Prince Matova

By E. T. Gwata, H. Shimelis and P. M. Matova

Tropical legumes such as cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) and tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius) are important in traditional smallholder cropping systems, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Both legumes are adapted to harsh environments including extreme temperatures, drought and poor soil fertility. They provide affordable sources of protein for human consumption and are valuable for income generation. These crops contribute significantly to soil fertility improvement through biological nitrogen fixation. In many parts of Africa, the productivity of these legumes is generally low partly because farmers grow unimproved varieties that are often produced for subsistence purposes on poor soils in mixed cropping systems with limited production inputs. Therefore, this research was designed to evaluate the potential of two distinct mutation breeding approaches in creating useful genetic variation in the two legumes in order to improve the agronomic attributes of both crops. The variation was determined by measuring a range of agronomic traits at both the seedling and adult plant stages. The results showed significant genetic variation among cowpea mutants that were induced with various doses of gamma radiation as well as among tepary bean mutants that were induced with a chemical mutagenic agent, ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS). The optimum doses at LD50 for two cowpea genotypes (Nakare and Shindimba) were ≤200 Gy while the third genotype (Bira) tolerated a dose three-fold higher. In the EMS mutagenesis of tepary bean, the estimated LD50 was ≤2.4% EMS (v/v). In both approaches, percent seed germination decreased with increased dose and the coefficients of determination for the linear functions were high (>75%), suggesting that there were notable associations between the reduction in seed germination and the concentration of the mutagen. At the adult plant stage, tepary bean showed that the mutant generation significantly (P < 0.05) influenced positively the important agronomic traits such as shoot dry weight, number of pods per branch and seed size. Dose effects were also significant for seed size. The field trials conducted in Zimbabwe showed >10.0% increase in both seed size and grain yield potential of some mutant cowpea genotypes compared with the standard check. These findings provide reference doses for large-scale gamma irradiation of cowpea as well as chemical mutagenesis for tepary bean. In addition, the germplasm produced from these approaches has the potential for selection in a range of agro-ecological conditions across the region, thus creating alternative cropping systems for the smallholder growers.

Part of the book: Alternative Crops and Cropping Systems