Industrial Crops and Products 14 (2001) 179– 190 www.elsevier.com/locate/indcrop
Agronomic evaluation of Vernonia galamensis germplasm collected from Eastern Ethiopia Tesfaye Baye a,*, Hirut Kebede b, Ketema Belete a a
Department of Plant Sciences, Alemaya Uni6ersity of Agriculture, PO Box 138, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia b Institute of Biodi6ersity Conser6ation and Research, PO Box 30726, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Accepted 27 February 2001
Abstract Vernonia galamensis is a new potential industrial oilseed crop originated in eastern and southeastern parts of Ethiopia. Its unique properties make it economically and environmentally interesting. No effort has been made so far in Ethiopia to improve this crop. Therefore, an evaluation work for 17 yield and yield component traits was conducted at three contrasting agroclimatic zones. The considered traits showed significant differences at all locations except for the characters days to emergence and days to maturity. The best producing accessions in terms of yields of kg oil/ha (kg/ha of seed multiplied by oil%) for Alemaya were varieties collected at Bedeno, Chirro and Gelemso which produce 1627.45, 1593.46 and 1582.95 kg oil/ha, respectively. Accessions from Chirro (1194.75 kg oil/ha), Bedeno (1187.14 kg oil/ha), and Metta (1157.49 kg oil/ha) were superior at Harar, while Harar Zuria, Metta and Chirro which produce 274.48, 244.33 and 230.74 kg oil/ha, respectively, were superior at Babile. These materials could be used as parent materials to start breeding programs for each specific location. There was a wide range of variation between the minimum and maximum values of most characters. Thus even within the limited germplasm studied, selection for improved characteristics appears to be possible in V. galamensis var. ethiopica. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Vernonia galamensis; New crops; Industrial oilseed; Germplasm accession; Agronomic evaluation; Ethiopia
1. Introduction The chemical structure of fatty acids in plant lipids is usually bound to a chain of 18 carbon atoms with double bonds occurring at D9, 12 * Corresponding author. Present address: Institute of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, University of Goettingen, Von-Siebold-Strasse 8, D-37075 Goettingen, Germany. Tel.: +49-551-392153; fax: +49-551-394601. E-mail address:
[email protected] (T. Baye).
and/or 15 positions. But for seed storage purposes, some plants species are able to produce unusual fatty acids with special characteristics, such as variations in chain length (shorter or longer than 18C) or functional groups within the fatty acid molecule like conjugated double bonds, hydroxy or epoxy groups (Ro¨bbelen, 1987). Vernonia galamensis produces an unusual fatty acid with an epoxy group attached to 18:1 molecules. About 1000 species, ranging from annual herbs and shrubs to perennial trees, are found in the
0926-6690/01/$ - see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 9 2 6 - 6 6 9 0 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 8 2 - 6
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large Vernonia genus. Recent studies on herbarium materials in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Kew, London, indicated the existence of about 40 – 50 species in Ethiopia (Naliaka, 1990). The species V. galamensis is limited in distribution and is endemic to primary East African countries as a weed colonizing disturbed areas and bare agricultural lands. According to the recent taxonomic revision of the complex, this species has six subspecies (subsp. nairobensis, gibbosa, lushotoensis, afromontana, mutomonesis, and galamensis). Subsp. galamensis is the most widely distributed; it is highly diverse and has four botanical varieties, namely var. galamensis, var. petitiana, var. australis and var. ethiopica (Gilbert, 1986). Due to the high oil and vernolic acid content and its relatively low shattering nature, 6ar. ethiopica has been the focus of research and at present its production in some parts of the world reaches semi-commercial scale. V. galamensis spp. galamensis var. ethiopica is a new potential industrial oilseed (annual) crop. It grows naturally in marginal areas with as little as 200 mm seasonal rainfall and at an elevation ranging from 700 to 2400 m above sea level (asl) in the southern and southeastern parts of Ethiopia (Gilbert, 1986). This weedy plant in its natural distribution in eastern and western Hararghe is known to farmers by the local names ‘Ferenkundela’, ‘Dunfare’, ‘Kefathebogie’, and ‘Noya’, which have different connotations in different localities (Tesfaye, 1996). For the first time this crop was identified by Perdue in 1964 in eastern Ethiopia on Harar-Jijiga road 9°14% N and 42°35% E at 1700 m asl. Currently, no oilseed crop has been commercialized as a source of natural epoxidized oils (Thompson et al., 1994a). Vernonia seeds contain 35– 42% of triglyceride oil rich in vernolic acid, a naturally epoxidized fatty acid with unique physical properties in particular low viscosity. Vernolic acid is a useful raw material for manufacturing paints and coatings. Vernolic acid accounts for about 72– 80% of the acids present in the seed oil triglycerides. Vernonia oil also contains linoleic acid (12– 14%), oleic acid (4– 6%), stearic acid (2– 3%), palmitic acid (2– 3%) and a trace amount of arachidic acid (Ayorinde et al., 1988; Thompson et al., 1994c). Preliminary
investigations also showed that the meal after seed oil extraction is a valuable source of crude protein (43.75%); it also consists of crude fiber (10.90%), ash (9.50%) and the carbohydrate fraction (6.57%) with sucrose (2.36%), fructose (1.90%) and glucose (0.77%). The major mineral elements, calcium (11.08% mg/g), potassium (14.18 mg/g), magnesium (6.90%) and high phosphorus (644 mg/g) not only meet the nutritional requirements but also are higher than in most other oilseeds (Ologunde et al., 1990). The naturally occurring epoxidized oil (vernolic acid) of Vernonia and the chemically epoxidized soybean (Glycine max L.) and linseed (Linum ustitatissimum) oils are similar, but there is an important difference. Epoxidized soybean and linseed oil are highly viscous and are non-pourable below 0°C. Vernonia oil, however, has low viscosity and can be stored below 0°C. The low viscosity will permit the oil to be used as a solvent alkyd-resin paint, which will become part of the dry paint surface and prevent the evaporation (emission) of volatile organic compounds that contribute to production of smog and pollute the air unlike conventional solvents such as terpentine. Vernonia oil can also be used in the animal feed industry and as a medicine to treat a variety of diseases (Harborne and Williams, 1977). In addition, the Vernonia plant tolerates substantial shade, which makes it ideal for agroforestry; it may also prevent erosion and fight desertification (Perdue, 1988). Altogether, the plant offers plentiful uses and substantial progress using a limited germplasm has been made on its use in different activities, on the chemistry of oil extraction and processing in some parts of the world (Carlson et al., 1981; Ayorinde et al., 1988; Afolabi et al., 1989; Ayorinde et al., 1989, 1990a,b; Dirlikov et al., 1990; Ayorinde et al., 1993; Liu et al., 1998). Even though, little or no information has been generated on the agronomic adaptation to cropping practices or yield potential of the plant in Ethiopia and/or in other parts of the world. Despite the wide distribution of Vernonia in different parts of Ethiopia as its center of origin and diversity, the plant is known only as a weed colonizing disturbed areas and bare agricultural lands. Thus, the inherent potentialities of the plant are not well
T. Baye et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 14 (2001) 179–190
studied and it seems that genetic erosion is aggravated by the continuous removal of the plant by farmers in their agricultural fields. Efficient utilization of the genetic potential held in crop collections for selection or hybridization requires detailed information about the germplasm. Therefore, the careful characterization of morphological and agronomic characteristics and systematic evaluation of desirable characters of productivity and performance at its place of diversity is the first step in crop domestication. This also helps for setting selection criteria and to realize and exploit the germplasm’s potential in breeding programs (Burton, 1985; Hawkes and Melaku, 1991). Very recently, the plant was found to be a potential crop for inclusion into the agricultural system in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was conducted using germplasm of V. galamensis spp. galamensis var. ethiopica collected from different regions of eastern Ethiopia with the objective to assess the variation present in morpho-agronomic characters and to determine the effect of different locations (environments) on the performance of the different accessions.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Experimental sites The study was carried out at the main campus Alemaya University of Agriculture at Alemaya (situated at 09°24% N, 42° E, at an elevation of 1980 m asl, and receives an average annual rainfall of 893 mm), at Harar town (09°17%N, 42°11% E, 1740 m asl, 750 mm rainfall), and at Babile Research Station (09°08% N, 42°21% E, 1650 m asl, 750 mm rainfall) during the 1994– 1995 main crop season. These sites represent most of the collection areas.
2.2. Treatment and experimental design Eight accessions of V. galamensis (Cass.) Less. subspp. galamensis 6ar. ethiopica M.G. Gilbert from different areas of Hararge were used in this
181
study. These were collected at Bedeno, Melkabelo, Harar Zuria, Boke Kuni, Metta, Chirro, and Gelemso, the last accession being white flowered. These sites represent the natural growing areas for the plant as a major weed (personal observation). The accessions were randomly selected without a priori bias for any of the considered characters. Hence, they are believed to be representative samples of the germplasm at the collection sites. The accessions were also grown from 1990 to 1994 for further verification of their pure line status and for the purpose of seed multiplication. The experimental design was a Randomized Complete Block Design with four replications. Each plot 2 × 5 m in size consisted of four rows, with spacing of 50 cm between rows. Seeding was done on 14, 13 and 30 May 1994, at Alemaya, Harar and Babile, respectively. Seeds were sown by hand in furrows less than 1.5 cm deep and later thinned to a plant distance of 15 cm. Fertilizer recommendations for Vernonia cultivation do not exist. Preliminary observation at Harar showed that the application of 150 kg/ha nitrogen enhances lodging. Hence, for this study, only a maintenance amount of 20 kg/ha for N and P each was supplied as recommended by senior soil scientist Dr Tekalegn Mamo. Other cultural practices like cultivation and weeding were done whenever needed. After thinning, ten plants from the central two rows were selected at random and tagged (five from each row) and these served for further data acquisition. Harvesting was started as recommended when 90% of seed changed to black color.
2.3. Measurements Observations were made on days to emergence, days to 50% heading, days to 50% flowering, leaf number, stem diameter (cm), plant height (cm), branch height (cm), primary and secondary branches, primary and secondary head numbers, seed yield per plant (g), seed yields of the central two rows (kg/ha), 1000 seed weight (g), oil content (%), and seed number per head (capitula).
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2.4. Data analysis Plot means for each evaluated character were used for all statistical analyses to determine the general mean and the standard error for different parameters. Data obtained from measurement of plants with respect to the morphological and other characters were subjected to analysis of variance described by Steel and Torrie (1980) for a randomized complete block design. Significance of all traits was tested using Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT).
3. Results and discussion In this study, data were collected for quantitative and qualitative characters under three environments (Alemaya, Harar and Babile) to characterize and evaluate germplasm accessions of V. galamensis spp. galamensis var. ethiopica. Results of the analysis of variance for most charac-
teristics showed significant differences among accessions (Table 1). This reveals that variability is present for these attributes in the studied materials.
3.1. Mean performance of V. galamensis 6ar. ethiopica accessions for phenological and agromorphological characters at Alemaya (A), Harar (H), and Babile (B), Ethiopia 3.1.1. Phenological characteristics As shown in Table 2, no statistical difference was recorded for days to emergence at three of the locations. This might indicate that seeds obtained from this region have similar germination capacity. The earliest heading accession took 109 days at Alemaya, 97 days at Harar, and 87 days at Babile. The late heading accession at Alemaya and Harar took 117 and 101 days, respectively. At Babile, the late heading accession took 90 days. At Alemaya, days to flowering was longer for most accessions and it was more than 126 days to
Table 1 Results of the analysis of variance for phenological and morphological characters of V. galamensis var. ethiopica at Alemaya, Harar and Babilea Character
Mean squares of treatment (accessions) Location
Days to emergence Stem diameter (cm) Plant height (cm) Branch height (cm) Primary branch number Secondary branch number Primary head number Secondary head number Leaf number per plant Days to heading Days to flowering Days to maturity Seed yield per plant (g) Seed yield per ha (kg) Seed number per head 1000 seed weight (g) Oil content (%) a
Alemaya
Harar
Babile
0.781ns 0.029** 541.533** 313.272** 484.108** 250.501** 142.926** 141.359** 309 852.384** 25.857** 19.638* 113.544 ns 124.760** 774 064.857* 12 891.985** 0.148** 3.084**
0.531 ns 0.010 ns 465.399** 320.593** 48.545* 38.341* 13.286* 13.663** 44 516.428* 6.667* 16.727* 331.767 ns 11.920* 161 478.571** 8926.822* 0.114** 2.199**
2.388 ns 0.030 ns 152.872** 102.667** 103.602** 14.400* 42.895* 27.738* — 5.846** 9.226* 63.360 ns 8.141* 32 507.143* 1954.756* 0.173* 1.540**
ns, *, **= non-significant; significant (at 0.05); and highly significant (at 0.01) probability level, respectively.
Accession
Bedeno Melkabelo Harar Zuria Boke Kuni Metta Chirro Gelemso White flower Location mean S.E.9 L.S.D. 5% CV (%) a
Days to emergence
Days to heading
Days to flowering
Days to maturity
A
H
B
A
H
B
A
H
B
A
H
B
9a 9a 9a 10a 9a 10a 9a 10a 9.38 0.41 1.22 8.81
9a 10a 10a 10a 10a 10a 10a 10a 9.88 0.31 0.92 6.37
9a 9a 11a 11a 11a 10a 10a 9a 10.13 0.53 1.57 10.7
113ab 117a 114ab 109c 111bc 112bc 111bc 110bc 113.0 1.32 3.89 2.4
101a 98abc 99abc 100abc 97c 99abc 97bc 100ab 99.0 0.81 2.38 1.6
90a 89abc 89ab 87d 87cd 89ab 88bcd 89abc 88.0 0.56 1.63 1.3
131ab 129abc 126c 127bc 128abc 133a 131abc 130abc 130.0 1.40 4.13 2.2
118a 116ab 113bc 115ab 117a 117a 112a 116ab 115.0 1.09 3.21 1.9
105ab 104abc 105a 101d 102cd 103abcd 104abc 103bcd 104.0 0.84 2.44 1.6
257a 252a 255a 261a 260a 248a 254a 246a 254.0 4.62 13.6 3.6
249a 242a 229a 239a 253a 257a 239a 248a 225.0 5.91 17.39 4.8
170a 161a 170a 166a 163a 171a 162a 168a 166.0 3.20 9.41 3.9
Means in a column followed by the same letter are not significantly different from each other at P50.05.
T. Baye et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 14 (2001) 179–190
Table 2 Mean performance for four developmental characters of V. galamensis var. ethiopica accessions sown at Alemaya (A), Harar (H) and Babile (B)a
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Table 3 Mean performance for leaf number and stem diameter of V. galamensis var. ethiopica accessions sown at Alemaya (A), Harar (H) and Babile (B)a Accession
Bedeno Melkabelo Harar Zuria Boke Kuni Metta Chirro Gelemso White flower Location mean S.E.9 L.S.D. 5% CV (%) a
Leaf number
Stem diameter (cm)
A
H
B
A
H
B
1170.0bc 1185.0bc 905.6c 811.9c 1287.0ab 1507.0ab 1589.0a 1450.0ab 1238.1 118.01 347.10 19.1
695.0abc 569.9bc 630.1abc 787.9a 541.1bc 741.0ab 500.7c 538.6bc 625.50 65.56 192.80 20.9
– – – – – – – – – – – –
1.61ab 1.59ab 1.52bc 1.45c 1.69a 1.67a 1.66a 1.67a 1.60 0.04 0.11 4.74
1.61a 1.72a 1.60a 1.62a 1.60a 1.60a 1.62a 1.54a 1.61 0.04 0.10 4.46
1.46a 1.56a 1.47a 1.47a 1.55a 1.61a 1.72a 1.52a 1.54 0.06 0.19 8.08
Means in a column followed by the same letter are not significantly different from each other at P50.05.
reach flowering, but at Harar less than 117 days, whereas at Babile most accessions require less than 105 days to reach flowering. Length of growing season or days to maturity were very short at Babile (161– 171 days) followed by Harar (229–257 days); but at Alemaya a relatively longer duration was observed to reach maturity (246– 261). Time for days to heading and days to flowering showed similar trend of being earlier at Babile, followed by Harar and then Alemaya. The explanation is that at Alemaya, the existing moist and relatively cool environment favored vegetative growth while the relatively hot and dry conditions at Babile enhanced heading, flowering and maturity in a short period of time. However, days to emergence showed the reverse situation, it was earlier at Alemaya followed by Harar while late in Babile. This could be due to the moisture status of the soil at the time of planting. Similar to days to emergence, days to maturity showed a non significant difference among accessions. Hence, little variability was observed for this character.
3.1.2. Leaf, stem diameter, plant height, branching and head characters The difference between the minimum and the maximum values for leaf number per plant for the
different accessions was 777 at Alemaya and 287 at Harar, the mean being 1238 and 623, respectively, for Alemaya and Harar (Table 3). Greater range of variation was observed at Alemaya compared with Harar, which may be due to the extended vegetative growth period and thus production of more leaves per plant. Gelemso, Chirro, White flowered and Metta accessions produced a significantly higher leaf number than the rest of the accessions at Alemaya (Table 3). Boke Kuni, Chirro, Bedeno and Harar Zuria gave higher leaf number at Harar. The accessions performed at about 50% better in leaf number at Alemaya than at Harar. Differences between the minimum and maximum for stem diameter (Table 3) were 0.22 cm at Alemaya with a mean of 1.61 cm, at Harar 0.18 with mean 1.61 and at Babile 0.25 cm with mean 1.54 cm. Better variability among the accessions was observed at Babile though the mean for all accessions was relatively low compared with Harar and Alemaya. In general, the variability among the accessions for stem diameter was low (Table 3). Considerable amount of variation was observed for plant height (Table 4). At Alemaya, the difference between the shortest and the tallest accession was 34, at Harar 45 and at Babile 19 with mean
T. Baye et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 14 (2001) 179–190
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number of heads at Alemaya compared with Harar and Babile, similar to the trend in branch number. At Alemaya (Table 5), the Gelemso accession which was among the top branch producers gave significantly higher primary and secondary head numbers. At Harar, accessions Chirro, Gelemso, White flowered, Bedeno, Metta and Melkabelo gave significantly higher primary head number than the rest accessions. Under the Babile situation, the accessions Chirro, Metta, White flowered, Harar Zuria, Melkabelo and Gelemso gave significantly higher primary head number than the rest accessions. At Harar, Chirro and Bedeno accessions were superior in secondary head number over the rest accessions. At Babile, the accessions Boke Kuni, Melkabelo and Metta produced higher secondary head numbers than the rest. There was variability among the accessions in both primary and secondary head numbers per plant.
values of 164.23, 209.59 and 141.56 at Alemaya, Harar and Babile, respectively. The difference in plant height at Harar compared with Alemaya and Babile was quite high. Thompson et al. (1994b) found a similar wide variation of V. galamensis plant height ranging from 23 to 88 cm sown in different locations of the USA. Similar trends were observed for branch height (Table 4). On the average, the plants were taller by about 25% at Harar than at Alemaya and Babile. Variability was observed in this character among the accessions. The expression of primary and secondary branch number per plant were considerably higher under Alemaya conditions and it was followed by Babile (Table 5). Relatively lower branch numbers were recorded at Harar. This may be due to the relative tallness of the accessions at Harar, which might be compensated by the lower branch number. The difference between the minimum and maximum number of primary heads per plant was 17.97 at Alemaya, 4.38 at Harar and 10.95 at Babile with mean values of 30.70, 17.59 and 24.43 at Alemaya, Harar and Babile, respectively (Table 5). Similar trends of variation were observed for the secondary head number per plant at Alemaya, Harar and Babile. The accessions showed higher
3.1.3. Seed characters and oil content Higher seed yield per plant was obtained at Alemaya (Table 6). This could be the result of higher number of branches, heads, heavier 1000seed-weight and longer duration to reach maturity. At Babile even though the accessions showed
Table 4 Mean performance for plant and branch height of V. gamamensis var. ethiopica accessions sown at Alemaya (A), Harar (H) and Babile (B)a Accession
Bedeno Melkabelo Harar Zuria Boke Kuni Metta Chirro Gelemso White flower Location mean S.E.9 L.S.D. 5% CV (%) a
Plant height (cm)
Branch height (cm)
A
H
B
A
H
B
177.7a 157.2cd 153.4cd 148.4d 182.1a 167.6b 166.7b 160.9bc 164.23 2.98 8.75 3.62
211.2ab 216.8ab 223.4a 208.0ab 187.6c 205.2b 217.3ab 207.4ab 209.59 5.23 15.39 4.99
141.7ab 150.1a 145.1a 131.0c 141.7ab 143.9a 144.9a 134.1ab 141.56 3.05 8.98 4.31
171.7a 165.1a 164.5a 145.6a 174.5a 171.5a 164.7a 163.2a 165.10 4.23 12.44 5.13
223.8cd 245.6a 223.6cd 230.5bc 217.4d 222.5cd 236.1b 230.5bc 228.73 2.58 7.59 2.26
152.7bcd 162.1a 150.4bcd 148.9cd 154.2bcd 156.5abc 157.7ab 146.6d 153.62 2.42 7.11 3.15
Means in a column followed by the same letter are not significantly different from each other at P50.05.
186
Accession
Bedeno Melkabelo Harar Zuria Boke Kuni Metta Chirro Gelemso White flower Location mean S.E.9 L.S.D. 5% CV (%) a
Primary branch number
Secondary branch number
Primary head number
Secondary head number
A
H
B
A
H
B
A
H
B
A
H
B
52.0cde 54.8bcd 42.9de 41.8e 60.5abc 68.1a 70.4a 65.8ab 57.1 3.97 11.67 13.9
28.8a 22.9abc 21.7bc 24.3ab 23.8ab 25.1ab 26.3ab 17.0c 23.7 1.98 5.83 16.7
26.9bc 33.1ab 32.3ab 23.6c 40.0a 35.9a 34.1ab 33.1ab 32.4 2.47 7.24 15.2
23.6cd 24.4cd 19.1d 23.6d 19.2d 33.8b 41.8a 31.4bc 27.1 2.50 7.37 18.5
23.1a 17.8abc 19.4abc 20.5ab 15.3bc 19.9ab 13.9c 15.7bc 18.2 1.78 5.24 19.5
9.2bc 13.3a 10.3abc 12.1ab 12.6ab 9.4bc 12.5ab 8.4c 10.9 1.09 3.23 20.0
31.0bc 23.3d 24.9cd 25.8cd 30.8bc 35.2b 41.3a 33.3b 30.7 1.92 7.37 12.5
16.7ab 17.9ab 15.2b 15.6b 19.4a 19.6a 19.6a 19.2a 17.9 1.05 3.09 11.7
21.8bc 24.1abc 24.9ab 18.6c 27.2ab 29.6a 24.3abc 24.9ab 24.4 1.83 5.37 14.9
15.6cd 18.3cd 12.4d 16.4cd 18.6c 25.1b 31.3a 19.1c 19.6 1.84 5.41 18.1
15.9a 13.0b 11.2b 13.3b 12.7b 16.1a 11.3b 12.7b 13.3 0.83 2.43 12.4
9.6c 14.6ab 13.1bc 19.1a 14.6ab 12.9bc 13.8bc 13.9bc 13.90 1.49 4.39 21.4
Means in a column followed by the same letter are not significantly different from each other at P50.05.
T. Baye et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 14 (2001) 179–190
Table 5 Mean performance for primary and secondary branch and head number per plant of V. galamensis var. ethiopica accessions sown at Alemaya (A), Harar (H) and Babile (B)a
Accession
Bedeno Melkabelo Harar zuria Boke Kuni Metta Chirro Gelemso White flower Location mean: SE9 L.S.D. 5% C.V (%) a
Seed yield per plant (g)
Seed yield (kg/ha)
1000 seed weight (g)
Oil content (%)
Number of seeds per head
A
H
B
A
H
B
A
H
B
A
H
B
A
H
B
24.3bcd 19.5cd 18.9d 19.4cd 24.9bc 26.1b 35.9a 26.2b 24.40 1.87 5.51 15.4
18.9a 14.9bc 16.8ab 13.4c 16.6abc 17.1ab 15.1bc 15.0bc 15.90 0.99 2.93 12.5
4.5b 7.6a 7.7a 8.5a 8.9a 8.1a 6.3ab 8.0a 7.50 0.89 0.34 24.0
4086a 3556ab 2893b 3116b 3504ab 4030a 4033a 3572ab 3598.80 238.94 702.7 13.3
3010a 2530d 2470d 2630cd 2920abc 2950ab 2650bcd 2720abcd 2733.8 94.2 277.1 6.9
510b 600b 810a 630b 690ab 660ab 560b 650ab 638.8 54.1 159.0 16.9
4.5ab 4.58a 4.00e 4.40abc 4.39abcd 4.30bcd 4.20cde 4.15de 4.3 0.08 0.22 3.5
4.04abc 3.83bc 3.76c 4.21a 4.10ab 3.90bc 3.80c 3.79c 3.9 0.09 0.26 4.5
3.20b 3.52ab 3.30b 3.81a 3.14b 3.38b 3.35b 3.32b 3.3 0.12 0.37 7.4
39.83a 38.81bc 37.43d 38.79bc 38.24cd 39.54ab 39.25ab 37.58d 38.7 0.3 0.88 1.6
39.44ab 40.10a 38.08b 39.01ab 39.64ab 40.50a 39.97a 39.52ab 39.5 0.26 0.77 1.3
34.99a 34.83a 34.38a 35.00a 35.41a 34.96a 34.92a 33.36b 34.7 0.32 0.93 1.8
141.5b 196.2ab 218.3ab 256.2ab 300.4a 294.0a 327.7a 248.1ab 247.8 26.7 78.53 22.1
289.8c 359.0abc 343.9bc 316.4bc 386.1ab 312.9bc 434.1a 309.9bc 343.5 26.61 78.26 15.5
103.6bc 123.3bc 161.5a 92.7c 131.9ab 97.5bc 118.6bc 111.5bc 117.6 11.68 34.34 19.8
Means in a column followed by the same letter are not significantly different from each other at P50.05.
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Table 6 Mean performance for seed characters of V. galamensis var. ethiopica accessions sown at Alemaya (A), Harar (H) and Babile (B)a
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higher number of branches and heads than at Harar, the yield per plant remained by far lower. This could either be due to the poor seed setting resulting from lack of rainfall at the time of flowering, to which Vernonia is sensitive, or to enhanced physiological maturity at Babile, since the length of the growing period correlates with yield. Considerable amount of variation between the accession and higher yields were recorded at Alemaya compared with Harar and Babile. This can be explained by the extended growth period with favorable growth conditions that resulted in more branches and heads per plant at Alemaya than in the rest locations. Higher and wide range of variations have been recorded under Ethiopian climatic situations than in Italy (Angelini et al., 1997). The 1000-seed-weight at Alemaya was heavier than that at Harar and Babile. The result of heavier seed at Alemaya may be due to the extended favorable weather conditions after flowering for Vernonia growth. This might also have contributed to the high seed yield per hectare at Alemaya. Thompson et al. (1994a) reported a mean 1000-seed-weight of 3.33 g for var. ethiopica in Arizona, USA, whereas David Mills (personal communication) found an average 1000 seed weight of 4 g in Beer-Sheva, Israel. Most accessions performed better in oil content at Harar compared with the other locations. The reason may be that for most accessions Harar is representative for the natural growing areas of var. ethiopica. The variation in oil content at the three locations might be due to the difference in altitude and temperature. Hiruy and Getinet (1990) had reported that when altitude increases or growing temperature decreases the oil content increased for most oil crops cultivated in Ethiopia. At Babile, the temperature was higher and the altitude was lower than in both Alemaya and Harar, which is in agreement with their report, while the result of Harar and Alemaya is in disagreement. At Wondo Genet (Ethiopia), an oil content of only up to 33.5% was reported under optimum conditions using 6ar. ethiopica (Essential Oil Research Center, 1995). Thompson et al. (1994b) using V. galamensis found a wide variation in oil content (24.4–
33.8%) and vernolic acid (60.2–75.5%). They found a mean oil content of 28.7 and 30.4 at Phoenix and Yuma, USA, respectively. They further stated that environmental factors undoubtedly play a quantitative and qualitative role in the biosynthesis of both oil and fatty acids. They also reported a CV value of 16.5 and 4.7 for oil percentage in the two respective locations. White and Earle (1971) reporting on agronomic research with V. anthelmintica, stated that variations in oil content and oil composition among introduced accessions and germplasm lines, and between geographical locations were rather wide. More number of seeds per head were recorded at Harar. The decrease in the number of heads per plant was accompanied by an increase in the number of seeds per head. This may be due to the big size of heads as a result of the lower number of branches and heads per plant at Harar compared with the situation at Alemaya and Babile. At Alemaya, most accessions except Bedeno gave higher number of seeds per head. At Harar, the accessions Gelemso, Metta and Melkabelo gave significantly higher seed number per head. At Babile, accessions from Harar Zuria and Metta gave higher seed number per head than the rest accessions (Table 6). On the average, the accessions gave a seed number of more than 25% per head at Harar than Alemaya and Babile.
4. Summary and conclusions The study made to evaluate a germplasm collection of V. galamensis spp galamensis var. ethiopica for 17 phenological and agro-morphological traits indicated considerable variation between the different accessions. Var. ethiopica comprises a genetic variability, which is similar to other oil crops cultivated in Ethiopia. Analysis of variance computed showed highly significant differences for most characters. The best producing accessions in terms of yields of kg oil/ha (kg/ha of seed multiplied by oil %) for Alemaya were varieties collected at Bedeno, Chirro and Gelemso which produce 1627.45, 1593.46 and 1582.95 kg oil/ha, respectively. Accessions from Chirro (1194.75 kg oil/ha), Bedeno
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(1187.14 kg oil/ha), and Metta (1157.49 kg oil/ha) were superior at Harar, while Harar Zuria, Metta and Chirro which produce 274.48, 244.33 and 230.74 kg oil/ha, respectively, were superior at Babile. These materials derived from available local accessions thus can be a potential source for the selection of good yielding Vernonia lines for each specific location. Overall, the performance of the accessions for most agronomic traits were better at Alemaya compared with Harar and Babile. For oil content, most accessions perform better under Harar condition than under the rest of the locations. In general, the present finding also shows that some geographical areas are more favorable than others for production of Vernonia as an industrial oilseed crop for Ethiopia. However, it is too early to predict the most favorable location with any degree of certainty. In addition, it is highly unlikely that these accession encompass the full range of genetic variability to be found in the region. It is, therefore, necessary to explore and collect more Vernonia germplasm from natural habitats across various climatic and geographical locations so that by further evaluation and selection of germplasm better agronomic characters may become available.
Acknowledgements Financial support by the Alemaya University of Agriculture, Ethiopia, for executing this research is highly recognized. The authors would like to thank Professor Ro¨ bblen for useful suggestions and critically reading the manuscript. Special thanks are also extended to the Agronomy Section of the Plant Sciences Department in assisting for data collection.
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