International Journal of Agriculture Sustainable Farming

Response of Some Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) Accessions from Northern Nigeria to water Stress

NZERE Nnanna Victor¹, BALOGUN Morufat O², OSSAI Chukwunalu Okolie³

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Abstract

Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) is mainly cultivated in Northern Nigeria, where desertification is increasing due to climate change, exposing plants to water stress. However, Nigeria’s kenaf is yet to be evaluated for drought tolerance. This study determined the drought threshold of Nigeria’s kenaf accessions to develop adapted varieties. Six seeds of accessions of kenaf landraces from Northern Nigeria (NHC 3(1), NHC 9(2), NHC 11(1), NHC 1, NHC 13(1), NHC 8(1)) were planted in 5L sterile topsoil in a Complete Randomized Design with three replicates. Water stress was imposed by withdrawing watering from the 30th-40th day, while control plants were watered throughout the experiment (well-watered). The experiment was a 6 (accessions) by 2 (Stress state) factorial arranged in a completely randomized design and replicated three times. After stress imposition, data were collected on growth and yield parameters. All data were analyzed using analysis of variance, and means were separated using least significant differences at 5% significance level. The PH and CLC differed significantly across accessions and ranged from 16.59±1.68 (NHC9(2)) to 27.22±1.68 (NHC11(1)), 8.67±2.01 (NHC9(2)) to 29.44±2.01 (NHC11(1)), and 37.70±5.19 (NHC13(1)) to 50.05±5.19 (NHC3(1)). NHC 11(1) and NHC 9(2) were the most and least tolerant of water stress, respectively, in terms of growth and yield performance. Water stress significantly reduced CLC in non-tolerant genotypes but had no significant effect on drought-tolerant genotypes.

Keywords: KenafDroughtFiber yieldDrought-tolerant

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