Heterosis in Chickpea for Grain Productivity in Embu County, Kenya

Abstract

Chickpea is a major source of proteins especially in arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya. However, its average yield per hectare is low when compared to neighbouring countries. This research was carried out to determine the levels of hybrid vigour on yield in the F1 generation. To obtain the F1s, reciprocal crossing between Mwanza 2 and Chaina I was carried out with controls being the parental lines. The experimental layout was a randomized block design replicated thrice for three seasons. A spacing of 50x20cm was used in plants, while all other agronomic practices were maintained constant. Data on grain yield and biomass per plant was obtained by measuring the weight, then subjecting it to a one-way ANOVA in SAS 9.4 software. Mwanza 2 expressed the highest biomass (2.56g), while both parents attained a maximum grain yield of 1.69g per plant. Chaina I x Mwanza 2 hybrid expressed maximum means of F1s for biomass (2.31g) and grain yield (1.4g) per plant. Chaina I x Mwanza 2 hybrid recorded the highest biomass and grain yield in better parent heterosis with 14.36% and 330% respectively. Mid-parent heterosis means were also highest at 24.53% and 405.88% for biomass and grain yield respectively. Further, the heritability was maximum for biomass under Mwanza 2 x Chaina I, varying from 93.1% to 100%, while Chaina I x Mwanza 2, expressed maximum grain yield and harvest index. Better parent heterosis and mid-parent heterosis was highest in Chaina I x Mwanza 2 than its reciprocal, Mwanza 2 x Chaina I.

Effects of Variety, Spacing and Nitrogen Application on Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) Growth and Yield in Embu County, Kenya

“…The study site lies at coordinates 0 °46'14.4822'S and 37 ° 22'23.79324'E and an altitude of 980 meters above sea level. Karaba receives bimodal rainfall patterns with annual rainfall amounts ranging from 600 to700 mm according to MIAD weather data, resulting in growing seasons between March to May and October to December (Wafula et al 2021). In addition, the average minimum and maximum temperatures fluctuate between 18-20 o C and 19-24 o C (KMD 2017) respectively.…”

“…However, over the cropping period, precipitation recorded was 264.3mm (LR2017), 408mm (SR2017), and 787.1mm (LR2018), while minimum and maximum temperatures recorded ranged from 13-16 o C and 22-29 o C respectively (Figure 2). Site selection for field trials was due to the uniformity of the soils and environmental conditions among many farmers in the local area (Figure 1) (Wafula et al 2021).…”

“…Worldwide, the chickpea crop has the third position after common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and field pea (Pisum sativum). Internationally, Asia, Europe, America, and Australia are key chickpea producers (Wafula et al 2021) and accounting 95% of the world's chickpea production (Merga and Haji 2019). The global chickpea production steadily increased from 7.7million tonnes to over 14.2 million tonnes from 2006 to 2019 (FAOSTAT, 2019).…”

“…Pellic vertisol is the dominant soil in the area. Crops grown in the region are drought-tolerant, such as field pea, cowpea, chickpea, and sorghum (Wafula et al 2021). The annual chickpea productivity in Kenya is low with an average yield of 357kg ha -1 (FAOSTAT, 2019).…”

“…Other factors that have contributed to low N in soil include leaching due to floods, increased human activity such as rampant bush clearing and burning (Kerina et al 2017). Accumulations of these activities have led to the reduction of soil N to about 0.12% of the average plant requirement in semi-arid regions of Kenya (Wafula et al 2021). Although chickpea can fix nitrogen (N), soils with N deficiency require small doses of starter N-fertilizer at planting time to promote early growth (Lemma et al 2013;Dar et al 2021).…”