Evaluation of ten bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranean (L.) Verdc.) Accessions to drought stress at Sahelian zone of Niger

Abstract

Bambara groundnut is a legume mainly cultivated for these seeds in Africa. In the Sahelian zone, it sometimes suffered of significant yield losses linked to drought. The objective of this study is to identify the adapted genotypes to water deficit stress. The experimental design is randomly made up of four complete randomized blocks. Three variants of stress were applied during the growth of the plants, namely a water deficit stress for 14 days, a stress of 10 days and another stress of 7 days and a constantly watered control. The study revealed a systematic decline in yield under water deficit stress conditions in all ten accessions. However, the yields of accessions Ti 049 and Th 113 were the least affected, with decreases of -7.71% and -8.76% respectively compared to the control. However, the Di-3 082 accession recorded the greatest drop in yield (-36.06%). According to the indices determined, it appears that the genotypes Th 113, Ti 047, Ti 049 and Ma-2-65 are the most tolerant to water deficit stress, with considerable yield potential. Accession Di-3 082 was identified as the most sensitive to water deficit stress.