June 2009

Comparing the yield components of three most popular commercial watermelon cultivars in Kenya with one newly introduced cultivar and one landrace

  High yield is a major goal for watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) breeders. The objective of this study was to compare the yield components of some watermelon accessions available in Kenya and to identify high yielding accession(s) for recommendation to Kenyan growers and for use in breeding programs. A field trial involving five cultivated watermelon accessions in Kenya namely...

Author(s): Bernard Mukiri Gichimu, Barack Otieno Owuor and Mathwes Mito Dida

June 2009

Combining ability for maize grain yield in striga endemic and non-endemic environments of the southern guinea savanna of Nigeria

  Combining ability studies for maize grain yield and other agronomic characters were carried out using ten open-pollinated maize varieties and their 45 F1 hybrids in a Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth endemic zone (Shonga) and non-endemic zone (Ilorin) in Kwara State, Nigeria, during the 2005 cropping season. Bothgeneral combining ability (gca) and specific combining ability (sca)...

Author(s): G. Olaoye and O.B. Bello

June 2009

Assessment of intervarietal differences in drought tolerance in chickpea using both nodule and plant traits as indicators

  5 lines of Tunisian varieties of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) inoculated withMesorhizobium ciceri UPMCa7 were monitored during the vegetative stage on sterilized sandy soil. 2 levels of soil moisture were compared (100 and 33% of field capacity). The work was aimed at assessing the relative tolerance of these lines to drought and then, to research relationships between the level of sensitivity of...

Author(s): Nehla Labidi, Henda Mahmoudi, Messedi Dorsaf, Ines Slama and Chedly Abdelly

June 2009

Identification of PCR-based DNA markers flanking three low phytic acid mutant loci in barley

  Phytic acid (PA) is the most abundant form of phosphorus (P) in cereal grains. PA chelates mineral cations to form an indigestible salt and is thus regarded as an antinutritional agent and a contributor to water pollution. Grain with low phytic acid (lpa) genotypes could aid in mitigating this problem. In barley, more than 20 lpa mutant lines have been isolated, representing at least 6 different genetic...

Author(s): R. E. Oliver, C. Yang, G. Hu, V. Raboy and  M. Zhang

June 2009

Allelopathic and antifungal potentialities of Padina pavonica (L.) extract

  In this study, potential allelopathic of a brown alga Padina pavonica (L) was evaluated.  Aqueous extracts of the alga obtained at room temperature / 24 h (E1), 50°C / 4 h (E2) and 100°C / 2 h (E3) were tested on the germination and early growth of crop plants and growth of three fungal strains: Fusarium graminearum,Penicillium expansum and Alternaria...

Author(s): Faten Omezzine, Rabiaa Haouala, Asma El Ayeb and Neziha Boughanmi