Maize (Zea mays L.) is the most important cereal crop on which many smallholder farmers in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) depend as a sole source of calories, proteins, and vitamins. However, conventional maize deficient two essential amino acids, lysine, tryptophan. Thereafter, Quality Protein (QPM) developed to combat protein malnutrition. In SSA low soil nitrogen also limiting factor production pro...

Bacterial wilt of common bean caused by Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens pv. flaccumfaciens is an important disease in terms of economic importance. It reduces grain yield by colonizing xylem vessels, subsequently impeding the translocation of water and nutrients to the superior plant parts. The existence of physiological races in C. flaccumfaciens pv. flaccumfaciens has not so far been reported. ...

Hybrid crops have contributed greatly to improvements in global food and fodder production over the past several decades. Nevertheless, the growing population and changing climate have produced food crises and energy shortages. Breeding new elite hybrid varieties is currently an urgent task, but present breeding procedures are time-consuming and labour-intensive. In this study, parental metabol...

Weight and feed consumption of 197 bulls were recorded monthly in a serial slaughter experiment continuing over a period of 24 mo. The bulls were produced in a modified five-breed diallel of the Angus, Brahman, Hereford, Holstein and Jersey breeds. Our objective was to estimate efficiency of feed conversion for weight gain for each breed and cross. The model included average weight gain per day...

The aim was to assess heterosis in a set of 16 summer-squash hybrids, and evaluate the combining capacity of the respective parental lines, which differed as to the degree of parthenocarpy and resistance to PRSV-W (Papaya Ringspot Virus-Watermelon strain). The hybrids were obtained using a partial diallel cross design (4 × 4). The lines of parental group I were 1 = ABX-037G-77-03-05-01-01-bulk,...

Evolution of dimorphic breeding systems may involve changes in ecophysiological traits as well as floral morphology because of greater resource demands on females. Differences between related species suggest that ecophysiological traits should be heritable, and species with higher female frequencies should show greater sexual differentiation. We used modified partial diallel crossing designs to...

The efficiency of recurrent selection was assessed in obtaining common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) plant lines resistant to the phytopathogenic fungi Phaeoisariopsis griseola. The base bean population was obtained from the partial diallel between seven lines with carioca-type grains and 10 sources of resistance to P. griseola. The plants most resistant to the pathogen were selected in the F2 (S...