Browsing by Author "Masanza Michael"

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Accuracy of Using Leaf Blade Length and Leaf Blade Width Measurements to Calculate the Leaf Area of Solanum Aethiopicum Shum Group
(2018) Nakanwagi Mildred Julian; Sseremba Godfrey; Nahamya Pamela Kaboda; Masanza Michael; Balyejusa Kizito Elizabeth
Leaf area is an important parameter when determining growth response under normal as well as stressed environments. No attempt had been made to come up with an affordable but accurate alternative of measuring leaf size in research neglected leafy vegetable crops. Other techniques such as use of leaf area meters are either destructive, expensive or both. A study was conducted to determine leaf area in like-shaped leaves of research neglected crop plants, taking case ofS. Aethiopicum Shum group (SAS) germplasm. Data was collected on 552individual plants (including pure lines and hybrids) at eight weeks after planting where a third fully open leaf from top of each plant was considered. Leaf blade length (LBL) and leaf blade width (LBW) were linearly measured while leaf area(LA) was measured using a leaf area meter. This was followed by correlation and regression analysis of LA with LBL, LBW, and LBLþLBW. Correlation coefficients atp<0.001 ranged between 0.84 and 0.92, 0.79 and 0.88, 0.86 and0.95 for total germplasm, pure lines and hybrids, respectively. The coefficient determination (R2) ranged between 0.72 and 0.92. The best prediction for LA wasobtained with hybrid plants (LA¼-165.82þ5.38LBLþ16.17LBW) at R2of92%. The implication is that we can accurately and affordably predict LA fromduo measurements of LBL and LBW in SAS as well as in other crops having similar leaf shapes.
Diversity and distribution of African indigenous vegetable species in Uganda
(Academic Journals, 2017-11) Sseremba Godfrey; Kabod Nahamya Pamela; Katwijukye Kasharu Apolo; Nkalubo Jaggwe John; Masanza Michael; Balyejusa Kizito Elizabeth
African indigenous vegetable species (AIVS) provide a means of livelihood to many urban and periurban dwellers in Uganda. It was thus deemed necessary to understand the existing diversity and distribution of the traditional African vegetable species as a basis for recommending conservation and utilization strategies against biodiversity loss. A field survey was conducted in the four major agroecological zones of Uganda to provide information on a recent abundance of the various AIVS. Results from the survey showed that the Solanaceae (43.4%), Amaranthaceae (15.5%) and Malvaceae (11.6%) were the most prevalent families out of seven different families encountered. Twenty-three (23) species, a number lower than that initially reported in literature and distributed unevenly in the different regions were identified. Majority of the species were the indigenous rather than introduced vegetable species. Firstly, the study is informative of the superior importance of Solanaceous species compared to other AIVS. Secondly, the survey results indicate that the AIVS are becoming increasingly more important in Uganda than their introduced counterparts since all the 43.4% that composed the Solanaceae majority were of indigenous type. Research efforts should be devoted towards improved variety development and germplasm conservation to prevent a possible biodiversity loss of the most important AIVS for increased household incomes and nutrient security among the resource-poor majority in Uganda and other sub-Saharan Africa countries.
Performance of Solanum aethiopicum Shum group accessions under repetitive drought stress
(Academic Journals, 2017) Nakanwagi Mildred Julian; Sseremba Godfrey; Masanza Michael; Balyejusa Kizito Elizabeth
Drought is a serious climatic hazard to crop production, more especially when it occurs repeatedly. This created a need to identify repetitive drought tolerant varieties that recover following exposure to drought. Twenty accessions of Solanum aethiopicum Shum group were evaluated for their response to repeated drought exposure in a screen house at Uganda Christian University stressed and well-watered conditions in a split-plot arrangement. Data was collected on growth and yield parameters namely leaf area, plant canopy width, plant height, plant branching, fresh leaf weight, fresh shoot biomass, and harvest index. Exposure of plants to repetitive drought stress led to significant decrease in all evaluated growth parameters at p<0.001 except for plant branching. Similarly, yield parameters exhibited a highly significant difference among accessions and between water levels at p<0.001. Principal component analysis of growth rate traits showed that leaf area contributed to the highest variation for recovery from repetitive drought stress among accessions. The accessions that recovered best from drought stress include SAS108/2015, SAS163/P/2015, SAS183/G/2015, and SAS168/G/2015. For yield parameters, the accessions SAS137/2015, SAS148/2015, SAS108/P/2015, and SAS160/2015 had the highest dry shoot biomass. These findings indicate prospect for improvement of tolerance to repetitive drought stress in S. aethiopicum Shum group.
Stability of Solanum aethiopicum Shum accessions under varied water deficit stress levels and identification of pertinent breeding traits for resistance to water shortage
(Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature, 2017-12) Sseremba Godfrey; Tongoona Pangirayi; Yaw Eleblu John Savior; Yirenkyi Danquah Eric; Kaweesi Tadeo; Baguma Yona; Masanza Michael; Balyejusa Kizito Elizabeth
Drought is a major constraint to productivity of Solanum aethiopicum ‘Shum’ group due to loss in market and nutrient value of stressed plants. This study evaluated S. aethiopicum Shum group accessions to identify genotypes (G) that excel across moisture deficit stress levels (WLs). A split-plot arrangement composed of four WLs and twenty accessions of S. aethiopicum as main plot and sub-plot factors, respectively, was implemented in a screenhouse, and repeated for two experiments. In each experiment, there was a highly significant effect of at least two WLs on mean performance among at least two accessions for most of the traits at p < 0.05. Further, very highly significant WL × G interactions were obtained for leaf relative water content (LRWC), leaves per plant (LPP) and plant height (PH), and non-significant for leaf blade length and leaf blade width. The order of priority as breeding traits for stability superiority across WLs was suggested as LRWC > PH > LPP. Consequently, based on LRWC, the most superiorly stable accessions were identified as accession 160 followed by accessions 145, 137, 108P and 184G while the least stable ones were identified as accessions 163G, 141, 163 and 108. The broad sense heritability (H 2) for each of the three recommended traits for drought resistance breeding was above 0.9 thus supportive for a good response to selection. Drought stress negatively affected the performance of S. aethiopicum Shum group but the exhibited variation allowed for selection of superiorly stable genotypes.