Agronomic characterization of eighteen cucurbitaceae cultivars used for food in Niger.

Abstract

Objective: Agronomic potentialities of 18 cucurbitaceous cultivars from two species were assessed in a period of two years on the experimental field of the University Of Niamey Faculty Of Sciences. The experiment was a complete random block. Seventeen (17) cultivars of the Lagenaria siceraria species of which only one species from the Citrullus colocynthis.
Methodology and results: Thirteen (13) characteristics were studied. Variance analyses showed that there was very significant difference ( p= 0.05) between cultivars for all studied characteristics, except the duration of the emergence, the date of fructification, the width of the fruit and the weight of the seed the first year. In this way, short-cycle and long cycle cultivars, as well as productive and less productive cultivars are identified. Correlations between the different characteristics showed that the yield in berries is very positively correlated to the weight of a berry (r = 0.76) and the number of seeds per berry (r = 0.61) and negatively with the width (r = - 0.66) and the length (r = -0.73) of a seed. The average production in berries is 17 per plant in the first year against 6 the second year. Better productivity is achieved with Citrullus colocynthis, which gave 82 berries per plant the 1st year. The average yield in seeds was 180.15 kg / ha in the first year and 704.30 kg / ha, in the second year.
Conclusion and application of results: Niger cucurbitaceous are unknown and the results of this study show that they have a lot of potentiality and can contribute to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, especially in its food security and fight against poverty programs, since they represent an important source of income for the population.

Key words: cucurbitaceous, Citrullus colocynthis, Lagenaria siceraria, agronomic characteristics, Niger.