Yield Responses of Selected Groundnut Arachis hypogaea L. Cultivars at Two Locations for Adoption in the Southern Guinea Savannah of Nigeria

Field studies were conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm, University of Agriculture Makurdi, and National Cereals Research Institute (NCRI) Substation, Yandev during 2017 and 2018 cropping seasons. The objective was to identify the location and cultivar with optimum yield response for adoption. The experiments were laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The cultivars evaluated included Borno Red, Dan-Bomboyo, Ebunaigbaji, Ijiwanda, Samnut-16, Samnut 21, and Samnut 22. Yield components viz, number of mature and immature pods, haulm weight, 100 seed weight, length of primary branches, number of secondary branches, weight of 100 mature pods and seeds from 100 mature pods, shelling percentage and seed yield were recorded. Results showed that Samnut 21 x Makurdi location interaction gave significantly higher number of mature pods ( 44.0 ), number of secondary branches ( 29 ) and number of immature pods ( 45.00 ). One hundred ( 100 ) seed weight was highest ( 67.00 g ) under Samnut 22 x Makurdi interaction followed by Samnut 21 x Makurdi interaction ( 66.20 g). Ebunaigbaji at Makurdi recorded significantly longer branches ( 47.00 cm). Samnut 16 x Yandev and Samnut 22 x Yandev interactions produced significantly higher seed yields of 1646.00 kg/ha and 1102.00 kg/ha respectively. For Makurdi farmers interested in fodder, Ebunaigbaji at Makurdi with longer primary branches and Samnut 21 at Makurdi with higher number of secondary branches gave better results. The environmental conditions at Yandev were more favourable to the seed production of Samnut 16 followed by Samnut 22.