Chigwe, C F B

Chintu, E M

Chirwa, R W

Msiska, F S

Obilana, A B

ICRISAT Open Access Repository

Sorghum Variety Release in Malawi: the Case of Pirira 1 and Pirira 2 -- - - - E M Chintul, C F B Ch~gwe'. A B O b ~ l a n a ' ,  R W Ch1rwa4, and F 5 M s l s k a s  Abstract The malor area of sorghum production in Malaw is rhe Lower Shire. M q o r  conrtrnlnrs to production hate been inch of suitable cu l t~wrs ,  unratis]acto~ cultzvatlon practices, drought, andpesr damage Current sorghum breed~ng work h identified new varieties wh~ch are rupenor ro those currently being grown Two new vaneties have been tesied on.sraflon between 1984/85 and 1992193 cropprng seasons in repilcated trials tn six enijtronments, compared unth other iuanerter and controL Thew performances hai'e also beer, uerified tn 1992/93 in on.farm m a & ,  compared unrhfarmer wanet~es, a t  eight locarronr in two d~srricts of Chikwawa and  Nsanje In rhe Lower Shire. Results jrom these 14 an~,ironments provide usable data to confirm superianty oi ihe two ellre sorghum varieties tested In the riarion mt~ironments, oanety SPV 351 yielded 2.28 I ha ' and SPV 47.5 2 44 t ha.', relaflue tofive mher tesr vanerzes rangtngfrom 1 5 I ha 1 to 1 84 I ha 1 and two controls wrh 1.41 I ha.' (PN 3) and 1.85 t ha 1 (DC 75) In the on-farm locations they airo ytelded berter a t  2 0 3  r ha 1 and 2 60 r ha.', rerpec. rii,~ly, rhan the jarmers' local lnndracr uariery (LLV Thengalamanga 1.99 r ha 'j The two varieries also malure eari~er (71 and 76 days ro 50% jlowenng) than the control PN 3 (74 days] and other rest etirnei (ranging from 8 0  to 8 7  days), and have better storage andgram characters Bared on signtficant yteld dtfferences (62 and 7341 htgher grain yzeld) o]rhe two sorghirm vaneries relatrve to PN 3 (in station trials] and (2 and 31% h~gher yield] relaflue io LLV Thengainmanga [in o n - f a n  rests), the two vanertes from ICRISAT, SPV 351 and SPV 475, were released in Mainw as Pirira i and Prnra 2 I Senlor Rcwarrh Officrr. Ka\mthula Rcrrarch Station, M Box 28 Chikcaxs M d l ~ w ,  2 Sentor Plant Bveedcr md k t u r c r  Bunda Col1c.e of Anr8culrurr PO 81ix 2lY Llunpwe Malawi w ' m  * Chintu, E.M.. Chigwe. C.F.B.. Obilsns. A.B., Chlrva R.W., md Ms~rko, ILS. 1996 Souhum Varlcty Relcau in Mslswi the Caw of Plrlra I and Plrlra 2 Pager 19-25 tn Drought.toleranr crops iur rourhon Air~rs p r x r e d ~ n ~ s o i t h e  SNXIICRISAT Rcporul Saghum md Prarl Mlllct Woikshop, 25 -29  Jul 1994, Gaborone Botsvan. (Luzhnn.  K .md Manthe. C S , e & ]  Ymniheru  502 324, Andhra Prrdcrh, lndm l n t c r ~ t ~ a t u i  Crop Rcwarch Inrtrtutc lor the Srm~.kid Traplcs Introduction Sorghum and pear ~ . I l r l  are : m p n a n t  .-erras I the Shirr Valle) (a ,rm~-arid area In M a l a u ~ l  w n c r  aoorcximatr.\ 521 WJ woole ltre N e l e m a  14311 In tclr arra . .  ~ whlch IS marginal for m a w  production, the two cereals form the main staple f w d .  Despite thetr lmpr tancc  as a staple f w d  for 6.5% of the country's bpulat lon,  vlelds of sorehum and mlllet in the S h r e  Vallev are llmited hv several factors such as lack of improved cultlvars, unsatisfactory crop production practices, drought, pests, and dlseases (Chintu 1985). Average grain production at farm level 1s below 600 kg ha.) compared with ZOO0 kg ha-' at the research level This yield difference can k attributed larpely to the use by . . farmers of unimproved LLVs and poor agronomic practices Production 1s also llmited by poor and erratlc distribution of rainfall. Crop loss duc to  pests (b~rds) and insect, (stem borers and weenls) in the field and storage can be quite high. In vlew of the above constraints, C h ~ n t u  and Chigwe (1986) outlined the follow~ng strategy for improving sorghum and millet ~n Malawi. - screening LLV and exotic breeding material, to develop new and adapted hlgh- yielding \arietles. - improving cultlvat~on practices for sod and water conrcrvatlon and increased roll fertility - uslng the correct plant p p u l a t ~ o n ,  early sowing, and tlmely weed control, and - study~ng the processing and storage techniqurs, and the food and other uses of the grain The objectives of thls paper are to  report the agronomlc performance of promising test sorghum vaneties ~n mult~loratlonal and replicated tnals, and describe the devel- opment, quality, and release of the two superlor varletlrs. Materials and Methods Seven sorghum vanetles were evaluated for grain yleld performance, grain quallty, - .  pest resistance, and agronomlc characters, together with two controls These varletles were screened at  several environments In the Lower Shire for on-station testing (six - ~ environments] and on-farm verification (elght locations). The SIX on.station envlron- ments are: I: Ngabu 1984/85, 2: Kasinthula 1985186, 3 Kasinthula 1986187. 4: Ngabu 1990191, 5: Kas~nthula 1990191; 6: Kasinthula 1992193. The eight on-farm locations are. fanner fields FI t o  F7 and Kasinthula field. They were arranged in a r andomwd complete block design w ~ t h  four replications. A gross plot s u e  of 4 rows x 5 m long x 0 75 m between rows was used. Data were collected from a net plot size of 2 rows x 4 m long x 0.75 m between rows. Nitrogen and phosphorus were applied before sowing at  the rates of 40 and 17 kg ha.] respec. lively, from urea and DAP femllzers. Four seeds were sown per stand at 25 cm between plants. Seedlings were thinned to  two plants per stand when about 15 cm high. Data were statistically analyzed using slmplc ANOVA. For the purposes of end-use quality, the grains of test varieties, with SPV 351 and SPV 475 as controls, were evaluated u s i q  qualitative and quantitative methods for physical and chemical traits. All tests were based on representative samples of har- vested and untreated grains from tnals, then stored up to  the time of analysis at 4'C. Grains were equilibrated to room temperature and humidity standardized to  a mois. ture content of 10.5 i 0.8% prior to  all tests. Quality parameters screened for include: grain color, pencarp and testa presence, endosperm color, grain size, grain visual hardness, % mill~ng yield, % dehull~ng loss, and tannin content Results and Discussion Significant differences were observed (Table 1) between varieties for grain yield in all six environments. More than 2OOO kg ha.] grain yield was achieved in three (I, 2 ,  and 6) out of six environments tested. The other three ennronments produced poor results due to bad weather SPV 346 produced the highest grain yield In environment 1. This yield was not sign~ficantly d~fferent from SPV 475 and SPV 351, which ranked second and third respectively. These varieties (SPV 351 and SPV 475) ranked first and second in environment 2 and vice versa in environments 4 and 5.  On average, the grain y~elds of SPV 351 and SPV 475 were 2284 kg ha.] and 2443 kg ha-1 respectively, across the six environments These were 62% and 73% above PN 3,  and 24% and 32% above DC 75, respectively. Table 1 Summary of gram y~eld (kg ha ' 1  of sorghum var~e t~es  tested with SPV 351 and SPV 475 In SIX ennronments In Malaw1 Var~cry Enr l Env 2 Env 3 Enr 4 En\ 5 Env 6 Mean SPV351 2680 3433 1231 1882 1792 2884 2284 SPV 346 2860 2501 1463 - 521 1836 SPV 475 2690 2804 1298 2514 1937 2221 2443 SPV 472 2470 1985 713 . SPV 386 2120 1754 1212 - SPV 615 1800 2780 426  . SPV 245 2040 1961 5W . 1500 Control PN 3 (variety1 9 9 0  2355 898 . 1414 TaMe 2. Mean performance of SPV 351 and SPV475 relative to  other test entries in six locations in Malawi. Gram Days to No of Gram Threshlnp v~eld 50Vo oanlrler mas nanailc Plant Var~ety (G ha 1 )  f l a ~ r r  'plot 1 (g) ' ( 1  ht (cm) SPV351 2284 71 34 36 52 153 SPV 346 1836 80 33 44 56 162 SPV 475 2443 76 32 39 57 149 SPV 472 I723 82 25 29 49 191 SPV 386 1695 R I  36 39 44 I88 SPV615 I689 87 10 47 43 155 SPV 245 15W 81 I 1  59 43 131 Control PN 3 (Variety) 1414 74 25 39 48 116 DC 75 ( M y h r ~ d )  1846 - Trlalmcan I836 79 26 42 49 158 LSD (P 0 05) 7 15 14 14 17 CV 1%) 4R 32.6 iR4 144 661 Tahle 2 shows rhr mean performance for fiw agronomic tralts pl t~s yield. Slgnifi- cant baneta1 differences were ohxrved In all agronomtr rharactrrs mrasurrd The earllest varletles to reach 50% flowrring in 71-76 days wrr? SPV 351, PN 3, and SPV 475 Thrsr  varieties were srmldwarl', d ~ a r f ,  and irm~dwarf ,  rrsprrtivrly, and 116- 153 cm in plant h r~gh t  Although the grain welght per pan~cle of SPV 351, SPV 475, and SPV 346 was not largr (36-44 g) compared with SPV 245 (59 g) ,  thrsr  variettrs had thrrshingvalura of more than 50%. The impl~cation is that SPV 351 and SPV475 havr morr grain, pcr panicle. With the exception of PN 3 all varieties tested rcorrd morr than 3 out of 5 for grain hardness, includ~ng SPV 351 at 3 4 and SPV 475 at 3.2 (Table 3) Thrsr  grains are thus hard in comparison w ~ t h  the soft gram of PN 3 [scoring 2.5). These observa- uons agree with the observed grratrr inr~dencr of storagr w r r v ~ l  In PN 3 (with an average of 0 26  wrevrls/panicle) compared with SPV 351 and SPV 475 (with 0.06 and 0.02 weevilr/panicle) in the field (pers comm Thindwa). Incidentally, PN 3 is whlte with brown specks while SPV 351 and SPV 475 are creamy-white Thr  milling qualrty of the test materials (Table 3) arr indicatrd by the threr tests of milling yrrld, dehullrng loss, and gram hardness (score 1: soft, 5: very hard) The results of grain quality evaluation in Table 3 indicate that SDSL 89420, SPV 351, and SDSL 88298 had the least loss of 12.25%, 15.50%, and 15.75% respectively. The others, such as SPV 475 and two SADCIICRISAT SMlP varieties, had 2O'b loss each, whrle PN 3 had the largest loss of 27% The dehulled grain is processed into white flour during milling. The flour is a measured propomon of gram. Vaneties SDSL 89420 and SPV 351 produced the l a& 3. Grain quality evaluations of SW 351 and SW 475 with o h  advaturd cultivao of sorghum in Malawi. Cultinn SDSL SDSL SDSL Traltr SPV 351 SPV 475 87021 89420 88298 PN 3 Gmn color Creamy Cream, Creamy Creamy Red White Whltr \+%lie Wh~te Whlte Brown Speck Perlcarp Th~n Th~n Th~n Thin Th~n Testa No No No No No Endorpermcolor Whltc Whne Whxte Whltr White Pearly lntermrd Pearly Pearly Pearly Cram mas (g/lW) 2 64  2 90 2 47 2 48 I R2 . Vjrual hardness 3 4 3 2 4 6 4 4 3 4 2 5 9 Milling yield 83 00 78 10 74  85 84  70 8055 71 3 BDrhull~nglosr 15 50 2 0 4 8  2 2 U )  I2 25 1575 2 6 9  Tannin tontent LIN LIN L/N LIN M highest amount of flour (85% and 83% respectively) whlle SDSL 88298 and S W  475 produced 81% and 78% compared to 71% of PN 3 Grain weevils were coliected from 100 panicles per variety, at  hard dough stage Only at Makoka and in variety control PN 3, dld 47% of the panicles collectid show suns of weevil attack (wrev~linnl. At Kaslnthula and Bvumbwr weevillnn in PN 3 was I;% and 20% respectliely compared with 1% and 4% In SPV 475 and 5% and 13% in SPV 351. On average, Thengalamanga, the LLV, showed no weevll~ng symptoms Relatively, SPV 475 with 2% and SPV 351 wlth 6% could bemoderately resistant. PN 3 was susceptlhle with a 26% weeviling count. in addition to  carlying out on-farm verification to create awareness and assess the acceptance of the improved varieties among growers, a survey war conducted to determine growers  references and choice. Results summarlzed by Smale (1993) showed that growers ranked SPV 351 first and SPV 475 second, based on grain yleld. The two vaneties were   referred because of their large gram size and early maturity. Smale reported that the few growers who consumed these varieties sald that both varietlrs produced white flour ahd that threshing was easier and the flour extraction rate was higher in these, compared with the LLV (~.e., Thengalamanga). On-farm results shown in Table 4 are from a rerearch-managed and farmer-imple- mented tnai. Complete data for all test entries were obtained only at Kasinthula Table 4. Grain yield data (t hr.') of th. new variatiss in on.farm trials at uvrn  famwr i w t i o n s  and a t  Kuinthula Station in the Lomr Shin in 1991193. SPV 351 0.40 1 40 1.79 3 8 5.80 0 78 4 10 2.58 2.60 SPV475 0.50 145 154 4 4 . 101 3.93 140 2.03 KUYUM 0 35 1 15 0 73 . . 0.55 . 131 0.85 Rcngaiammga . 0 90 . . 3 29 . . I 80 Seredo - . - . 2.96 . 2.88 0 18 2 00 Statlon, where SPV 351 produced 2.58 t ha-'. Good results were also achieved by farmer 7, where SPV 351 and SPV 475 produced 4.10 and 3.93 t ha.' respectively. On average, the yield of SPV 351, SPV 475, and Seredo was above 2 t ha.]. This was s~milar to research results. Based on the above research and on-farm results, sorghum var~eties SPV 351 and SPV 475 were released in the Lower Shire. The proposed names for these variet~es are Pinra I = SPV 351 and Plrira 2 = SPV 475. Improved vaneties of sorghum were selected from the ICRISAT collaborative trials, whlch were sown at Ngabu and a few other exper~mental sites in the Lower Shire between 1980 and 1984. Selection of these varieties, namely SPV 351, SPV 346, SPV 475, SPV 472, SPV 386, SPV 615, and SPV 245 was based on gram yleld, grain quahty, maturity, and agronomic plant aspect scores. After selection, testlng of these varieties for grain yield and agronomic characters was done at Ngabu and Kasinthula in several environments, from 1984185 to 1986187. It was shown that vaneties SPV 346, SPV 475 and SPV 351 gave the h~ghest gram yields. Although the largest vanation In grain yield was observed in 1986187, the same vaneties l~sted gave the highest overall grain yields during the 3-year period of testing. h n n g  the 3rd year in 1986187 SPV 351 outy~elded PN 3 by over 70% Without putting much emphasis on 1986187 data, the expenment was mod~fied and repeated to confirm the above findings during the 1990191 and 1992193 seasons, respectively. The combined Ngabu and Kasinthula results obtained In 1990191 ~ndicated that SPV 475 and SPV 351 were again top-y~eiding varieties. These results therefore confirm the previous findings of 1984185 and 1985186: that the two improved vari- etier are adapted and superior to PN 3 m all respens. However, the best results were obta~ned in 1992193 due to favorable weather. Significant varietal differences were observed on grain yield. Varieties such as DC 75, SPV 351, and Thengamalanga produced the highest grain yields at Kannthula, while SPV 475 ranked 6th. During the ten periods of 1984185 to 1986187 and 1990191 to 1992193, average annul rainfall in the Shire Valley ranged from 393.9 mm in 1986187 to 1108.4 mm in 1984185 with vuiations between the 5-year period. References Chintu, E.M. 1985. Sorghum and pearl mlllet research report Paper presented at the Annual Research Project meetlng, Sep 1985. Limbe, Malawi: Bn~rnhwe Research Stat~on.  (Semiformal publication ) Chintu, E.M. and Chigwe, C.F.B. 1986 Sorghum and pearl mlllet research tn Mal. awl. Paper presented at the SADCIICRISATISMIP 3rd Reg~onal Workshop, 6-10 Oct 1986, Lusaka, Zamh~a Bulawayo, Zlmhabwe. SADCIICRISAT. (Semiformal publlcat~on.) Smale, M. 1993. The emergency seed mult~pl~catlon project and the potential for the adoption of improved sorghum and mlllrt In Ngahu Agricultural Development Dlmr~on Venema, J.H. 1991. Land Resources Appraisal of Ngabu Agr~cultural Developmrnt D ~ v ~ s ~ o n .  Prel~m~nary esults, 1987. Natlonal Populat~on and Houslng Census 

Sorghum Variety Release in Malawi: the Case of Pirira 1 and Pirira 2

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Sorghum Variety Release in Malawi: the Case of Pirira 1 and Pirira 2

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