Grain yield assessment of six pigeonpea genotypes in production systems and their ratoonability in a humid tropical agro-ecology of Nigeria

Abstract

Five improved pigeonpea genotypes obtained from ICRISAT of short- and medium-duration and a Nsukka local long-duration genotype were assessed for their grain yield in mixtures with two maize genotypes (hybrid and open pollinated types) and as sole crops in 2006 at Nsukka, Nigeria. The 2006 pigeonpea plants were maintained as sole crops for ratoon crop assessment in 2007. The pigeonpea genotypes were combined with the two maize genotypes for mixture treatments and also maintained as sole crops in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) experiment with three replications. The results showed that maize intercropping significantly (P<0.05) depressed the number of primary branche, leaves and grain yield in pigeonpea in the main crop. Percentage ratoon plant survival was significantly (P<0.05) higher in pigeonpea plants that were intercropped with open pollinated maize compared to those intercropped with hybrid maize and those planted as sole crops. The percentage ratoon plant survival was significantly (P<0.05) higher in the long-duration pigeonpea genotype compared to those of the short- and medium-duration types which were statistically similar. The ICRISAT short- and medium-duration pigeonpea genotypes had significantly (P<0.05) higher grain yield compared to the long-duration genotype in the main crop and maintained a higher grain yield in the ratoon crops too, but without any statistical significance. Ratoon crop grain yield was on the average, 63.6% of the main crop. Grain yield performance in the pigeonpea genotypes was medium-duration genotypes>short-duration genotypes>long- duration in both the main and ratoon crops.

Key words: Pigeonpea, genotypes, main crop, ratoon crop, grain yield.