days, shallow and highly branched root growth habit [27,31]…”