Performance of Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea [L.] Verdcourt) Genotypes Cropped on Plinthite Soil in the Semi Arid-Zone, Burkina Faso

Abstract

Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea [L.] Verdcourt) is grown mainly as a food crop in Burkina Faso. Despite its high nutritional value, it has been among the most neglected crops in the country. This study was undertaken with the objective to investigating the effects of genotypes on the physiological traits, yield and yield related traits of the crop and thereby identify the genotypes having better performance for yield and yield related traits. The field experiment was conducted at the Tenkodogo University Centre site, during the 2021 rainy season. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with four replications and eight genotypes were obtained from INERA germplam bank. Data were collected on number of days to 50% field emergence, number of days from sowing to 50% flowering, number of leaves per plant, plant height, plant spread, number of pods per plant, number of one seed per pod, number of two seeds per pod, weight of seeds per plant seed length, seed width,100-seed weight and yield. The data were subjected to the analysis of variance, and means were separated through Duncan’s Multiple Range Test at 95% confidence. The Pearson’s correlation coefficients between pair of characters were computed using SPSS 2.0. Results showed that significant and highly significant variations were observed among genotypes for almost all studied characters, except plant spread and number of one seed per pod.  Majority of the characters had positive correlations. Most of the negative correlation was observed between physiologic and agronomic traits. The result showed that genotypes KVS97-2 (33.75 days; 1578.12 kg.ha-1); KVS360 (34.75 days; 1181 kg.ha-1) and KVS235 (34.5 days; 1167.19 kg.ha-1) performed better than others genotypes in yield parameters and had shorter flowering cycle.