OLORUNJU S.A.S., OLORUNJU P.E., NTARE B.R.
Abstract
The performance of 25 Early Maturing Varieties of Groundnut
were evaluated by considering the parameter Shelling percentage over five locations
viz; Badeggi, Minjibir, Bauchi, Yola and Lake Chad.
The objective was to apply multivariate method to partition the lines into,
groups such that those that are similar with respect to Shelling Percentage
are identified for each of the five ecological zones of the groundnut producing
area of the Savannah belt of the country.
The results showed differences between the genotypes and also between locations
with respect to the pattern of clustering. The performance in Badeggi location
was best in terms of the scores in Shelling Percentage while Lake Chad had the
worst. The range for Badeggi was from 62 – 92, Bauchi location was from
55 – 80 while Yola, Minjibir and Lake Chad had 60 – 72, 35-75 and
47 – 55 percent, respectively. It was also observed that partitioning
of the genotypes for the lines were similar in some locations: Badeggi, Yola
and Lake Chad showed more similarity in the order of cluster formation than
other locations, while Minjibir and Bauchi on the other hand showed similarity
in the Cluster formation. There was evidence of interaction between genotypes
x location on the Shelling Percentage. The line RRB formed one-line cluster
in the combined data over locations while it formed clusters with other lines
in all the other locations with the exception of Lake Chad. Other lines formed
various patterns of clusters from one location to another meaning that, there
is always an alternative line that is equally comparable in performance as far
as the shelling percentage that a farmer can use as a substitute in any of the
locations.
The study concludes that the use of Clustering method provides a suitable tool
for the farmer or Plant Breeder to make a choice of alternative genotype from
a given group of lines that formed a cluster for any given trait or parameter
studied. The procedure becomes more useful for countries where genotype x environment
interaction is high for a specific crop.
Keywords:
Arachis, Classification, Groundnut, G x E, Multivariate method