Browsing by Author "Sseremba, Godfrey"

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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, Elizabeth Kizito
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.
Contribution of Backyard Farming to Food and Income Security: Case of Kampala Metropolitan
(ProQuest, 2020) Kirungi, Macklean; Sseremba, Godfrey; Tugume, Katarimpika Joab; Murongo, Marius Flavian; Ssekandi, Joseph; Tedson Julius Mwine
Food insecurity, poverty, environmental degradation and climatic change are some of the major challenges facing the world. The urban poor are among Ugandans facing food insecurity and malnutrition due to several causes such as job insecurity, low wages and limited farming opportunities. Agriculture has been reported as the biggest contributor to poverty reduction and food security. This study aimed at estimating the contribution of backyard farming to household food provision and income and the sustainability of such practice in Kampala Metropolitan. The study was conducted in the urban (<10Km) and peri-urban areas (10-20Km) area of Kampala metropolitan area. The study found that Backyard farming significantly affected household food consumption scores, coping strategy index and income but not household dietary diversity scores (HDDS). However, these benefits were found to accrue less among the poor and less privileged.
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.
Effect of temperature on sweet potato virus disease symptom expression
(Uganda Martyrs University, 2019) Sseremba, Godfrey; Mukasa, Settumba; Kyamanywa, Samuel
The incidence and severity of sweetpotato virus disease (SPVD) was reported to be highly variable under different agroecological zones in Uganda, a situation that could be partly attributable to differences in temperature. This raised a need for understanding the effect of temperature on the biology of SPVD causative agents which ultimately influences disease development and symptom expression that undermines productivity among sweet potato cultivars. This study was carried out at Makerere University Agricultural Research Institute, Kabanyolo (MUARIK). Initially clean sweet potato cultivars were inoculated with two viruses namely Sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus (SPCSV) and Sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV) that cause SPVD when co-infecting sweet potato and established at two temperature environments; field and glasshouse, followed by a weekly interval monitoring of the plants for symptom expression and growth response. Temperature differences significantly (p<0.001) influenced SPVD severity and the growth response of different sweet potato cultivars. Overall, the plants under field conditions where temperature was lower produced higher SPVD severity than under glasshouse where higher temperatures were recorded. SPVD severity for most of the cultivars was higher in the field than under glasshouse. Cultivar (cv.) Ejumula displayed the highest severity levels followed by cvs. Tanzania and Beauregard. Conversely, New Kawogo, Dimbuka and Naspot 1 showed none to mild severities particularly under the glasshouse conditions. Therefore temperature influenced the development of SPVD; low temperatures of 20 to 29°C produced more disease severities than high temperatures of 30 to 39oC. It is suggested that reasonably high temperatures under a controlled environment should be incorporated in any sweet potato seed production system for possible elimination of SPVD.
Ethnobotanical Knowledge of Home Garden Plant Species and its Effect on Home Garden Plant Diversity in Thies Region of Senegal
(Springer Link, 2020-08-13) Naigaga, Hellen; Ssekandi, Joseph; Ngom, Ablaye; Sseremba, Godfrey; Mbaye, Mame Samba; Noba, Kandioura
Home gardens are the frst source of immediate contact between people and plants since the gardens are within homesteads. Most home garden studies in Senegal concentrate on food security and economic benefts; no research has been carried out on the social and ecological contexts of home gardening in Senegal. It is therefore necessary to evaluate the way people interact with the home garden plants and how such an interface infuences plant diversity. The objective of this study is to evaluate the ethnobotanical knowledge associated to home garden plants and its efect on plant diversity conservation in home gardens. A sample of 30 home gardens was selected from the three main departments of the region and was used to collect plant species data. Data were collected from informants who were selected basing on recommendations from village leaders. Techniques used were plant inventory, participatory observations and individual interviews. Species nomenclature was based on Senegal analytical fora and the world plant list; comparison of efect between different variables was analyzed in analytical software R using simple linear regression analysis. A total of 96 plant species were identifed; all species were found to be useful plants divided into eight functional groups. Fifty-four percent (54%) were food species, 40% medicinal, 32% ornamental, 14% commercial, 7% fodder, 4% sacred, 4% ceremonial and 3% cosmetic. Citrus limon was the most frequent (80%) and preferred species in the home gardens. Food plant species are the most diversifed, abundant and rich use category. There is a relationship between uses of species and species diversity (P value<0.001). Species diversity in the home gardens increases as the spectrum of use increases; thus, species with more than one use were highly diversifed; people prefer multipurpose species for multiple benefts. This study expresses home gardens as diversifed agroecosystems for sustainable biodiversity conservation of useful plant species.
Heritability of drought resistance in Solanum aethiopicum Shum group and combining ability of genotypes for drought tolerance and recovery
(Elsevier, 2018-06) Sseremba, Godfrey; Tongoona, Pangirayi; Yaw Eleblu, John; Yirenkyi Danquah, Eric; Balyejusa Kizito, Elizabeth
Drought tolerance is a complex trait whose inheritance had not been investigated in Solanum aethiopicum L. Shum group. This is partly because of perceived cross incompatibilities in the crop. This study relied on 24 successful crosses from an incomplete 9 × 4 North Carolina II mating design, evaluated under five watering conditions based on plant growth stage and watering level in order to determine the heritability of drought resistance and combining ability. Subsequent data analyses were based on restricted maximum likelihood. Overall, specific combining ability (SCA) effects were significant across and within watering environments for all study traits. The most highly heritable traits (in the narrow-sense) were identified as leaves per plant, chlorophyll content (CHL), leaf fresh yield and leaf dry yield while leaf area (LA), leaf relative water content (LRWC) and leaf mass area (LMA) were least heritable. However, the broad sense heritability (H2) was over 0.80 for seven of the traits, indicating that dominance gene action surpass additive gene effects for drought resistance in S. aethiopicum Shum. Further analysis showed that LA is suited for selection of best combiners under well-watered and drought-stress (DS) treatments. The LRWC served best in separating the SCA effects of crosses under DS. The CHL produced clear separations of SCA effects under both DS and drought recovery while LMA served best under the latter.
Morphological distinctiveness between Solanum aethiopicum Shum group and its progenitor
(Academic Journals, 2017-06) Sseremba, Godfrey; Tongoona, Pangirayi; Yaw Eleblu, John Savior; Yirenkyi Danquah, Eric; Kabod, Nahamya Pamela; Balyejusa Kizito, Elizabeth
Use of morphological markers offers an alternative in germplasm discrimination of research-neglected crop species. A collection of 25 accessions including five wild progenitors was evaluated in screen house to identify the morphological difference between Solanum aethiopicum Shum and Solanum anguivi. An Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic mean hierarchical clustering revealed presence of moderate structure with a cophenetic correlation coefficient of 0.73. Five distinct clusters were produced; the progenitor accessions for the S. aethiopicum Shum were grouped in their own cluster. The Richness, Shannon-Weaver and Simpson indices were also different among qualitative variable categories. A ‘prcomp’ function based Principal component analysis (PCA) in R on quantitative variables indicated that days to germination and emergence, cotyledonous leaf length, cotyledonous leaf width, shoot biomass, plant height, petiole length, days to first flowering opening, plant width, plant branching, and number of leaves per plant are the major drivers of variability in the study accessions. Further, results from canonical discriminant analysis to discern between the S. aethiopicum and its progenitor accession groups showed that the days to germination and emergence provide the best separation; with the former emerging earlier than the latter. The mean values for flowering time, leaves per plant, number of branches per plant and plant height were more favorable for the Shum than its wild progenitor accessions. The study revealed that morphological markers are useful in distinguishing between the S. aethiopicum Shum and its progenitor accessions.
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.